Yalom

1. What is Fundamental? Individualist Perspectives Cross-Cultural Psychology

2. Cross-Cultural Considerations in Psychotherapy • 2nd section of course • Theoretical basis – What is fundamental in mind? • Today – Individualist perspectives • Thursday – Collective perspectives • Next week - project presentations • Which day will you present???

3. 中間試験のカンニング Cheating on midterm exam

4. Project Points to Remember You are responsible for collecting a sufficient number of questionnaires – minimum 50 questionnaires If you are using a questionnaire, you need to write your questions carefully – with attention to your use of language Review the existing literature – consider what has been researched and reported in the Reader

5. Survey Help www.SurveyMonkey.com Basic survey services for free Upgrades at US $20 / month

6. Homework - Reader #2 p. 25 In the story of Tsuda-san and his wife - what is the key phrase or sentence that best expresses the sense of “amae – 甘え?”

7. Reader #2 – The character Tsuda has a conversation with his wife concerning the fact that the date suddenly fixed for his operation coincides with a day at the theater to which they have been invited by relatives. His wife says that she does not like to turn down the relatives when they have been so kind, while Tsuda says that it does not matter since the circumstances are beyond their control, whereupon the wife says, “But I want to go.” “Go if you want to, then,” replies Tsuda. “Then why don’t you come too?” asks his wife, “Don’t you want to?” The feelings this arouses in Tsuda are described as follows: (cont.)

8. Raising his eyes to look at his wife, he was struck momentarily by a kind of strange power lurking in his wife’s gaze. Her eyes had an odd gleam quite at variance with the mild (amae) turns of phrase she had been using. About to reply to what she had said, his mind found its working momentarily interrupted by the expression of those eyes. But almost immediately she smiled, showing her fine white teeth. And at the same moment, the expression in her eyes vanished without trace. Her next remark is, “Don’t worry. I don’t particularly care about going to the theater, I just wanted to endear myself to you (amaeru).”

9. What is Fundamental? • What are the fundamentals that mind must deal with? • All psychological theories assume some kind of basic tension • What do you think is “fundamental” to mind?

10. What is Fundamental? • Basic question – what is the fundamental psychological challenge(s) that human beings must deal with? • Existential psychology: death, freedom, isolation, meaninglessness • Confucianism: relationship with parents • Freud: tension between biological nature and social demands • Jung: integration of conscious & unconscious • Tantra: tension regarding sexual differentiation • Development & Maturity: Separation/Individuation or Bonding/Interdependency?

11. Theory Comparison – Pattern of Mind Buddhist Daoist Freud Jung Yoga Yogacara Neidan

12. Physical Brain Mental Brain • What is the relationship between the physical brain and the mental brain? • Which is fundamental – physical brain or mental brain? • Is the mental brain completely dependent on the physical brain? • What do you think?

13. Brain – Mind Causal Relationship MentalMental ? PhysicalPhysical One-Way OR Two-Way

14. Freud • Fundamental is the drives • Drives = pressure put on the mental brain by the physical & the instincts • Especially the instincts to live and the instinct to reproduce • These drives collide with the environment

15. What is Fundamental? • Freud – Instinctual drives are fundamental – drives collide with environment • Neo-Freudian – Self & relationships are fundamental – conflict between natural growth inclination of self (separation-individuation) & need for security & approval

16. Do you agree? • Freud asserted that if a group of people were put in a situation in which there was not enough food and people were hungry, their individual differences would disappear and instead they would all become focused on hunger and the drive to eat. • What do you think?

17. What Are the Givens of Existence? Cultural Influences • Next class: Fundamentals from a collective perspective • These 2 classes express opposites - Polarity classes

18. Givens of Existence – Existential Psychology • Existential psychology is connected to existential philosophy (20th century movement in Europe) • Focus on what is fundamental to life • Themes of alienation, dread, and meaning • Basic idea: people have to create meaning • Camus (French): The Myth of Sisyphus

19. The Myth of SisyphusAlbert Camus (1942) • Philosophy of the absurd: man's futile search for meaning in the face of an unintelligible world devoid of God and eternity. • Final chapter compares the absurdity of man's life with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a rock up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. The essay concludes, "The struggle itself is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

20. Givens of Existence – Existential Psychology • Existential psychology identifies 4 – • Death, Freedom, Isolation, Meaninglessness • Person has inherent conflict with each • EX: don’t want to die, but will die • These are the primary concerns of each human being • Are buried deep within unconscious

21. Existential Psychology • Basic conflict with givens of existence • Freud formula – – Drive – Anxiety – defense mechanism • Existential formula – – Awareness of ultimate concern – anxiety – defense mechanism • Both assume anxiety is fuel of pathology

22. Basic Dynamic • Stress is seen as inherent to life – from nature of man dealing with givens of existence • Inherent psychological conflict with fundamentals of life = stress = anxiety • Traumatic neuroses are rare • Overwhelming majority of patients suffer from stress • “Universality of human suffering” –text p.13

23. Story of Parish Priest • Andre Malraux asked a Belgian Catholic priest who had been taking confession for 50 years what he had learned about mankind • Reply: “First of all, people are much more unhappy than one thinks… and then the fundamental fact is that there is no such thing as a grown up person.”

24. Existential Pathology • Depends not on presence or absence of stress – but – • On interaction between ubiquitous stress & person’s mechanisms of defense • How a person deals with stress

25. Existential Healing • Confrontation with givens of existence • Heal in 2 ways – • 1) Reality testing • 2) Personal search

26. #1 - Death • Fears of obliteration • Denial of death • Dilemma: All want to live, but all will die • How does a person deal with this stress? • What does a person do with their anxiety about death? • How many of you think about death? • Yalom says most people don’t - deny death

27. #2 - Freedom • Core conflict = confrontation between wish for ground & structure and existence as groundlessness • Have responsibility for life conduct • Responsibility is a constitutive function • Everything is contingent – could have been different • “Freedom makes people dizzy” • Therapy – process of assumption of responsibility

28. #2 - Freedom • Willing, Intention • All have choice & free will • Have to take responsibility for choices – often people resist this

29. #3 - Isolation • Unbridgeable gulf between self & others • Experience of is very uncomfortable • No relationship can eliminate isolation • Need to confront isolation – then can love others • Need-free relationship

30. #4 – Meaninglessness • No inherent meaning in life • Have drive for meaning – must make it • When meaning dissolves – foundations of life also dissolve • Dilemma of meaning – • 1) Humans seem to require meaning • 2) Only true absolute is that there are no absolutes

31. #4 – Meaninglessness • Problem – How does a being who needs meaning find meaning in a universe that has no meaning • Meaning & purpose closely related • Victor Frankl – will read last week – Existential neurosis synonymous with crisis of meaninglessness • Jung also asserted meaning basic to humans

32. Meaning Questions • What is meaning of life? • What is the meaning of my life? • Why do we live? • Why were we put here? • What do we live for? • What shall we live by? • If we must die, then what sense does anything make? • EX: Why did my mother die when I was 3歳?

33. Suicide Note – Text p. 419 Imagine a happy group of morons who are engaged in work. They are carrying bricks in an open field. As soon as they have stacked all the bricks at one end of the field, they proceed to transport them to the opposite end. This continues without stop and everyday of every year they are busy doing the same thing. One day one of the morons stops long enough to ask himself what he is doing. He wonders what purpose there is in carrying the bricks. And from that instant on he is not quite as content with his occupation as he had been before. I am the moron who wonders why he is carrying the bricks.

34. Client Story • 25歳, Western male, English teacher, 2nd stay in Japan, part-time Japanese translator, interest in Asian studies • Trigger event: Death of friend in accident • Presenting problem: Lack of interest in life • “If I talked to my friends & family, they would tell me: everything is alright, don’t worry, you’ll be ok, you’ve got everything going for you”

35. Client Story • Symptoms: Sense of separation from others, wastes a lot of time on internet & computer games, lack of hope, moments of despair, sense of great self-doubt, “how can I decide anything?”, sense of always “going with the flow” and not doing things intentionally, no enthusiasm for anything, sense of “not being active in life”

36. How to Approach This Client? • I asked him, “How can you be active in life?” He answered, “That’s like hitting a grey wall.” • How would you approach this client from an existential psychology point of view?

37. Discussion Questions – Group #1 • Do you agree with Freud that our “drives” are the “root” of our mind? • What do you think is the relationship between the physical brain and the mental brain?

38. Questions Group #2 • What is your opinion of the “four ultimate concerns” – – Death, Freedom, Isolation, Meaning • How significant is death for life? • Is there free will? • Is there isolation? • Is there meaninglessness?

39. Questions Group #3 • A) What do you think are the fundamental psychological dynamics? • B) Do you agree with Yalom that “our primary concerns are deeply buried?” • C) How would existentialism be expressed from a Collective viewpoint?

40. What Would a Collective View Be? • Compare Yalom’s view with a collective view: What would be a collective view of the 4 existential “givens” of existence? • Consider the following written by a student from Kenya – What do you think?

41. What Do You Think of Tonui’s Comments? The main thing that can be noted is that human’s ultimate concerns greatly depend upon cultural aspects and are greatly affected by individualism and collectivism. In my opinion, Yalom’s argument would not hold in collectivist cultures. Maybe the first point would be the only one that could be applied because death is inevitable and every human being will eventually have to face it. In collectivist communities there is no sense of absolute freedom from the people around you. Also there is no isolation because collectivist cultures focus on a human being living in harmony with the entire society and always making major life decisions with consideration of the people around them.

42. Collective Response to Death • Tonui – this is the only one that can be applied to collectivistic cultures • Dogen – founder of Soto Zen sect in Japan: “The clarification of life, and the clarification of death, are the one great purpose of Buddhists” (Shobogenzo). • Zen meditation hall sign: Respectfully I appeal to you: Each of us must clarify the great matter of life and death. Time passes swiftly. Do not be negligent.

43. Collective Response to Freedom • No sense of absolute freedom from people around you • Sylvia Tonui’s essay • Freedom is not having to worry – being secure in receiving one’s share of the group benefits, being able to depend on others • Adjustment & harmony rather than choice & free will

44. Collective Response to Freedom • “Freedom To” – rather than “Freedom From” = Keido Fukushima • Statement of Abbot of Tofukuji Zen Buddhist monastery in Kyoto • Lucian Pye: “Freedom in China is knowing the right answer” • Understanding of “Freedom” is cultural!!! • Next slide demonstrates an American view of freedom:

46. Collective Response to Isolation • Collective emphasis is relationship as a given, not isolation • “Always make decisions with consideration of people around oneself” - Tonui

47. Collective Response to Meaning • Meaning and purpose are created • But - Receive meaning from context within which a person is • Don’t need individually created meaning • Buddhism: there is no meaning, there is only cause and effect

48. Existential Psych: What is a Person?5 Basic Postulates • 1) Human beings, as humans, supersede the sum of their parts • 2) Human beings have their being in a human context • 3) Human beings are aware • 4) Human beings have choice • 5) Human beings are intentional

49. What is a Person?Question Group #4 • What do you think of these “5 Basic Postulates?” • How are these “5 Basic Postulates” culturally influenced? • What do you think would be “5 Basic Postulates” from collective point of view?