Sadeq Rahimi, PhD

Trained in <br /> Cultural Psychiatry and
Trained in
Cultural Psychiatry and
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

With an academic and clinical specialization in cultural psychiatry and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and 25 years of experience working as a psychotherapist, my primary focus is on helping you by concentrating on the intricate dynamics of the inner world, complexities of emotional relationships, intergenerational challenges, and the intangible effects of personal and historical trauma on individual and family life.

My Books

  • Book by Sadeq Rahimi - The Hauntology of Everyday Life

Experience and Expertise

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Social Cognitive Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and my Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Cultural Psychiatry from the School of Medicine at McGill University. I then spent four years of postdoctoral training in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and also two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. I received clinical and postdoctoral training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in Montreal (McGill Psychoanalytic Institute) and in Boston (Boston Psychoanalytic Institute). I worked as a psychotherapist in Montreal hospitals for seven years, and in private practice for over twenty years.

I have also taught in the fields of psychological anthropology and cultural psychiatry at universities in Canada and the United States for many years. After receiving my tenure as a professor of medical anthropology at the University of Saskatchewan in 2014, I returned to the United States where I first worked in the private industry as a Senior Social Scientist, and then worked as a visiting professor in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School until 2017. I am currently a professor at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, and a part time lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

In addition to my academic education, I have received clinical and postdoctoral training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children and families (McGill Psychoanalytic Institute and Montreal Children’s Hospital) and with adults (Montreal Jewish General Hospital and the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy). I worked as a psychotherapist in Montreal hospitals for seven years and I have held a private practice for over twenty years.

I have also spent many years teaching as a professor in the fields of psychological anthropology and cultural psychiatry at universities in Canada and the United States. In 2014, I received my tenure from the University of Saskatchewan and then returned to the United States, first working in New York as a Senior Social Scientist at Insync Strategy, before moving to Boston and serving as a visiting professor at Harvard Medical School until 2017. I am currently a professor at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

My research interests and publications encompass a diverse range of topics related to culture, mental health, and subjectivity. These include schizophrenia, collective self-esteem and perceptions of racism, culture and mental illness, political subjectivity, radicalization, clinical trials, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence.

Alongside dozens of articles in scientific journals, I have published three books in the fields of psychology, mental illness, and culture.

In my second book, Meaning, Madness, and Political Subjectivity (Routledge, 2015), I investigated the mental experience and formation of political subjectivity in the context of culture, meaning, and history by clinical and cultural analysis of several patients with schizophrenia. My latest book, The Hauntology of Everyday Life (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), explores patterns and mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of trauma and political emotions through language and culture. Recently, I co-authored with Professor Byron J. Good a special issue of Ethos, the journal of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, dedicated to clinical, theoretical, and ethnographic discussions of possession and hauntology.

I am currently working on the manuscript for an article and a book on hauntological justice, in which I look at the relationship between human psychology and the questions of historical trauma and social justice.