Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
@adamdeville.bsky.social
Professor of psychology and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Canadian citizen abroad.
The quiet of the late morning before the first patient. While the kettle boils to make the tea, you fuss over the plants and wind the clock and enjoy the "stillness between two waves of the sea" (Eliot).
November 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
The quiet of the late morning before the first patient. While the kettle boils to make the tea, you fuss over the plants and wind the clock and enjoy the "stillness between two waves of the sea" (Eliot).
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
Happy Friday!
November 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Happy Friday!
If I'm ever on death row this is ancient food of my people is what I'm requesting.
Are any of you cardiologists? I might need one after this trip
November 4, 2025 at 12:08 AM
If I'm ever on death row this is ancient food of my people is what I'm requesting.
Dr Aftab is always a careful thinker and cogent writer and this essay exemplifies both virtues, not least for its critical discussion of the increasing phenomenon of 'diagnosis as identity'.
I wrote about the DSM for @asteriskmag.bsky.social ... its historical evolution, scientific disputes, and cultural debates. I’ve tried instead to capture the texture of the rich discussions and the vast commentary that exist around the manual. Enjoy! asteriskmag.substack.com/p/you-arent-...
You Aren't in the DSM
Five editions on, the DSM shoulders more responsibilities than it was ever intended for. How did we get here?
asteriskmag.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Dr Aftab is always a careful thinker and cogent writer and this essay exemplifies both virtues, not least for its critical discussion of the increasing phenomenon of 'diagnosis as identity'.
I thought after 9 months of piano lessons I'd be playing like this guy instead of the painful plodding I do--though not without some fun. Perhaps some day!
makes me weep to think of the gifts robbed from us because unaffordable housing has made it difficult for people to pursue their passions and hobbies
October 26, 2025 at 11:32 PM
I thought after 9 months of piano lessons I'd be playing like this guy instead of the painful plodding I do--though not without some fun. Perhaps some day!
"We need to notice that many of the best things in our lives, about our lives, begin as resistances....Our resistance is central to our singularity....Resistance is the one thing we should not resist."
Adam Phillips, "On Resistance," LRB, 14 August 2025.
Adam Phillips, "On Resistance," LRB, 14 August 2025.
October 18, 2025 at 5:42 PM
"We need to notice that many of the best things in our lives, about our lives, begin as resistances....Our resistance is central to our singularity....Resistance is the one thing we should not resist."
Adam Phillips, "On Resistance," LRB, 14 August 2025.
Adam Phillips, "On Resistance," LRB, 14 August 2025.
An encomium for the late Jonathan Lear, and thoughts on his books and those of others, including Laplanche on Freud and sex, Bion on psychosis, and Todd McGowan on Hegel and alienation--and many others!
booksinpsychotherapy.blogspot.com/2025/10/an-e...
booksinpsychotherapy.blogspot.com/2025/10/an-e...
An Encomium for Jonathan Lear....and Other Books
I did not mean to leave so large a gap on here, having posted nothing since March. I have several times gestured wanly in the direction of m...
booksinpsychotherapy.blogspot.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:29 AM
An encomium for the late Jonathan Lear, and thoughts on his books and those of others, including Laplanche on Freud and sex, Bion on psychosis, and Todd McGowan on Hegel and alienation--and many others!
booksinpsychotherapy.blogspot.com/2025/10/an-e...
booksinpsychotherapy.blogspot.com/2025/10/an-e...
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
I am An Old.
(I read way faster than people speak, so I'm almost always going to prefer text over video. I can also read without disturbing anyone nearby without requiring headphones)
(I read way faster than people speak, so I'm almost always going to prefer text over video. I can also read without disturbing anyone nearby without requiring headphones)
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video
September 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I am An Old.
(I read way faster than people speak, so I'm almost always going to prefer text over video. I can also read without disturbing anyone nearby without requiring headphones)
(I read way faster than people speak, so I'm almost always going to prefer text over video. I can also read without disturbing anyone nearby without requiring headphones)
I started reading Robert Jay Lifton's *Nazi Doctors* in the late 90s & then his other books, including his searing memoirs and his works on totalized thinking. I've recommended those & his other books to students for many years.
Eternal memory!
provincetownindependent.org/featured/202...
Eternal memory!
provincetownindependent.org/featured/202...
A Witness to History, Robert Jay Lifton Dies at 99 - The Provincetown Independent
TRURO — Robert Jay Lifton, the eminent psychiatrist, author, and anti-nuclear activist, died on Sept. 4, 2025 at the Truro home he had shared for more than a decade with […]
provincetownindependent.org
September 14, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I started reading Robert Jay Lifton's *Nazi Doctors* in the late 90s & then his other books, including his searing memoirs and his works on totalized thinking. I've recommended those & his other books to students for many years.
Eternal memory!
provincetownindependent.org/featured/202...
Eternal memory!
provincetownindependent.org/featured/202...
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
"What I want to argue, for my part, is that the conditions that conduce to good treatment are meaningfully different than those that conduce to good education, and that trying to do treatment and education within one organization fundamentally undermines each kind of work."
September 11, 2025 at 3:24 AM
"What I want to argue, for my part, is that the conditions that conduce to good treatment are meaningfully different than those that conduce to good education, and that trying to do treatment and education within one organization fundamentally undermines each kind of work."
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
Immigrants are a social good, anti-immigrant propaganda is basically all lies, and any approach to the "problem" that doesn't start form those two points is worthless
September 6, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Immigrants are a social good, anti-immigrant propaganda is basically all lies, and any approach to the "problem" that doesn't start form those two points is worthless
I have been telling my students this for years: claiming some treatment or other is "evidence-based" resolves little for it is a hermeneutical phrase in disguise and you cannot escape the interpretive task.
Great post by Nicole Rust.
Gems from @lisafeldmanbarrett.com:
“Empirical evidence […] is unable to resolve even the most basic issues.”
“Some of the toughest and most intractable scientific debates, such as those in the science of emotion, are actually philosophical disagreements in disguise.”
Gems from @lisafeldmanbarrett.com:
“Empirical evidence […] is unable to resolve even the most basic issues.”
“Some of the toughest and most intractable scientific debates, such as those in the science of emotion, are actually philosophical disagreements in disguise.”
My new essay for @thetransmitter.bsky.social. Why is understanding emotion so challenging? The debates around what counts as an "emotion" shed insight.
These disputes are multidimensional, principled and fascinating. Here, I unpack them.
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
These disputes are multidimensional, principled and fascinating. Here, I unpack them.
www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...
September 6, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I have been telling my students this for years: claiming some treatment or other is "evidence-based" resolves little for it is a hermeneutical phrase in disguise and you cannot escape the interpretive task.
Already had a week of them before classes started.
Who’s ready for a bunch of unnecessary faculty meetings! #welcomeback
September 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Already had a week of them before classes started.
Ugh. Already seeing promotions of pumpkin this and that. The divine and natural law on this topic was decreed by Sts Jennifer and Clarissa three decades ago:
youtu.be/0k5vchWgK68?...
youtu.be/0k5vchWgK68?...
Two Fat Ladies - Never Let An American Near A Pumpkin - Their Take on American Pumpkin Pie!
YouTube video by Grilledcheesyness
youtu.be
September 1, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Ugh. Already seeing promotions of pumpkin this and that. The divine and natural law on this topic was decreed by Sts Jennifer and Clarissa three decades ago:
youtu.be/0k5vchWgK68?...
youtu.be/0k5vchWgK68?...
Edinburgh
Vienna
Lviv
Dublin
Cardiff
Vienna
Lviv
Dublin
Cardiff
If you could get an apartment in any five cities (five apartments) of your choice in the world, which would you choose?
1) Chicago
2) Toronto
3) Los Angeles
4) Philadelphia
5) New Orleans
1) Chicago
2) Toronto
3) Los Angeles
4) Philadelphia
5) New Orleans
If you could get an apartment in any five cities (five apartments) of your choice in the world, which would you choose?
1) Glasgow
2) Montreal
3) Sydney
4) Vancouver
5) was gonna say Seattle but tbh anywhere not in the US 🙃
1) Glasgow
2) Montreal
3) Sydney
4) Vancouver
5) was gonna say Seattle but tbh anywhere not in the US 🙃
August 14, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Edinburgh
Vienna
Lviv
Dublin
Cardiff
Vienna
Lviv
Dublin
Cardiff
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
Feeling this hard today. #AcademicSky
August 2, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Feeling this hard today. #AcademicSky
Ogden is one of the richest and most rewarding psychoanalytic writers today, and Adam Rodriguez one of his most perceptive commentators.
Reading Ogden: On Psychoanalytic Virtues
Series by Adam Rodriguez on Thomas Ogden
“The institution of psychoanalysis is not superordinate to the patient & their needs. At all times, the needs of the patient, & those impacted by the patient, take priority.”
www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/reading-og...
Series by Adam Rodriguez on Thomas Ogden
“The institution of psychoanalysis is not superordinate to the patient & their needs. At all times, the needs of the patient, & those impacted by the patient, take priority.”
www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/reading-og...
Reading Ogden: On Psychoanalytic Virtues
Part 1 of a 3-part series by Adam Rodriguez on the work of Thomas Ogden
www.psychiatrymargins.com
July 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Ogden is one of the richest and most rewarding psychoanalytic writers today, and Adam Rodriguez one of his most perceptive commentators.
Just blurted out an abject apology to one of my plants after accidentally tearing off a healthy bit while trying to pluck the dead leaves. Surely this is normal behavior and not King Charles Syndrome?
July 26, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Just blurted out an abject apology to one of my plants after accidentally tearing off a healthy bit while trying to pluck the dead leaves. Surely this is normal behavior and not King Charles Syndrome?
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
Groundbreaking Analysis Upends Our Understanding of Psychiatric Holds
In situations where some physicians would admit involuntarily but others would not, holding patients against their will leaves them worse off.
www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/a-groundbr...
In situations where some physicians would admit involuntarily but others would not, holding patients against their will leaves them worse off.
www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/a-groundbr...
Groundbreaking Analysis Upends Our Understanding of Psychiatric Holds
In situations where some physicians would admit involuntarily but others would not, holding patients against their will leaves them worse off.
www.psychiatrymargins.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Groundbreaking Analysis Upends Our Understanding of Psychiatric Holds
In situations where some physicians would admit involuntarily but others would not, holding patients against their will leaves them worse off.
www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/a-groundbr...
In situations where some physicians would admit involuntarily but others would not, holding patients against their will leaves them worse off.
www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/a-groundbr...
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
Erich Fromm wrote about this sort of sadism in The Authoritarian Personality
“the most radical means to this is to make him suffer; as there is no greater power over a person than to make him suffer, to force him to endure pains without resistance.”
“the most radical means to this is to make him suffer; as there is no greater power over a person than to make him suffer, to force him to endure pains without resistance.”
July 2, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Erich Fromm wrote about this sort of sadism in The Authoritarian Personality
“the most radical means to this is to make him suffer; as there is no greater power over a person than to make him suffer, to force him to endure pains without resistance.”
“the most radical means to this is to make him suffer; as there is no greater power over a person than to make him suffer, to force him to endure pains without resistance.”
I *despise* endnotes, whether at the end of a chapter or end of the book.
Just use footnotes. No one likes checking references at a later page.
June 26, 2025 at 1:32 AM
I *despise* endnotes, whether at the end of a chapter or end of the book.
Reposted by Adam DeVille, Ph.D.
"Vienna has found a way to build affordable housing and combat climate change at the same time. Now U.S. cities want in."
When it comes to housing it seems all roads lead to Vienna. Good to see the rest of the world is catching on. You listening #NewZealand?
#Housing #Vienna #US
When it comes to housing it seems all roads lead to Vienna. Good to see the rest of the world is catching on. You listening #NewZealand?
#Housing #Vienna #US
Vienna has a way to make affordable housing and combat climate change all at the same time. Now U.S. cities want in, and they're building their own green housing.
Could this city be the model for how to tackle the housing crisis and climate change?
Vienna has a way to make affordable housing and combat climate change all at the same time. Now U.S. cities want in, and they're building their own green housing.
n.pr
June 23, 2025 at 12:22 AM
"Vienna has found a way to build affordable housing and combat climate change at the same time. Now U.S. cities want in."
When it comes to housing it seems all roads lead to Vienna. Good to see the rest of the world is catching on. You listening #NewZealand?
#Housing #Vienna #US
When it comes to housing it seems all roads lead to Vienna. Good to see the rest of the world is catching on. You listening #NewZealand?
#Housing #Vienna #US
Many church picnics of my childhood ended with these and yes the spoon had a noticeable taste to it.
June 21, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Many church picnics of my childhood ended with these and yes the spoon had a noticeable taste to it.
Done this more times than I care to admit.
Read a whole book today.
Wrote one (1) footnote with it.
Wrote one (1) footnote with it.
June 21, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Done this more times than I care to admit.