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Kate Harper
Assistant Professor, Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy; Director of Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy Programs
In 2017 I successfully defended my PhD dissertation in Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario.
I have also completed a four-year diploma program in psychoanalysis at the Toronto Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. In the academic stream of this program I furthered my knowledge in the area of clinical psychodynamic psychology; short-term and long-term dynamic therapies; and contemporary psychoanalysis with an emphasis on relational psychotherapies.
I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Psychology from York University.
In 2021, I was named a Clinical Fellow in Neuropsychoanalysis by the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society.
The focus of my research for my BA, MA, and PhD is interdisciplinary in nature: I study historical and theoretical aspects of psychology, psychoanalysis and neuroscience. My current research focuses on "theoretical neuroscience" with an emphasis on neural network theories from the past in light of new technology and contemporary theory. In looking at these theories, I am exploring the recently developed field of Neuropsychoanalysis, a discipline that aims to integrate psychodynamic psychology and psychoanalysis with neuroscience as the fields work together to better understand the processes of psychic functioning. I am particularly interested in the electrical and chemical changes that occur at the synaptic level that lead to brain plasticity and change due to psychotherapy.
In addition to my education, I have also worked as a clinical research coordinator in the psychiatric department at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto, and I have been teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels for more than 15 years.
Research / Areas of Expertise
- Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy.
- Neuroscience and change in psychotherapy.
- History of psychology, psychoanalysis and neuroscience.
- Society for Pastoral Care and Counselling Research dissertation award (2017).
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship (2005-2009).
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship (declined due to acceptance of SSHRC) (2005).
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Master’s Scholarship (2003).
- American Psychological Association Book Proposal Prize, 2nd place (2009).
- Council of Canadian Departments of Psychology Excellence in Teaching Award (2009).
- Dean’s Honour Roll and Continuing Education Scholarships each year at York University (2000-2003).
- York University Graduate Studies Entrance Scholarship (2003).
- York University Psychology Department Award Best Fourth-Year Extended Paper – Honours Thesis (2003).
I supervise doctoral students.
- Harper, K. (2019). Alexander Bain's Mind and Body (1872): An underappreciated contribution to early neuropsychology. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 55(2), 139-160.
- Harper, K. (2019). Historical and contemporary explorations in neurotheology. Consensus, 40(2), 4.
- Harper, K. (2019). Faith and science. Consensus, 40(2), 1.
- Harper, K. A. (2018). Freud’s couch: Repressed no more. Review of On the couch: A repressed history of the analytic couch from Plato to Freud by N. Kravis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 54(4), 309-311.
- Fancher, R., Rutherford, A., Harper, K. (2011). Testbank and Ancillary Products for Pioneers of Psychology, 5th Edition. New York: Norton.
- Harper, K.A. (2007). Review of the book; Is Oedipus Online? Siting Freud after Freud. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 43, 2, 216-217.
- Harper, K.A. (2005). Complexity theory and psychoanalysis. Psychoanalyst-Psychologist, 25, (3), 53. (Peer Reviewed).