Freud and the Far East Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the People and Culture of China, Japan, and Korea

In Freud and the Far East, distinguished psychoanalysts from East and West provide meticulous historical accounts of the development of psychoanalysis in Japan, Korea, and China. The contributors to the book discuss the depth-psychological concepts of amae and wa, the Ajase complex, and the filial piety complex, underscoring the intricate interplay of drive and ego development with the powerful forces of ancestral legacies and their attendant myths and fantasies. The book offers insights into the psychosocial trials and tribulations of the immigrant populations from these countries and their Western-born offspring. Implications of such understanding for the conduct of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are also discussed. Offering a vast panopoly of fables and folklore, fiction and poetry, psychosocial observations and films, the book seeks to enlighten Western therapists regarding the cultural nuances with which their Far Eastern patients' emotional problems emerge in the clinical situation. Book jacket.

Salman Akhtar is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia.