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Psychotherapy and Buddhism: Toward an Integration (Issues in the Practice of Psychology)

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This book synthesizes psychotherapy & Buddhism. The author notes the strengths & weaknesses of each, balancing them via "egalitarian dialog"/"subjective bifocality"/"reciprocity of perspectives" vs. biased, imbalanced "Eurocentric" & "Orientocentric" views. He cites a psychoanalytic (PA)-Buddhist (B) conference where, p. 51, "psychoanalysts & Buddhists spoke past each other rather than to each other," ignoring potential synergy. His is an, p. 8, "interdisciplinary investigation" (what each could do for the other & the whole); he believes both are valuable yet incomplete. His call for a (p. 9) "multidimensional perspective" describes Buddhism as-near sighted, microscopic, romantically-oriented story, non-self-centered, heterogeneous, particle oriented, while PA is-far-sighted, telescopic, tragedy oriented story, self-centered, homogeneous, wave-oriented [one might add content vs. process & Sensate vs. Intuitive (Myers-Briggs typology)]. He quotes (p. 115) Robert Oppenheimer, "The history of science is rich in the example of the fruitfulness of bringing two sets of techniques, two sets of ideas, developed in separate contexts for the pursuit of truth, in touch with each other" while stating that (as pointed out by modern feminist-oriented Buddhist leaders), p. 190, "uncritically grafting the doctrines of one tradition onto another from another age can be problematic" &, p. 193, "How we interpret and evaluate history and human experience is deeply conditioned and irreducibly shaped by the worldview we already hold." For example, p. 73: "There is evidence that the notion of the self did not exist in the Middle Ages." But, his Buddhism is primarily Theravada; he seems unfamiliar with Mahayana, incorrectly saying (p. 19): "Mahayanists believed in a personal god and a divine savior...doctrine of grace." He does, however, address drive-structure & relational PA models w/some references to Jung.

He provides many instances of how each discipline can aid/balance the other including a fascinating case study & numerous anecdotal examples such as: p. 40: Fromm: "meditation can lead beyond the limits of therapy. Psychoanalysts can help meditation avoid `the danger of false enlightenment;' p. 71: "self-nullification is self-deception" quoting Freud, "evenly hovering attention" [provided by meditation] is needed by psychoanalysts; resistance to psychoanalysis parallels resistance to meditation; p. 131: "meditation is potentially subversive of our mode of living. Hence the resistance to it;" Ch. 8: analysts facing suffering w/o reacting benefit from Buddhist equanimity to avoid/reduce stress, burnout; Buddhists can avoid idealizing leaders via PA; p. 165: Transference & Counter-transference--create blind spots; PA's can avoid pathologizing spirituality & recognize the benefits of flow [he doesn't mention Csikszentmihalyi's "Flow"]. His multidimensional model reflects, p. 49, "the asymmetrical nature of human development...[since] the complexity & multidimensionality of human experience & development is obscured by linear, hierarchical developmental models;" (e.g. even Ken Wilbur's model is orientocentric). Quoting Alfred North Whitehead, p. 57, "One must look for the assumptions which appear so obvious that people do not know they are assuming them because no other way of putting things has ever occurred to them," p. 115, Freud: "In scientific affairs there should be no place for recoiling from novelty," & citing pp. 62 & 193 Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, he proposes utilizing, p. 195, "a wider range of tools" including, Ch. 9, integration & synergy &, p. 197, open systems to create a "Contemplative Psychoanalysis." In summary, this book is incredibly refreshing (though somewhat technical in parts) in that it begins an actual integration of the two complementary disciplines through an honest critique of each in light of psychological, sociological, & spiritual perspectives. Most highly recommended. After all, "the middle way" is inherently both Buddhist and scientific.