In Search of Self in India and Japan

Drawing on work with Indian and Japanese patients, a prominent American psychoanalyst explores inner worlds that are markedly different from the Western psyche. A series of fascinating case studies illustrates Alan Roland's argument: the &quote;familial self,&quote; rooted in the subtle emotional hierarchical relationships of the family and group, predominates in Indian and Japanese psyches and contrasts strongly with the Western &quote;individualized self.&quote; In perceptive and sympathetic terms Roland describes the emotional problems that occur when Indians and Japanese encounter Western culture and the resulting successful integration of new patterns that he calls the &quote;expanding self.&quote; Of particular interest are descriptions of the special problems of women in changing society and of the paradoxical relationship of the &quote;spiritual self&quote; of Indians and Japanese to the &quote;familial self.? Also described is Roland's own response to the broadening of his emotional and intellectual horizons as he talked to patients and supervised therapists in India and Japan. &quote;As we were coming in for a landing to Bombay,&quote; he writes, &quote;the plane banked so sharply that when I supposedly looked down all I could see were the stars, while if I looked up, there were the lights of the city.&quote; This is the &quote;world turned upside down&quote; that he describes so eloquently in this book. What he has learned will fascinate those who wish to deepen their understanding of a different way of being.