Diana Diamond PhD – Psychologist ♦ Psychoanalyst ♦ Professor ♦ Author

Diana Diamond, Ph.D. is a psychoanalytic clinician, professor, and researcher. Dr. Diamond specializes in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and supervision. In her private practice, she treats patients who are experiencing conflicts around normative life cycle transitions (e.g., puberty, marriage, parenthood) and who have difficulties with intimacy, identity formation, and goal definition. She also works with patients with more pervasive and severe problems in daily functioning and self-and affect-regulation, and who struggle to sustain their primary relationships. She also treats couples and families. Her general therapeutic orientation is informed by contemporary psychoanalytic object relations theory, which integrates the contributions of attachment theory and cognitive neuroscience.

She is Professor Emerita in the doctoral program at the City University of New York and currently teaches in several programs, including the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the New School for Social Research, the New York University Postdoctoral Program of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Society (NYPSI). She is a senior fellow in the Personality Disorders Institute (PDI), an international research and clinical training center at the Weill Cornell Medical College, where she teaches and supervises an evidence-based model of treatment, Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), which is designed to address difficulties in self and interpersonal functioning for patients with personality disorders. Recently, she and her colleagues have adapted TFP to meet the special challenges of patients with narcissistic disorders.

She has published widely and lectured internationally on the theory and treatment of personality disorders, pathological narcissism, attachment and mentalization, gender and sexuality, and cinema and psychoanalysis. She is the author or editor of four books, including most recently Treating Pathological Narcissism with Transference Focused Psychotherapy (Guilford Press, 2021).

Awards include the Research Award from Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association and the Aaron Stern distinguished visiting professor award from Weill Cornell Medical College in recognition of her contributions to understanding the etiology and treatment of narcissistic disorders.

She is also an honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association and a member of TFP-New York, a group dedicated to the study, development, and teaching of an object-relations approach to psychotherapy.

She serves on the editorial boards of Psychoanalytic Psychology and Psychoanalytic Inquiry and is co-vice President of the Margaret Mahler Foundation.

View Dr. Diamond’s CV.

Research and Treatment Interests

Psychodynamic psychotherapy with adults, adolescents, and couples (in person and teletherapy)
Treatment and research on personality disorders (specifically, Narcissistic and Borderline PD)
Women’s mental health and issues around gender and sexuality (conflicts around sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause)
Psychology of film, in particular, the cinematic representations of women and trauma
Adult developmental transitions (marriage, divorce, retirement, loss and mourning)
Executive coaching and organizational consultation

Professional Activities

Psychotherapist and Analyst in Private Practice
Senior Fellow – Personality Disorders Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College
Professor Emerita – Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, City University of New York
Adjunct Professor of Clinical Practice – New School for Social Research
Adjunct Professor – New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis