Naikan Psychotherapy: Meditation for Self-Development

180 Pages·1983·7.31 MB·English

by  David K. Reynolds

Naikan
Psychotherapy
Naikan
Psychotherapy
Meditation
for Self-Development
Da-/id K. Reynolds
J
7 re
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4./V
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David K. Reynolds is director of the ToDo Institute in Los Angeles and codirector of
Health Center Pacific in Hawaii. He is the author of many books, including Morita
Psychotherapy and The Quiet Therapies, and coauthor with Norman Faberow of Endangered
Hope: Experiences in Psychiatric Aftercare Facilities and The Family Shadow: Sources of Suicide
and Schizophrenia.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 1983 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 1983
Printed in the United States of America
90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 54321
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Reynolds, David K.
Naikan psychotherapy.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Meditation—Therapeutic use. 2. Psychotherapy—
Japan. 1. Title. [DNLM: 1. Psychotherapy—Methods.
2. Self concept. WM 420 R462n]
RC489.M43R49 1983 616.89'14 82-21862
ISBN 0-226-71029-7
To Lynn
for whom quiet patience
and trust have
brought some
compensation
"Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a
mother's love is not. Your mother brings you into the world, car¬
ries you first in her body. What do we know about what she feels?
But whatever she feels, it, at least, must be real."
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Naikan at Nara 5
2 Naikan Variations 35
3 Questionnaire Research 61
4 Scope, Results, and Criticism 73
5 Naikan Theory 85
6 Larger Theoretical Issues 95
7 Japanese Character—
Another Look 114
8 Natkan for Westerners 137
Appendix A
Tables 149
Appendix B
Questionnaire for Clients 160
Appendix C
Questionnaire for Therapists 162
Bibliography 165
Index 169
A section of photos follows p. 76.
vii

Acknowledgments
Naikan is a therapy of gratitude and rec¬
ognition of one's social debts. The debts accrued in writing this book
are many.
To Yoshimoto Ishin Sensei, the founder of Naikan, to Yoshimoto
Kinuko, his gracious wife and cotherapist, to his assistant, Nagashima
Masahiro Sensei, to Murase Takao Sensei, who introduced me to
Naikan, and to Dr. Kato Masaaki, director of Japan's National Institute
of Mental Health, who encouraged my study of Naikan, I offer thanks.
Naikan therapists and scholars, without exception, offered their facili¬
ties and wise counsel for this research. And Naikan clients, who
allowed their private interviews to be taped and analyzed, who re¬
sponded to questions touching on their personal lives, reflected well
the self-giving spirit of the therapy.
Several friends and colleagues helped in questionnaire coding and
various translations: Dr. and Mrs. H. Shimbo, Mr. and Mrs. T. Ko¬
matsu, H. Suzuki, T. Murase, and Y. Matsuno.
Mrs. Eleanor Kwong contributed her customary rapid and accurate
typing of the manuscript drafts.
The University of Southern California School of Medicine limited my
teaching responsibilities, allowing me to devote myself nearly full-time
to completion of the manuscript.
Two Fulbright-Hays postdoctoral fellowships to Japan provided
support for periods of research and writing on Naikan.
That I could write about Naikan therapy and its place in the Japanese
cultural setting is in very small part a result of my own efforts. In
countless ways I owe persons and forces recognized and unrecognized
by me for this opportunity: as noted, the Naikan therapists and clients
who talked with me; the founder of Naikan, Yoshimoto Ishin Sensei,
who provided books and tapes and the chance to experience Naikan as
client (.Naikansha) and then as guide (shidosha); those who taught me the
Japanese language; those who contributed to my anthropological
education, to the funding of the research, to my travel to Japan, to my
being fed and clothed and supported in numberless ways—all these
people made this book possible. And a step further, I cannot take
credit even for these thoughts that are being expressed here in words.
IX
Acknowledgments
For those ideas that came from the literature originated with someone
else's effort, and those that I had not read seemed to emerge from
nowhere and bubble to the surface of my mind. As is true for all of us, I
know not the origins of my thoughts at all. And the words written here
were learned from parents and peers and teachers. To all these I am
grateful.