Danielle Knafo
Professor of Psychology
B.A., Tel Aviv University (Israel), Ph.D., The Graduate Center, CUNY, Cert. of Psychoanalysis, NYUPh.D., The Graduate Center, CUNY
danielle.knafo@liu.edu
Description
Dr. Danielle Knafo is a professor in the clinical psychology doctoral program at LIU Post; she is also a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. She took her BA in Literature and Psychology and her MA in Clinical Psychology at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. She received her Ph.D. from CUNY and her Psychoanalytic Training from NYU. She has taught at a variety of academic institutions (New School for Social Research, Tel-Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University) as well as psychoanalytic institutes (Israel Psychoanalytic, Derner, NYU Postdoc). Dr. Knafo has extensive experience treating diverse patient populations. She has worked in several psychiatric institutions, clinics, and the court system, as well as in private practice. Due to her multicultural background, she has also worked in a variety of cultural settings emphasizing ethnic and language diversity. Dr. Knafo has an expertise in the psychology of art and has lectured and published extensively in that area. She has also published, lectured, and developed a clinical expertise in trauma, gender and sexuality, psychosis, perversion, and technology. In addition to her considerable clinical experience, Dr. Knafo directs a lens on cultural and gender issues to everything she teaches. At LIU Post, Dr. Knafo is coordinator of the SMI concentration. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Psychoanalytic Association, the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, and NYU’s Postdoctoral Program for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She has published nine books and is a member of the Authors Guild.
http://myweb.cwpost.liu.edu/dknafo
www.danielleknafo.com
Specialties
Gender, Sexuality, and Perversion; Immigration and Multiculturalism; Clinical Issues in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis; Psychology of Art and Creativity; Terror-Related Trauma; Serious Mental Illness and Psychosis; Technology.
Publications
Books
D. Knafo & M. Selzer. Psychosis: A Handbook for the Psychodynamic Treatment of Serious
Mental Illness. Routledge.
D. Knafo & R. Lo Bosco. 2020. The New Sexual Landscape and Contemporary
Psychoanalysis. London: Confer Books.
D. Knafo & R. Lo Bosco. 2017. The Age of Perversion: Desire and Technology in
Psychoanalysis and Culture. London: Routledge. (ABPP 2018 Book Prize)
D. Knafo, R. Keisner & S. Fiammenghi, Eds. 2015. Stories of Clinical Psychologists
in Training: Personal Transformation and Professional Development.
Lanham, MD: Rowman-Littlefield.
D. Knafo. 2012. Dancing with the Unconscious: The Art of Psychoanalysis and the
Psychoanalysis of Art. Routledge. (Gradiva Prize nominee)
D. Knafo. 2009. In Her Own Image: Women’s Self-Representation in Twentieth-
Century Art. Associated Universities Press. (Krasnoff Prize)
D. Knafo & K. Feiner. 2005. Unconscious Fantasies and the Relational World.
Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press. (Goethe Prize honoree)
D. Knafo. 2004. Living with Terror, Working with Trauma: A Clinician’s Handbook
Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
D. Knafo. 1993. Egon Schiele: A Self in Creation: A Psychoanalytic Study of the
Artist's Self-Portraits. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
D. Kahoud, & D. Knafo. 2018. Sex, Drugs, and Creativity: Searching for
Magic in a Disenchanted World. London & NY: Routledge.
Journal Articles
D. Knafo. 2021. Self-Creation and the Good Life: Carlo Strenger’s Existential Psychoanalysis for
our Time. Psychoanalytic Psychology.
D. Knafo. 2020. Film, psychotherapy, and the taming of rage at the mother. Journal of
Clinical Psychology, 76(8): 1514-1519.
D. Knafo. 2020.The Sexual Illusionist. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 17(1): 13-30.
D. Knafo. 2020. Alone in a Crowded Mind: When Psychosis Masks Loneliness.
Psychoanalytic Psychology, 37(2): 108-116.
D. Knafo. 2018. Beginnings and endings: Time and termination in psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(1), 8.
D. Knafo. 2018. Desiring castration: A reformulation of Castration Theory Illustrated
With a transsexual case. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 38(1): 34-50.
D. Knafo. 2016. Going Blind to See: The Role of Regression in the Psychoanalytic
Treatment of Psychosis. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 70(1): 79-100.
D. Knafo. 2015. For the Love of Death: Somnophilic and Necrophilic Acts and Fantasies. JAPA.
(Winner of the 2014 Corst Essay Prize), 63(5): 857-886.
D. Knafo. 2015. Guys and Dolls: Relational Life in the Technological Era. Psychoanalytic
Dialogues, 25: 481-502.
D. Knafo. 2015. Technology, Perversion, and Dehumanization. Psychoanalytic
Dialogues, 25: 524-531.
D. Knafo & M. Selzer. 2015. “Don’t Step on Tony!” The Importance of Symptoms When Working
with Psychosis. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 32(1): 159-172.Knafo, D. (2014). Donald Kaplan: Freud with Humor. In DIVISION/Review: A Quarterly Psychoanalytic Forum (Vol. 11, pp.
24-26). American Psychoanalytic Association.
Conason, A., Teixeira, J., Hsu, C. H., Puma, L., Knafo, D., & Geliebter, A. (2013). Substance use
following bariatric weight loss surgery. JAMA surgery, 148(2), 145-150.
D. Knafo. 2012. Shakespeare, Psychoanalysis and Creativity: Commentary on Paper by Lauren
Levine. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 22(4): 472-477.
D. Knafo. 2012. Dancing with the Unconscious: The Art of Psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 32: 275-291.
D. Knafo. 2012. Working with the Limits of Human Experience. The American
Psychoanalyst, vol. 46(2): 17-18, 20.D.
Knafo. 2012. Alone Together: Solitude and Encounter in Art and Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic
Dialogues, 22(1): 54-71.D.
Knafo. 2012. Solitude and Relatedness: A Wily and Complex Twinship. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 22(1) :
83-92.
D. Knafo. 2010. The O.R.T. (The Object Relations Technique): A Reintroduction.
Psychoanalytic Psychology, 27(2): 182-189.
D. Knafo. After September 11th: Learning from Israel. Clio’s Psyche.
D. Knafo. 2009. Castration and Medusa: Orlan’s Art on the Cutting Edge. Studies in
Gender and Sexuality,10(3): 1-17.
D. Knafo. 2009. Freud’s Memory Erased. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 26(2):171-190.
D. Knafo. 2008. The Senses Grow Skilled in their Craving: Thoughts on Creativity and
Addiction. Psychoanalytic Review, 95(4):571-596.
D. Knafo. 2006. Creativity and Addiction. Round Robin, XXI (3): 1, 12-16.
D. Knafo. 2005. The Glory and Shadow of Fame. Clio’s Psyche, 12(3):1 & 149-152.
D. Knafo. 2005. Egon Schiele: Art and Psyche. Psychoanalytic Association of NY
Bulletin, 43(3): 14-18.
D. Knafo. 2003, Creative Transformation of Trauma: Pain in the Public Domain. Israel
Psychoanalytic Journal, 1 (4): 537-564.
D. Knafo. 2003. What Does a Man Want? Reflections on Surrealism Unbound, an
Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Studies in Gender and Sexuality,
4(3): 287-307.
D. Knafo & K. Feiner. 2002. Blue Velvet: David Lynch’s Primal Scene. International
Journal of Psychoanalysis, 83 (6): 1445-51.
D. Knafo. 2002. Revisiting Ernst Kris’ Concept ‘Regression in the Service of the Ego.’
Psychoanalytic Psychology. 19(1): 24-49.
D. Knafo. 2001. Hannah Wilke: The Naked Truth. Gender and Psychoanalysis. 5(1): 3-
35.
D. Knafo. 2001. Claude Cahun: The Third Sex. Studies in Gender and Sexuality. 2 (1):
29-61.
D. Knafo. 2000. Revelations and Rage: Violence Against Women in the Art of Women
Artists. Violence Against Women, vol 6(6): 661-681.
D. Knafo. 1999. Antisemitism in the Clinical Setting: Transference and
Countertransference Dimensions. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association, 47 (1): 35-63.
S. Shulman, E. Rosenheim, & D. Knafo. 1999. The Interface of Adolescent and Parent
Marital Expectations. American Journal of Family Therapy, 27: 213-222.
D. Knafo. 1998. The Dead Mother in Käthe Kollwitz’ Art. Art Criticism, 13 (2): 4-15.
D. Knafo. 1998. Transitional Space in the Treatment of Immigrants. Israel Journal of
Psychiatry, 1: 48-55.
S. Shulman & D. Knafo. 1997. Romantic Relationships in Adolescence: More than
Casual Dating. New Directions in Child Development. 68: 105-110.
S. Shulman and D. Knafo. 1997. Balancing Closeness and Individuality in Adolescent
Close Relationships. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21(4):
687-702.
D. Knafo. 1996. In Her Own Image: Self-Representation in the Art of Frida Kahlo and
Ana Mendieta. Art Criticism, 11(2): 1-19.
D. Knafo. 1996. Dressing Up and Other Games of Make-Believe: The Function of Play
in the Art of Cindy Sherman. American Imago, 53 (2): 139-164.
D. Knafo & K. Feiner. 1996. The Primal Scene: Variations on a Theme. Journal of the
American Psychoanalytic Association. 44 (2): 2001-2021.
D. Knafo. 1993. The Mirror, the Mask, and the Masquerade in the Art and Life of Frida
Kahlo. The Annual of Psychoanalysis, 21: 277-299.
D. Knafo. 1992. The Oedipal Complex in Dreams of Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung. The
International Review of Psycho-Analysis, 19(3): 351-8.
D. Knafo. Egon Schiele and Frida Kahlo: The Self-Portrait as Mirror. Journal of the
American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 1991, 19(4): 630-47.
D. Knafo. 1991. David Lynch's Darker Passions. Academy Forum of the American
Academy of Psychoanalysis, 35(1,2): 5-7.
D. Knafo. 1991. Egon Schiele's Self-Portraits: A Psychoanalytic Study in the Creation of
a Self. The Annual of Psychoanalysis, 19: 59-90.
D. Knafo. What's in a Name? Psychoanalytic Considerations on Children of Famous
Parents. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 1991, 8(3): 263-281.
D. Knafo & R. Setton. 1990. Madness and Contemporary Jewish Literature. Academy
Forum of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 34(1-2): 12-13.
D. Knafo & Y. Jaffe. 1984. Sexual Fantasizing in Males and Females. Journal of
Research in Personality, 18: 451-462.
Book Chapters
Kahoud, D. & Knafo, D. (2019). Ch 1: The sexual illusionist: Sleeping with fantasy. In
Sex Drugs, and Creativity: Searching for Magic in a Disenchanted World.
Routledge. New York, NY.
D. Knafo & S. Moscovitz. M. Charles, ed. 2017. Contemporary Freudian Approaches.
In Comparative Psychoanalysis: Defining Terms, Building Bridges. London:
Routledge.
D. Knafo & M. Selzer. 2017. Outpatient Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with
Psychosis: Managing Isolation and Creating Safety. In J. Mills & D. Downing,
Eds. Outpatient Treatment of Psychosis: Psychodynamic Approaches to
Evidence-Based Practice. London: Karnac.
D. Knafo. Alone Together: Solitude and Relatedness in the Creative Process. In
Encounters with Loneliness. Eds: Arlene Kramer Richards, Lucile Spira &
Arthur Lynch. IP Books. Pp. 17-36
D. Knafo. D. Artists’ solitude in the Creative Process. In Encounters with Loneliness.
Eds: Arlene Kramer Richards, Lucile Spira & Arthur Lynch. IP Books.
D. Knafo & Seymour Moscovitz. 2005. Psychoanalytic Treatment of Anger and
Aggression. In E. Feindler (ed) Comparative Treatment of Anger. Springer.
D. Knafo. 2004. Creative and Clinical Transformations of Trauma. In D. Knafo (ed.)
Living with Terror, Working with Trauma. Jason Aronson: 565-587.
M. Benyakar & D. Knafo. 2004. Disruption: Individual and Collective Threats. In D.
Knafo (ed.) Living with Terror, Working with Trauma. Jason Aronson: 83-
101.
D. Knafo. 2003. Mordechai Benyakar Workshop: The Frame and the Psychoanalytic
Space in the Face of War and Terror. In Terrorism and the Psychoanalytic
Space: International Perspectives from Ground Zero. Ed. J. Cancelmo and I.
Tylim. NY: Pace University Press: 124-126.
D. Knafo & A. Yaari. 1997. Leaving the Promised Land: Israeli Immigrants in the
United States. Chapter in Immigrant Experiences. Ed. P. Elovitz & C. Khan. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press: 221-40.
Book Reviews
D. Knafo. Book Review of Sergio Benvenuto’s What are Perversions? Sexuality, Ethics,
Psychoanalysis. Journal of Psychohistory.
D. Knafo. 2013. Book review of M. Charles’s Working with Trauma: Lessons from
Bion and Lacan. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 74(1): 92-3.
D. Knafo. 2010. The Politics of Desire: Book Review of Mark Blechner’s Sex Changes.
Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 46(1).
D. Knafo. 1996. Book Review of S. Kavaler-Adler's The Compulsion to Create.
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, 13 (1): 96-98.
D. Knafo. 1996, Discussion of Donald Kuspit’s Cult of the Avant-Garde. Art Criticism,
11 (1), 101-104.
D. Knafo. 1995, Book Review of M. Ellman's The Hunger Artists. Psychoanalytic
Books, 6 (2): 279-281.
D. Knafo. 1993, Book Review of A. Rothenberg's Creativity and Madness.
Psychoanalytic Books, 4(4): 564-566.
D. Knafo. 1992, Book Review of S. Feder, R. Karmel, & G. Pollock's Psychoanalytic
Explorations in Music. Psychoanalytic Books, 3(3): 458-62.
D. Knafo. 1992, Book Review of C. Easton's Jacqueline du Pré: A Biography.
Academy Forum of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 36(3): 25-6.
D. Knafo. 1991, Is Art Like a Dream? Book Review of J. Oremland's Michelangelo's
Sistine Ceiling: A Psychoanalytic Study of Creativity. Contemporary
Psychology, 36 (3): 249-50.
Art/Exhibition Catalogue Essays
D. Knafo. 2020. Nishan Kazazian : Architect of the Imagination. In Connecting the
Dots : The Architecture and Art of Nishan Kazazian
D. Knafo. 2016. Roberto Fabelo’s Visionary Madness. SculptuReview, 55 (2) : 24-31.
D. Knafo. 2016. In the Beginning was the Word : Yoan Capote. In : Yoan Capote.
Milan: Skira. 29-35.
D. Knafo. 2006 (Jan). Once More with Feeling. Haifa Museum of Art.
D. Knafo. 2002 (Mar. 3-Apr. 5) Turn of the Screw: The Metamorphosis of Raffael
Lomas. Curator and exhibition essay. Great Neck Arts Center.
D. Knafo. 1998 (Apr). Skin and Psyche: From the Womb to the Tomb. Israel Museum.
D. Knafo. 1998 (Sep). The Body of Love. Tel-Aviv Museum.
D. Knafo. 1996 (Sep). What You See is Not Always What You Get: Voyeurism and
The Primal Scene in Art. New Observations.
D. Knafo. 1990 (Dec). Misterio. Catalogue Essay and Art Layout for Multimedia
Installation by Giancarlo Biagi. Kampo Cultural Center, NY.
Encyclopedia Entries
D. Knafo. 2006. Mourning; Primal Fantasy; Primal Scene. Edinburgh International
Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis. Ed. Ross Skelton. Edinburgh University Press: 315; 375.
D. Knafo. 2002. Creativity; Primal Scene. The Freud Encyclopedia. Ed. Edward Erwin.
NY: Routledge: 111-113; 424-425.
Shulman, S. & D. Knafo. 1999. Puberty. Encyclopedia of Parenting Theory and
Research. Ed. Charles Smith. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 346-348.
Honors/Awards
American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis, 2018 Book Prize
Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2017
Krasnoff Lifetime Achievement Award, 2016
Barbro Sandin Award, for advancing work with vulnerable populations with psychosis.
ISPS, 2015
NYU Scholar’s Grant, 2015
CORST Essay Prize, American Psychoanalytic Association, 2014
LIU Research Grant, LIU, 2014
NYU Scholar’s Grant, NYU Psychoanalytic Society, 2013
Krasnoff Award for Scholarly Achievement, 2010
