The world is looking East. Whilst in the West psychoanalysis is fighting to maintain its position among the other therapies in a society which has less time for introspection and self-reflective thought, in Asia a new frontier is opening up: we are witnessing a surge of interest for psychoanalysis among the mental health professionals and among the younger generations, interest which is articulated and nuanced differently in the different Asian countries. In Asia and particularly in India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, the development of psychoanalysis reflects separate socio-political historical contexts, each with a rich cultural texture and fuelled by the interest of a new generation of mental health professionals for psychoanalysis as a therapeutic method.
In Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation critic David L. Eng and psychotherapist Shinhee Han draw on case histories from the mid-1990s to the present to explore the social and psychic predicaments of Asian American young adults from Generation X to Generation Y. Combining critical race theory with several strands of psychoanalytic thought, they develop the concepts of racial melancholia and racial dissociation to investigate changing processes of loss associated with immigration, displacement, diaspora, and assimilation. These case studies of first- and second-generation Asian Americans deal with a range of difficulties, from depression, suicide, and the politics of coming out to broader issues of the model minority stereotype, transnational adoption, parachute children, colorblind discourses in the United States, and the rise of Asia under globalization. Throughout, Eng and Han link psychoanalysis to larger structural and historical phenomena, illuminating how the study of psychic processes of individuals can inform investigations of race, sexuality, and immigration while creating a more sustained conversation about the social lives of Asian Americans and Asians in the diaspora.
The introduction of psychoanalysis to China over the last twenty years brings a clash between Eastern and Western philosophical backgrounds. Chinese patients, therapists and trainees struggle with assumptions inherent in an analytic attitude steeped in Western ideas of individualism that are often at odds with a Chinese Confucian ethic of respect for the family and the work group. The situation is further complicated by the rapid evolution of Chinese culture itself, emerging from years of trauma, new economics, and the one child policy of the last generation that has introduced a new Chinese brand of individualism and new family structure that are not equivalent to those of the West. This volume breaks new ground in exploring these issues and challenges to the introduction of analytic therapies into China, from the viewpoint of Western teachers, and Chinese teachers, clinicians, anthropologists and observers.
This volume brings to light the impact of Asian culture on psychotherapy. Scholars and clinicians from East Asia and India go beyond technical dimensions to examine culture and psychotherapy at the theoretical and philosophical levels. An overview, invaluable for understanding some of the nuances of Asian culture, is followed by chapters on Asian personality and psychopathology, Asian psychology (in particular parent-child relations), the impact of Asian traditional thought and philosophy on psychotherapy, the unique psychotherapeutic approach of Asian culture, and psychotherapeutic experiences from various parts of Asia.
This book is a lexical ambassador with the dual responsibility of bridging the West and East and enhancing psychoanalytic conceptualization in the course of such an encounter. By juxtaposing the familiar with the unfamiliar, it seeks to enrich our understanding of both. Within its pages, distinguished psychoanalysts from East and West weave a fine and colorful tapestry of the ubiquitous and idiosyncratic, the plebian and profound, and the neurotically-inclined and culturally-nuanced. They provide meticulous historical accounts of the development of psychoanalysis in Japan, Korea, and China and familiarize the reader with interesting personages, quaint phrases, cultural nuances, founding of journals, and emergence of groups interested in psychoanalysis. The contributors to the book discuss the depth-psychological concepts of amae, Wa, Ajase complex, and the 'filial piety complex,' thus underscoring the intricate interplay of drive and ego development with the powerful forces of ancestral legacies and their attendant myths and fantasies. The reverberations of these aesthetic and relational paradigms in epic love stories, martial arts, and cinema are also elucidated. In addition, the book offers insights into the psychosocial trials and tribulations of the Western immigrant populations from these countries and their offspring. Finally, the implications of all this to the conduct of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are addressed.
Perversion and modern Japan focuses on the psychoanalytic approach to the study of modern Japan. Using a wide range of psychoanalytic approaches the contributors to this book have brought together chapters on everything from the Ajase complex to underpants, from fascist modernism in literature to internet-based suicide pacts.
This book examines the theoretical links between Edward W. Said and Sigmund Freud as well the relationship between psychoanalysis, postcolonialism and decoloniality more broadly. The author begins by offering a comprehensive review of the literature on psychoanalysis and postcolonialism, which is contextualized within the apparatus of racialized capitalism. In the close analysis of the interconnections between the Freud and Said that follows, there is an attempt to decolonize the former and psychoanalyze the latter. He argues that decolonizing Freud does not mean canceling him; rather, he employs Freud’s sharpest insights for our time, by extending his critique of modernity to coloniality. It is also advanced that psychoanalyzing Said does not mean psychologizing the man; instead the book's aim is to demonstrate the influence of psychoanalysis on Said’s work. It is asserted that Said began with Freud, repressed him, and then Freud returned. Reading Freud and Said side by side allows for the theorization of what the author calls contrapuntal psychoanalysis as liberation praxis, which is discussed in-depth in the final chapters. This book, which builds on the author’s previous work, Decolonial Psychoanalysis, will be a valuable text to scholars and students from across the psychology discipline with an interest in Freud, Said and the broader relationship between psychoanalysis and colonialism.
Psychology in Asia: An Introduction is the second edition of this introductory level textbook on psychology and human behavior written with an Asian focus. The book introduces the central tenets of psychology, using examples and content which are culturally relevant and applicable to students in Asia. It covers essential topics of psychology including: personality, human development, psychological disorders, gender and sexuality, emotion, and positive psychology. Each chapter is accompanied by information relevant to an Asian cultural context and connected to the region’s diverse heritage and history. For this second edition, the content has been substantially updated. In addition to standard topics found in texts on introductory psychology, this book includes chapters on the Tenets of Asian Psychology, Asian Philosophies, and Behavior. The text includes features to help students familiarize themselves with the key terms that are defined in the page margins. It includes learning aids such as boxes that define theoretical and technical terms, and the activities in each chapter encourage active learning and critical thinking. The authors also provide useful resources such as study questions, chapter outlines, and references to journal articles that allow further reading. Students will benefit from an increased understanding of the concepts taught through the authors' user-friendly academic writing style and colorful illustrations included throughout each chapter. Through this accessible text, undergraduate and upper undergraduate students of psychology will learn about core topics and classical studies that originate in the West but do so alongside the important contributions that Asian psychology makes to the field.
How is it possible that a phenomenon like psychoanalysis, which has dominated the cultural and intellectual life of the last century in Europe, North and South America, has seemingly had little-to-no resonance in Hong Kong? This book attempts to explain this phenomenon. Addressing the subject from an East to West approach, this book proposes an experience of displacement, as it is argued that the opportunity for psychoanalysis today is not just to be exported to the East, but rather to be re-invented after an encounter with a radically different culture. This encounter allows the Western practitioner to question their experience and highlights the assumptions of Western thought and knowledge. Following this, what remains of psychoanalysis as we know it? How can psychoanalysis be re-thought and re-formed today in a format independent of different theoretical orientations and schools? The book addresses key issues such as: Is there psychoanalysis in Hong Kong? How does one do research on psychoanalysis in Hong Kong? Why was the Freudian Unconscious not discovered in China? How can we describe the core of psychoanalysis and how can this description be understood in different cultural contexts? Can psychoanalytic research be led by adopting a quantitative or statistical methodology? Founded on the belief that psychoanalysis should be re-invented in light of its encounter with non-Western cultures, this book highlights an opportunity to undertake this as an intellectual, cultural and artistic challenge. It will enrich researchers’ and students’ understanding of psychoanalysis and inform broader views of psychoanalysis in non-Western contexts. Practicing psychoanalysts, students of psychoanalysis and those seeking to understand psychanalysis in different cultural contexts will be particularly interested readers.
