Culture and Mental Illness

Amae serves as the foundational root of the Japanese psychological mentality. Tokeo Doi, akin to Liah Greenfeld, focuses on certain words and relates them to the psychological development of a certain population. In Doi’s case, he emphasizes the significance of the root word amae and its subsequent branches and relates them to the Japanese society. While Amae is a word that is found exclusively in the Japanese vocabulary, it describes a psychological phenomenon that is common to mankind as a whole. Starting with infancy and surviving throughout a lifetime, amae is the source of the need to be loved and to be cared for by another. Consequently, amae plays an important role in an individual’s social interactions and becomes a driving force for relationships. Amae, however, could also be the source of psychiatric disorders for people who have an exaggerated sense of amaeru, or for those who were completely deprived of it. In short, Doi provides an adequate explanation to individualistic cases of psychiatric disorders; however, his explanation of amae does not completely extend to the reaction of the masses to natural catastrophes such as the tsunami.
Understanding the depth of amae in the Japanese mentality, specifically, can provide an explanation for events that occur in Japan. While amae basically verbalizes the lifelong need for mutual dependence and “passive love”, not every individual is capable of reaching amaeru. It is particularly frustrating for those individuals who adamantly seek such relationships and yet fail to achieve it. Those individuals with an exaggerated need for indulgent dependency, or those absolutely deprived of it, have a higher chance of being afflicted by pathologies. According to Doi, the symptomatology e...

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...e who were afflicted by the tsunami as they worked together to help one another with their common misery. However, amae seemed to be suspended between the “have” and “have-nots”, as Sato puts it, even if they were in the “inner” circle and related by blood. We observed how children could not stay at their parents’ houses and how others could not stay at their relatives’ places. Even though they were part of the “inner” circle, but their goals/problems were different and that caused the suspension of amae. We also noticed how people unaffected by the tsunami sought after the lost valuables of those who were affected; both groups shared different problems. In short, similar problems/goals should be the “yardstick” to judge if amae is possible among any two or not as the “inner” circle and “outer” circle theory fails to provide an adequate explanation to various cases.