Karyne E. Messina

Dr. Karyne E. Messina is a psychologist, psychoanalyst and author. She is on the medical staff of Suburban Hospital which is part of Johns Hopkins Medicine. She is chair of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Department of Psychoanalytic Education--Scholarship and Writing section--and is a member of the President’s Commission on Artificial Intelligence of the same organization.

Dr. Messina has also written eight books and has 3 more that will be released in 2026. Her topics focus on applying psychoanalytic ideas to real-world issues we all face in our complex world. She is currently writing a book that will be published by Routledge in February of 2026 about the connection between mechanisms of defense—projection and projective identification—and AI bias. The title is Projection, Projective Identification and AI Bias: Using Psychoanalysis to Build More Equitable Artificial Intelligence.

She is also a podcast host for the New Books Network and a YouTube co-host for “Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Racism in America” with Dr. Felecia Powell-Williams and “Brain Rot: What our Screens are Doing to our Minds” that she is hosting with Dr. Harry Gill, a psychiatrist who also has a PhD in neuroscience.

Recently, Dr. Messina became a co-editor of the journal “Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in China.” She will assume the position of editor-in-chief in 2026.