Sunao: A Central Value in Japanese Psychotherapy

Abstract

Any psychotherapy which is accepted by a society must embody — either implicitly or explicitly — the values of that society. In the early history of psychoanalysis, the new innovative therapy drew from and reinforced new emerging values associated with modernization. In the case of Japanese psychotherapies, Naikan and Morita, we find the reverse pattern. The methods used are essentially revivalistic, and oriented towards a rediscovery of the core values of Japanese society.