About the Book
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.
Table of Contents:
Foreword , INTRODUCTION , Conceptual Backdrop , Psychoanalysis and culture , Psychoanalysis and culture: Freud, Erikson, and beyond , The stranger and the strange: psychoanalytic reflections on meeting otherness , China , Psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the Chinese context: developments and challenges , Psychoanalysis on the China Road*: sense of trust in doubt , Slow psychoanalysis is helpful for fast developing China , Havoc comes from the mouth—working as a psychoanalyst in China , Working with Chinese patients: are there conflicts between Chinese culture and psychoanalysis? , Objectifying and de-objectifying the dead: the use of images in Chinese ancestor worship , Japan , Psychoanalysis in a “shame culture”: a drama-based viewpoint , Issues of psychoanalysis in the twenty-first century: from some experiences in Japan , The complications of the perpetrator-victim relationship for Japanese children during World War Two: what can psychoanalysis contribute toward conciliation between China and Japan? , Korea , Korean culture and psychoanalysis , Feeling and thinking in English on the couch , Taiwan , The Formosa Model: an emerging tradition of developing psychoanalysis in Taiwan , Shame and losing face in Taiwanese culture: a clinical and cultural perspective , India , A personal journey into culture and psychoanalysis , The universal truth of myths reflected in psychoanalytic theory and practice , Concluding Overviews , The diffusion of psychoanalysis in China: otherness and transformations , Coming together in Beijing
About the Author :
Alf Gerlach, MD, is an academically qualified sociologist who studied sociology and medicine at the Universities of Saarbruecken and Frankfurt am Main. He has worked at the Department for Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics in the University Hospital of Frankfurt, and is currently lecturer for psychoanalytic oriented psychotherapy in the program of the German-Chinese Academy for Psychotherapy. He is a member of the German Psychoanalytic Society and of the International Psychoanalytical Association and a training analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institutes in Mainz and Saarbruecken. He has also been chair of the German Society for Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Depth Psychology (DGPT), and a member of the China Committee of the International Psychoanalytical Association. Maria Teresa Savio Hooke is a training analyst, a Past President of the Australian Psychoanalytical Society, and a member of the IPA Public Information Committee. She is Co-Chair for Europe of the IPA Committee on Ageing, a member of the IPA China Committee and Chair of Outreach and Communication. She was awarded the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity from the Italian President of the Republic for services to psychoanalysis in Australia. Sverre Varvin, MD, PhD, is a training and supervising analyst, and a past President of the Norwegian Psychoanalytic Society. He is senior researcher at the Norwegian centre for studies on violence and traumatic stress, affiliated to the University of Oslo, and his main research areas are the traumatisation and treatment of traumatised patients, traumatic dreams, and psychoanalytic training. He has held several positions in the IPA (e.g. Vice-president, Board representative, member of research committees), and is currently chair of the program committee for the next IPAC in Prague, and a member of the China Committee.
Review :
'Psychoanalysis in Asia outlines the most stimulating challenge in recent international psychoanalytic history. First India and Japan, then China, Korea and Taiwan have joined our worldwide scientific, professional and institutional community; and we are expecting not only a strong development of the psychoanalytic activity in those countries, but also a new original and intercultural cross-fertilization from those countries towards psychoanalytic thinking. I feel sure psychoanalysis will influence Asia, and Asia will influence psychoanalysis.'- Stefano Bolognini, President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, President Elect of the International Psychoanalytical Association 'Psychoanalysis in Asia is an impressive and groundbreaking book that collects viewpoints of twenty-four participant observers from China, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Europe. Universal assumptions are relativized; issues of method and clinic, trust and shame, culture and language, are explored both personally and institutionally. This book is a must-read for all mental health professionals and for all readers interested in the developing dialogue between the peoples and cultures of Asia and the West.'- Peter Loewenberg, Professor, UCLA; Chair, International Psychoanalytical Association China Committee'Psychoanalysis has been showing its great potential for development since it was introduced to Asia. In China, it is amazing that psychoanalysis is so warmly welcomed and so fast developing. As the world starts to pay more and more attention to, and think of the development of, psychoanalysis in Asia, this book comes at just the right time. Psychoanalysis in Asia is a very thought-provoking book and it covers the viewpoints from Asia and Europe. It is a window through which we can see how the east and west are thinking of the encounter between western psychoanalysis and Asia. This book should be strongly recommended for anyone interested in the culture of Asia and the West.'- Prof. Cai Zhuoji, Chairman of the China Association for Mental Health (CAMH), Former President of Beijing An Ding HospitalThe book is a collection of the papers presented at the first IPA Psychoanalytic Conference in China on the occasion of the Centenary of the International Psychoanalytical Association. This meeting represented an historic turning point in the long journey of psychoanalysis. For the first time mental health professionals from China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, Russia (including Siberia), Ukraine and Latvia joined together with their western colleagues, to engage in a scientific project and in the common endeavour of developing further a psychoanalytic culture in Asia. Many now look at the Far East as the future area of expansion of psychoanalysis in coincidence with the rapid social changes and the economic progress of the region. The content includes: an introduction by the editors aimed at setting the scene, a conceptual backdrop by western analysts which deals with the encounter of 'the other' in a different culture and the challenges it poses for psychoanalysis. It then presents papers from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan which illustrate the history of their groups and societies, their struggle in establishing psychoanalysis in their countries, the tension of introducing a western science in the local culture and the clinical work in the Asian context.
