Ben Kafka, Ph.D., L.P., is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Greenwich Village. He serves on the faculties of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center and the DeWitt Wallace Institute of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell. He is also the co-founder of Princeton’s new Seminar on Interdisciplinary Psychoanalytic Studies. Originally trained as a historian, Kafka taught at NYU for nearly twenty years before leaving to focus on clinical work. His first book, The Demon of Writing: Powers and Failures of Paperwork (Zone Books, 2012) was a historical and psychological investigation into our encounters with bureaucracy, especially when things go wrong. He’s currently working on a book for Random House about how people drive each other crazy.
Ben Kafka
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychoanalysis, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia
Participant In These Roundtable Discussions
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Sep 20th
2025
Sep 20th
2025
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Resurgence of Freud
This roundtable explores the resurgence of psychoanalysis, examining its enduring appeal despite scientific criticism and changing therapeutic practices. It considers how Freudian ideas continue to influence therapy, the humanities, and contemporary debates in the age of AI.