Jon Mills (psychologist)

Mills is on Faculty in the Postgraduate Programs in Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University,[1] is Emeritus Professor of Psychology & Psychoanalysis at the Adler Graduate Professional School in Toronto,[2] and is chief psychologist at a mental health corporation[3] in Ontario, Canada. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University, his Psy.D. in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology-Chicago,[4] and was a Fulbright scholar in the Departments of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and York University.[5] He is a Diplomate, Fellow, and is board certified in Psychoanalysis and Clinical Psychology with the American Board of Professional Psychology,[6] and is a registered psychologist with the College of Psychologists of Ontario.[7]

Mills has been referred to as “an independent and serious thinker,”[8] "a focused and iconoclastic scholar,"[9] and "one of the most scholarly psychoanalytic thinkers of our time."[10] In 2008 he received a Significant Contribution to Canadian Psychology Award, won a Goethe Award[11][12] in 2013 for best book, and was the 2015 recipient of the Otto Weininger Memorial Award[13][14] for lifetime achievement from the Section on Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association. In 2006, 2011, 2013, and 2018, Mills also won a Gradiva Award[15] for his scholarship given by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis in New York City,[16] which has been in more categories than any other recipient in the history of the prize[17] including best article, book, and TV series, The Talking Cure.[18]

In his books, The Unconscious Abyss and Origins, Mills develops a psychoanalytic metaphysics called “dialectical psychoanalysis” or “process psychology” based on neo-Hegelian principles, which places the unconscious at the heart of all psychic activity.[9] He argues that the mind is ontologically constituted through unconscious genesis, and that subjectivity is conditioned a priori by unconscious agency, which is responsible for all forms of mental life to transpire,[19] including higher modes of consciousness, contrary to contemporary views in the philosophy of mind that place causal primacy on consciousness.[20] Rather than demote the mind to biological reductionism, unconscious processes are conceived as a series of psychic spacings that instantiate themselves through a multitude of schemata, which are the building blocks of psychic reality.[8] He makes the controversial claim that unconscious semiotics condition and underlie the structure and function of language, subjectivity, and social dynamics.[21]

Mills is one of the first psychoanalysts who is also a philosopher and critic of various theoretical schools in the history of the psychoanalytic movement, which is exemplified in his book, Underworlds.[22][23] Mills also offered the first sustained philosophical critique of contemporary psychoanalysis in his book, Conundrums, which examines and scrutinizes relational, intersubjective, and postmodern perspectives in the field.[24][25][26][27] He has been referred to as “the most important and profound spokesman to critique the relational psychoanalytic movement.”[28] In 2015, an international conference was held in Israel on his work titled, The Relational Approach and its Critics: A Conference with Dr. Jon Mills, which was sponsored by the Israeli Forum of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy and the Department of Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies at Bar-Ilan University.[29] The conference proceedings were published in the journal, Psychoanalytic Perspectives.[30]

• Mills, Jon (2020). Debating Relational Psychoanalysis: Jon Mills and his Critics. London: Routledge.
• Govrin, Aner & Jon Mills (Eds.) (2020). Innovations in Psychoanalysis: Originality, Development, Progress. London: Routledge.
• Naso, Ronald C. & Jon Mills (Eds.) (2020). Psychoanalysis Among Competing Schools: Identity in Difference. London: Routledge.
• Mills, Jon (2019). Jung and Philosophy. London: Routledge.
• Naso, Ronald C. & Jon Mills (Eds). (2019). Psychoanalytic Plurality in Theory and Praxis: Clinical Horizons. London: Routledge.
• Mills, Jon & David L. Downing (Eds.) (2018). Lacan on Psychosis: From Theory to Praxis. London: Routledge.[31]
• Naso, Ronald C. & Jon Mills (Eds.) (2018). Comparative Psychoanalysis: Reshaping the Psychoanalytic Domain. London: Routledge.
• Downing, David L., & Jon Mills (Eds.) (2017). Outpatient Treatment of Psychosis: A Psychodynamic Approach to Evidence-Based Practice. London: Karnac.[32][33]
• Merkur, Dan & Jon Mills (2017). Jung’s Ethics: Moral Psychology and his Cure of Souls. London: Routledge.[34][35][36][37]
• Mills, Jon (2017). Inventing God: Psychology of Belief and the Rise of Secular Spirituality. London: Routledge.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]
• Naso, Ronald C. & Jon Mills (Eds.) (2016). Ethics of Evil: Psychoanalytic Investigations. London: Karnac.
• Naso, Ronald C. & Jon Mills (Eds.) (2016). Humanizing Evil: Psychoanalytic, Philosophical, & Clinical Perspectives. London: Routledge.[48]
• Mills, Jon (2014). Underworlds: Philosophies of the Unconscious from Psychoanalysis to Metaphysics. London: Routledge[49][50][51][52][53][54][23]
• Mills, Jon (2013). L'inconscient et son lieu. Genèse de la réalité psychique. Montreal: Éditions Liber[19][55]
• Mills, Jon (2012). When God Wept (a novel). Washington, DC: The Humanist Press.[56][57][58]
• Mills, Jon (2012). Conundrums: A Critique of Contemporary Psychoanalysis. New York: Routledge.[59][24][22][60][61][62][25][26][63][27]
• Mills, Jon (2010). Origins: On the Genesis of Psychic Reality. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.[9][8][64][21]
• Mills, Jon (Ed.) (2006). Other Banalities: Melanie Klein Revisited. London: Routledge.[65][66][67]
• Mills, Jon. (2005). Treating Attachment Pathology. Lanham, MD: Aronson/Rowman & Littlefield.[68][69][70][71][72]
• Mills, Jon (Ed.) (2005). Relational and Intersubjective Perspectives in Psychoanalysis: A Critique. Lanham, MD: Aronson/Rowman & Littlefield.[73][74]
• Mills, Jon (Ed.) (2004). Psychoanalysis at the Limit: Epistemology, Mind, and the Question of Science. Albany: SUNY Press.[75][76]
• Mills, Jon (Ed.) (2004). Rereading Freud: Psychoanalysis through Philosophy. Albany: SUNY Press.[77][78][79][80]
• Mills, Jon (2002). The Unconscious Abyss: Hegel's Anticipation of Psychoanalysis. Albany: SUNY Press.[81][82][83][84][85][86]
• Mills, Jon, (Ed.) (2002). A Pedagogy of Becoming. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.[87]
• Mills, Jon, (Ed.) (1999). The Human Aspect: Selected Works in Psychoanalysis, Behaviorism, and Existential Phenomenology. Long Beach, NY: Whittier.[88]
• Mills, Jon & Janusz A. Polanowski (1997). The Ontology of Prejudice. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi.[89][90]

• Podcast Interview with Tracy D. Morgan at New Books in Psychoanalysis on December 19, 2012.
• Toward a Psychoanalytic Theory of Truth. A lecture delivered by professor Jon Mills at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Wrocław, Poland, on December 17, 2013.
• A Critique of the Postmodern Turn in Relational Psychonalysis' A lecture by Dr. Jon Mills, Keynote Speaker at the conference "Relational Psychoanalysis and Its Critics" held by the IARPP and Bar-Ilan's Multi-disciplinary Studies Unit, in February 2015.
• On the Essence of Evil A lecture delivered by Dr. Jon Mills at the Department of Hermeneutics & Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, February 10, 2015.
• Rethinking the Unconscious: Dissociation and the Question of Agency Lecture delivered by Dr. Jon Mills at the Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi, India, on February 20, 2015.
• On the Nature of the Soul: From the PreSocratics to Plato and Aristotle. A lecture by Dr. Jon Mills. Delivered at the annual conference of the Division of Psychoanalysis, American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA, April 24, 2015.
• On the End of the World. Otto Weininger Memorial Award Keynote Address for lifetime achievement in psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychology, Canadian Psychological Association annual conference, Ottawa, Ontario, June 4, 2015.
• Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and the Question of Evil Lecture delivered by Prof. Jon Mills at Nashville State Community College, Department of Arts and Humanities, October 8, 2015
• Deconstructing Evil Conference presentation by Dr. Jon Mills, panel on "Psychoanalysis of Evil", International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education, Philadelphia, PA, November 7, 2015
• Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis: Part 1 & Part 2. Lectures at the Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto. January 17, 2016.
• Rethinking Psychosis: From Hegel to Klein and Attachment Theory. Lecture at the Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto. April 2, 2016.
• On the Brink of Extinction. Conference presentation. Climate Change: Views from the Humanities: A Nearly Carbon-Neutral Conference. Environmental Humanities Initiative Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, May 3–24, 2016.
• Video interview on the book, Inventing God: Psychology of Belief and the Rise of Secular Spirituality, Routledge Press, July 2, 2016.
• A Beautiful Soul Documentary film. Directed and Produced by Jon Mills. July 22, 2016.
• God as Psychomythology Lecture at the Department of Religious Studies and the Centre for Myth, School of Divinity, History, & Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, Oct. 12, 2016.
• The Sublime Object of Ideality: Interpassivity and the Ideology of Religious Obsession. Lecture at the School of Philosophy, University College Dublin, Ireland, October 13, 2016.
• On the Need to Invent God. Lecture at the Department of Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. February 14, 2017.
• Temporality and Shame. Lecture at the Department of Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. February 14, 2017.
• Freud’s Theory of Mind. Lecture at the Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. March 5, 2017.
• The Universality of Prejudice. Presentation at the Toronto Institute & Society of Psychoanalysis, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. March 8, 2017.
• God: The Invention of an Idea. Lecture at the Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, April 6, 2017.
• A Logical Proof for the Non-Existence of God. Lecture at the Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, April 6, 2017.
• Mourning and Melancholia. Lecture at Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. April 24, 2017.
• Podcast interview with Carrie Lynn Evans at New Books in Secularism, May 18, 2017.
• Visions of Excess: On Seeing the Dead. Documentary film. Directed & Produced by Jon Mills. July 26, 2017.
• Andrew Samuels: A Post-Post Jungian. Documentary film. Directed and Produced by Jon Mills. July 29, 2017.
• The Metaphysics of Otherness. Presentation at the conference ‘The Spectre of the Other,’ Centre for the Book, National Library of South Africa. International Association for Jungian Studies. Cape Town, South Africa, July 29, 2017.
• Cogitations: On Psychoanalysis and Being Human. Documentary film. Directed & Produced by Jon Mills. July 30, 2017.
• The Psychology of Place: Psyche, Self, and World. Documentary film. Directed and Produced by Jon Mills. July 30, 2017.
• What the Birds Say: On Becoming a Jungian. Documentary film. Directed and Produced by Jon Mills. July 30, 2017.
• Synchronicity: A Rupture in Time. Documentary film. Directed and Produced by Jon Mills. July 31, 2017.
• Developmental Trauma, Attachment Pathology, & Borderline Conditions: A Conference with Dr. Jon Mills Conference held at the Faculty of Social Sciences & the Humanities, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Island, Portugal, March 12, 2018.
• Recognition and Pathos. Keynote Address by Prof. Jon Mills at the conference "Indeterminate States," co-sponsored by the International Association for Analytical Psychology and the International Association for Jungian Studies held at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, August 4, 2018.
• Attachment, Trauma, and Relational Parameters in Treating Suicidality. Presentation in the Department of Psychology, Duquense University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 15, 2019.
• Hegel on Psychosis. Presentation to the Psychosis Study Group, Department of Psychology, Duquense University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 15, 2019.
• Living in the End Times: Civilization and its Fate. Presentation co-sponsored by the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center and the C.G Jung Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 15, 2019.
• Psychoanalysis & Attachment. Lecture and Training Seminar, Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts/ C.G. Jung Institute & Society, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 16, 2019.
• Facing Countertransference Honestly. Lecture and Training Seminar, Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts/ C.G. Jung Institute & Society, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 16, 2019.
• Black Sun: Nigredo and the Philosopher's Stone with Stanton Marlan. Documentary Film. Directed & Produced by Jon Mills. March 17, 2019.
• Living in the Imaginary. Paper presentation for panel: Hearing Voices: Lacan on Psychosis. Society for Psychoanalysis & Psychoanalytic Psychology. Division 39 of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Philadelphia, PA, April 4, 2019.
• Listening to the Other: On the Theory Versus Research Debate in Psychoanalysis. Paper presentation for panel: [Re]Claiming a Space for the Voice of Research in Psychoanalytic Discourse. Society for Psychoanalysis & Psychoanalytic Psychology. Division 39 of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 2019.
• At Peace with God: Being toward Death with Dan Merkur. Documentary film. Directed & Produced by Jon Mills. May 12, 2019.
• On the Secular Humanism Debate. Lecture in the Department of Humanities, Nashville State Community College, Nashville, TN. October 12, 2019.
• Why it is Difficult to be a Moral Person. Lecture in the Department of Humanities, Nashville State Community College, Nashville, TN. October 11, 2019.