Jungians and the Rise of Psychotherapy in Japan: A Brief Historical Note

Abstract

Scholars of transcultural psychiatry have long wondered why psychoanalysis has remained marginal in Japan, despite its early introduction there. Psychotherapy, however, has been steadily growing in popularity, and Jungians have played no small part in this development. This article provides a brief historical sketch of psychotherapy in Japan by focusing on how Jungians have cultivated a following through imaginative cultural critiques and therapeutic practices such as sandplay therapy. The article also touches upon the particularly Jungian themes that have appealed to popular audiences, as well as the dilemmas psychotherapists have encountered in their attempts to institutionalize psychotherapy as a form of clinical practice in Japan.

Castration fever: On trans, China, and psychoanalysis

“…4 On psychoanalytic influences in Dutch-occupied Java and other regions in the Indonesian archipelago, see Gouda (2009). 5 For discussions of transcultural psychiatry in other parts of East Asia, see, for example, Kitanaka (2003); Suh (2013). 6 See the essays in Anderson et al (2011);Damousi and Plotkin (2012); ffytche and Pick (2016).…”

“…55For discussions of transcultural psychiatry in other parts of East Asia, see, for example, Kitanaka (2003); Suh (2013). …”

The Use of Sandplay Therapy in Urban Elementary Schools as a Crisis Response to the World Trade Center Attacks

“…Sandplay therapy has become a widely used form of treatment in Japan, due to the protective free space and playful self-discovery it provides (Kitanaka, 2003). Prior research has indicated that the families of immigrant preschoolers who have experienced adversity before migration can benefit from creative expressive workshops such as sandplay (Rousseau, Benoit, Lacroix, & Gauthier, 2009).…”