Donald Moss
Biographic Data
| ID | 5211372 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Donald Moss |
| GIVEN NAMES | Donald |
| FAMILY NAME | Moss |
| SIGNATURE | MOSS D |
| AFFILIATIONS | New York University |
| ORCID | 0009-0004-2533-2543 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 69 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 42 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1978 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
In the Session
Always There and Never Before: The Eclipse of “Everyday Life”
Correspondence covering the psychoanalytic controversies section on the Israel–Palestine conflict (issue 1, 2025)
In Pursuit of Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis: Findings and Recommendations from the Holmes Commission
Traumatizing Disorders of “Everyday Life”
Grounded in clinical examples, the text focuses on the challenges posed by working at a historical moment that, if fully taken in, presents us all—patients and analysts/therapists—with “more than mind can endure.” This “too muchness” makes it particularly difficult to maintain our consulting rooms as “safe” spaces. The basic question: how to preserve a sense of safety in our clinical work while we simultaneously remain open to the disruptive and …
The pathways model for integrative care and the social work role: Case study
The Pathways Model is an approach guiding the individual to combine self-care, habit change, and positive lifestyle changes, with professional healthcare interventions. There are multiple roles that a social work professional can adopt in guiding the individual in a Pathways recovery plan, including a coaching role, assessment, health education, lifestyle guidance, skills training, counselling, diversity specialist, and integrative care coordinat…
Response
On hating in the first person plural
Moss conceptualizes racism, homophobia, and misogyny as not only structured forms of hatred but also as safe and diminished forms of thinking. Diminished and safe because their practitioners ground their “thinking” on a platform entirely constructed by predecessors. Whatever there is to see, to categorize, to interrogate has already been seen, categorized, and interrogated. The work of “thought,” then, is to simply confirm what has previously bee…
Hating, Abhorring and Wishing to Destroy: Psychoanalytic Essays on the Contemporary Moment
Words’ Unconditional Presence
On Having Whiteness
Whiteness is a condition one first acquires and then one has—a malignant, parasitic-like condition to which “white” people have a particular susceptibility. The condition is foundational, generating characteristic ways of being in one’s body, in one’s mind, and in one’s world. Parasitic Whiteness renders its hosts’ appetites voracious, insatiable, and perverse. These deformed appetites particularly target nonwhite peoples. Once established, these…
I and You—One Sentence Per Patient Per Session in The Time of Covid
Free Speech, Love Speech, Hate Speech, and Neutrality: In and Out of the Consulting Room
Commentary on Phillips
Pussy Riot: Commentary on Hansbury
Me Here, You There—Now What? Commentary on Kite, Morris, Wilson, and Kattlove
Our Crying Planet: An Approach to the Problem of Climate Change Denial
The Insane Look of the Bewildered Half-Broken Animal
On the way to neurophenomenology
Susan Gordon has produced a timely book with her new volume on Neurophenomenology. Neurophenomenology is a hot topic within philosophy and neuroscience, yet its assimilation within mainstream psych
Introduction: “The Sexual Aberrations”—Where Do We Stand Today
Sexual aberrationssexual normsFreudinfantile sexualityobject relationsperversionbinaries
An Addendum to Kravis: An Appreciative Note on Hating One’s Work
HatredworkFreudprimary processsecondary processwish fulfillmentpain
Like Drives, Cultural Products Exert a “Demand on the Mind for Work”: An Introduction to Two Exemplary Essays
Can the analyst think while enacting
On Three Strands of Meaning Associated With the Word Nigger Used During the Course of a Psychoanalytic Treatment
The author presents an overview of recent clinical/theoretical work on the construction of otherness in structured forms of hatred. He then uses clinical material to demonstrate three interwoven strands of meaning attached to the word nigger, a pejorative used frequently by a patient during the course of a psychoanalytic treatment. As used by this patient, one strand is projective and the other essentialist. The author then reflects on his own us…
Two Readings of Arlow’s “Unconscious Fantasy and Disturbances of Conscious Experience”: One Old and One “Green”
(2008). Two Readings of Arlow’s “Unconscious Fantasy and Disturbances of Conscious Experience”: One Old and One “Green”. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly: Vol. 77, No. 1, pp. 61-76
Countertransference Examples of the Syntactic Expression of Warded-Off Contents
This is a preliminary statement of the hypothesis that syntax in speech may act as an "incidental stimulus" in the communication of mental contents which the speaker is motivated both to conceal and to express. Ten clinical examples, taken from verbatim transcripts of one psychoanalyst's interventions in a recorded case, illustrate the expression of countertransference attitudes by syntactic and other linguistic properties such as: the agentless …
On Having Whiteness
Whiteness is a condition one first acquires and then one has—a malignant, parasitic-like condition to which “white” people have a particular susceptibility. The condition is foundational, generating characteristic ways of being in one’s body, in one’s mind, and in one’s world. Parasitic Whiteness renders its hosts’ appetites voracious, insatiable, and perverse. These deformed appetites particularly target nonwhite peoples. Once established, these…
On Hating in the First Person Plural: Thinking Psychoanalytically About Racism, Homophobia, and Misogyny
On the basis of personal, cultural, and clinical references, misogyny, homophobia, and racism are conceptualized as structured forms of hatred grounded in a defensive use of the first person plural voice. This use of hatred defends against dangers associated with desires linked to the first person singular. In these hatreds, “I want” is defensively transformed into “we hate.” Disidentification from and hatred of the object appear where identifica…
Mapping Racism
The author uses the metaphor of mapping to illuminate a structural feature of racist thought, locating the degraded object along vertical and horizontal axes. These axes establish coordinates of hierarchy and of distance. With the coordinates in place, racist thought begins to seem grounded in natural processes. The other's identity becomes consolidated, and parochialism results. The use of this kind of mapping is illustrated via two patient vign…
Two Readings of Arlow’s “Unconscious Fantasy and Disturbances of Conscious Experience”: One Old and One “Green”
(2008). Two Readings of Arlow’s “Unconscious Fantasy and Disturbances of Conscious Experience”: One Old and One “Green”. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly: Vol. 77, No. 1, pp. 61-76
Internalized Homophobia in Men: Wanting in the First Person Singular, Hating in the First Person Plural
This paper focuses on the expression of internalized homophobia in men, arguing that the most powerful clinical use of this term depends upon its applicability to any man, without limitation to those whose primary object choice is homosexual. A number of dynamic situations are described to which the term might apply, elaborated by examples from contemporary culture and clinical practice. A central dynamic elucidated here is the move from an anxie…
On Situating Homophobia
Premised on the observation that the HIV epidemic has occasioned an increase in both the prevalence and the virulence of homophobic ideation, feeling, and action, this paper surveys some of the ways in which psychoanalytic theory has been widely used in the emerging extraclinical literature on this problem. The problem has been barely addressed in the clinical literature, however, a gap that is discussed. The paper then proceeds, by way of a clin…
Free Speech, Love Speech, Hate Speech, and Neutrality: In and Out of the Consulting Room
An Addendum to Kravis: An Appreciative Note on Hating One’s Work
HatredworkFreudprimary processsecondary processwish fulfillmentpain
In Pursuit of Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis: Findings and Recommendations from the Holmes Commission
Our Crying Planet: An Approach to the Problem of Climate Change Denial
The Insane Look of the Bewildered Half-Broken Animal
Introduction: “The Sexual Aberrations”—Where Do We Stand Today
Sexual aberrationssexual normsFreudinfantile sexualityobject relationsperversionbinaries
Like Drives, Cultural Products Exert a “Demand on the Mind for Work”: An Introduction to Two Exemplary Essays
Can the analyst think while enacting
On Three Strands of Meaning Associated With the Word Nigger Used During the Course of a Psychoanalytic Treatment
The author presents an overview of recent clinical/theoretical work on the construction of otherness in structured forms of hatred. He then uses clinical material to demonstrate three interwoven strands of meaning attached to the word nigger, a pejorative used frequently by a patient during the course of a psychoanalytic treatment. As used by this patient, one strand is projective and the other essentialist. The author then reflects on his own us…
Masculinity as Masquerade
Countertransference Examples of the Syntactic Expression of Warded-Off Contents
This is a preliminary statement of the hypothesis that syntax in speech may act as an "incidental stimulus" in the communication of mental contents which the speaker is motivated both to conceal and to express. Ten clinical examples, taken from verbatim transcripts of one psychoanalyst's interventions in a recorded case, illustrate the expression of countertransference attitudes by syntactic and other linguistic properties such as: the agentless …
Transient paranoia and the ‘gift’ in terminal illness
A case report of a transient paranoia in a man with a terminal illness is presented with three basic aims: (1) to highlight the delicate nature of the treatment of the gravely ill and to illustrate what may have been an iatrogenic panic; (2) to examine the development of the symptoms in such a way as to suggest a theoretical synthesis of the views of Kurt Eissler and those of D. W. Winnicott; (3) to illustrate the dramatic effect of a brief, dyna…
Pseudoquotes in Psychoanalytic Interventions
The syntactical structure of any psychoanalytic intervention is itself overdetermined. As such, when the syntax of an analyst's intervention seems out of the ordinay, it may mark a moment of particular difficulty. One syntactical form used frequently by psychoanalysts is a pseudoquote. In this form, the analyst speaks for the patient, uses the pronoun “I,” as though he were, for the moment, the voice of the patient. Three such interventions are p…
On Situating Homophobia
Premised on the observation that the HIV epidemic has occasioned an increase in both the prevalence and the virulence of homophobic ideation, feeling, and action, this paper surveys some of the ways in which psychoanalytic theory has been widely used in the emerging extraclinical literature on this problem. The problem has been barely addressed in the clinical literature, however, a gap that is discussed. The paper then proceeds, by way of a clin…
On the Fetishization of "Creativity"; Towards a General Theory of Work
Film Review Essay: The Real Thing? Some Thoughts on Boys Don't Cry
On Hating in the First Person Plural: Thinking Psychoanalytically About Racism, Homophobia, and Misogyny
On the basis of personal, cultural, and clinical references, misogyny, homophobia, and racism are conceptualized as structured forms of hatred grounded in a defensive use of the first person plural voice. This use of hatred defends against dangers associated with desires linked to the first person singular. In these hatreds, “I want” is defensively transformed into “we hate.” Disidentification from and hatred of the object appear where identifica…
Notes on the Death Penalty in the Context of the September 11 Attacks
As of September 11, 2001, a rogue and criminal entity has sentenced us to death. The sentence makes no distinction between the innocent and the guilty. Its authors proceed as self-declared sovereigns exacting limitless retribution. The terrorizing extremity of their program reveals some of the malignant determinants in the pursuit of both sovereignty and retribution. Some of those determinants, also operative in judicially sanctioned executions, …
Internalized Homophobia in Men: Wanting in the First Person Singular, Hating in the First Person Plural
This paper focuses on the expression of internalized homophobia in men, arguing that the most powerful clinical use of this term depends upon its applicability to any man, without limitation to those whose primary object choice is homosexual. A number of dynamic situations are described to which the term might apply, elaborated by examples from contemporary culture and clinical practice. A central dynamic elucidated here is the move from an anxie…
Infecting the Treatment: Being an HIV-Positive Analyst (review)
Infecting the Treatment: Being an HIV-Positive Analyst . Gilbert Cole. Hillsdale, N.J.: Analytic Press, 2002. 187 pp. $39.95
Film Review: Telling it and passing it on, rendering and remembering: On turning suffering into history— Conspiracy
Telling it and passing it on, rendering and remembering: On turning suffering into history— Conspiracy
On the Utopian Politics of Love the Sin Commentary on Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance by Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pelligrini
In considering the utopian vision that informs Love the Sin, the author situates that vision in relation to the utopian vision that informs psychoanalysis. These two visions are then contrasted
Mapping Racism
The author uses the metaphor of mapping to illuminate a structural feature of racist thought, locating the degraded object along vertical and horizontal axes. These axes establish coordinates of hierarchy and of distance. With the coordinates in place, racist thought begins to seem grounded in natural processes. The other's identity becomes consolidated, and parochialism results. The use of this kind of mapping is illustrated via two patient vign…
Masculinity as Masquerade
On Thinking and Not Being Able to Think: Reflections on Viewing the Abu Ghraib Photos
Using experiences from childhood, from encounters with contemporary art, from clinical experience, and, most elaborately, from an initial viewing of the Abu Ghraib photos, the author argues that the interpretability of experience depends upon its being legible. This legibility, in turn, depends upon the interpreter maintaining contact with his/her own capacities for thought, and, more fundamentally, with the vitally necessary community of others …
Two Readings of Arlow’s “Unconscious Fantasy and Disturbances of Conscious Experience”: One Old and One “Green”
(2008). Two Readings of Arlow’s “Unconscious Fantasy and Disturbances of Conscious Experience”: One Old and One “Green”. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly: Vol. 77, No. 1, pp. 61-76
Immaculate Attachment/Intelligent Design: Masculinity as Masquerade, Masculinity as Authentic
On Three Strands of Meaning Associated With the Word Nigger Used During the Course of a Psychoanalytic Treatment
The author presents an overview of recent clinical/theoretical work on the construction of otherness in structured forms of hatred. He then uses clinical material to demonstrate three interwoven strands of meaning attached to the word nigger, a pejorative used frequently by a patient during the course of a psychoanalytic treatment. As used by this patient, one strand is projective and the other essentialist. The author then reflects on his own us…
Like Drives, Cultural Products Exert a “Demand on the Mind for Work”: An Introduction to Two Exemplary Essays
Can the analyst think while enacting
An Addendum to Kravis: An Appreciative Note on Hating One’s Work
HatredworkFreudprimary processsecondary processwish fulfillmentpain
Introduction: “The Sexual Aberrations”—Where Do We Stand Today
Sexual aberrationssexual normsFreudinfantile sexualityobject relationsperversionbinaries
On the way to neurophenomenology
Susan Gordon has produced a timely book with her new volume on Neurophenomenology. Neurophenomenology is a hot topic within philosophy and neuroscience, yet its assimilation within mainstream psych
Me Here, You There—Now What? Commentary on Kite, Morris, Wilson, and Kattlove
Psychology (39 works) · Psychoanalysis (30 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Computer Science (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Psychotherapist (9 works) · Linguistics (8 works) · Psychoanalytic theory (8 works)