Koichi Togashi, Ph.D. | Konan University (original) (raw)

Papers by Koichi Togashi, Ph.D.

Routledge eBooks, Sep 16, 2015

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Feb 17, 2021

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Feb 17, 2022

ABSTRACT How does “the other” emerge in our clinical practice? “The other” is something which is ... more ABSTRACT How does “the other” emerge in our clinical practice? “The other” is something which is neither experienced nor perceived by you as yourself, in contrast to “I,” the center of a sense of continuity and cohesion of experiences. Psychoanalysis has tried to capture “the other” in many forms; it may be referred to as unconscious, an internal object, or another person. In this article, I examine “the other” from the perspectives of intersubjective system theories and the Ethical Turn in psychoanalysis, and illustrate that this theme is linked to discrimination, persecution, prejudice and defamation. We, as therapists, cannot escape judging and discriminating a patient because we are trained to distinguish the world with names. We create a difference between “I” and “the other,” which cannot be distinguished. I suggest that we be ready to put ourselves into the moment without context, in which the patient can be us and we can be the patient. We are always both “I” and “the other,” a player-witness.

Psychoanalytic Inquiry

ABSTRACT This article examines the refugee experience as a loss of home. When home is viewed as m... more ABSTRACT This article examines the refugee experience as a loss of home. When home is viewed as much more than simply a place but is understood as a concept that signifies how human beings locate themselves among other human beings in the world, the loss of home is seen as almost always traumatic. The article begins with the psychoanalytic literature on the refugee experience. Then with reference to a study of the refugees of the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor explosions, it discusses the societal traumas that drive people out of their homes. It is suggested that all humans share a sense of radical anxiety upon being disconnected from or unstably bonded to home. Next, Buber’s understanding of home is considered. The article concludes with an illustrative clinical vignette and a discussion of the possible intergenerational transmission of exile and homelessness starting with the experience of early humans.

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

This article begins the examination of suffering and its relation to the experience of being huma... more This article begins the examination of suffering and its relation to the experience of being human. Trauma is neither an experience nor an actual event, but the beginning of the "human" condition. The argument is illustrated through interwoven narratives of transgenerational trauma that arose in the psychoanalytic treatment of a traumatized patient whose parents were atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It describes the patient's and analyst's surrender to the nameless universe in which the division between victim and victimizer is a production of contingency.

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2021

ABSTRACT The twinship/alter-ego experience, defined as a sense of being human among other human b... more ABSTRACT The twinship/alter-ego experience, defined as a sense of being human among other human beings, is one of the most significant concepts of Heinz Kohut’s Psychology of the Self. Throughout his work, Kohut always referred to both the twinship and alter-ego terms interchangeably, but he never clarified his use of the two very different concepts to encompass one idea. In this article, we attempt to clarify this by exploring how the twinship experience and the alter-ego experience do, or do not, come into contact with each other. Through a reexamination of a case vignette about Anna, who we have discussed elsewhere, we illustrate that the twinship experience is an intersubjective process which involves both the significance of the way in which two people came to meet each other and how they have experienced being together, while the alter-ego experience is about a human dialogue between different facets within a person, and between different people, both of which emerge in the traumatic world that people existentially share with, and hide from themselves and each other. We conclude with an assertion that a “sense of being human” emerges in a space where these two very different, but related experiences encounter, and engage with each other in a “complex relational dance” (Suchorov, personal communication).

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2021

More people than ever before in history are living as refugees The first part of their article pr... more More people than ever before in history are living as refugees The first part of their article presents a general account of the experiences of refugees during the last five years during which Italy was rocked by political turbulence and the COVID-19 crisis Following their review of some of the psychoanalytic literature on the refugee experience, they report on a study they conducted with refugees of the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor explosion [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Psychoanalytic Inquiry is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abs...

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2021

Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 2017

In response to Donna Orange’s discussion in which she addresses the relationship between informed... more In response to Donna Orange’s discussion in which she addresses the relationship between informed consent and one’s ethical response to the Other, I attempt to articulate that informed consent is born at the moment of an analyst’s responding to her patient’s demand prior to the awareness of his professional role. Informed consent proclaims the birth of a human relationship in which both participants take responsibility for each other’s suffering. I conclude that it is part of the fundamental ethics of our professional work to create a space for mutual responsibility, for the future therapeutic relationship, in the present relationship, and that the analyst’s efforts in this regard can be a way of making the impossibility of informed consent possible in an intersubjective field.

Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 2017

A traumatic event strikes people without their knowledge and willing agreement or permission. In ... more A traumatic event strikes people without their knowledge and willing agreement or permission. In other words, informed consent is missing at a crucial moment in their lives. But experiencing an event without consent does not always traumatize people. We are exposed to everyday events in our lives without consent. Indeed, as Loewald (2000) says, human beings are "born without informed consent" (p. 243). In this article, I attempt to explore and illustrate in what ways people are or are not traumatized by being exposed to an event without consent, viewed from the perspective of the "psychology of being human" (Togashi and Kottler, 2015). In a review of the case vignette of a female patient suffering from complex trauma, I demonstrate that the relation of informed consent to traumatic events is a form of existential anguish in response to living in our contemporary world, a world that is increasingly experienced as uncertain. Finally, I argue that the lack of informed consent to a traumatic event can violate one's sense of responsibility, and show how we may undertake the process of granting informed consent retrospectively in a therapeutic process. Informed consent cannot be achieved in a human relationship, but is instead a dialogue through which people negotiate, discuss, talk, and attempt to understand each other when they happen to meet.

Kohut's Twinship Across Cultures, 2015

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

In this response to Doris Brothers’ discussion in which she describes the process by which a “sur... more In this response to Doris Brothers’ discussion in which she describes the process by which a “survival-threatening event” can create emotional meaning, I have attempted to illustrate two aspects of trauma; the trauma of a “bad” event and the trauma of “nothing.” A human being, existing in an uncertain world, faces a difficult task in maintaining the sense of being human. Despite the difficulty, the potential for finding meaningful experience in an empty and uncertain world, and perceiving a hopeful future, is one of the significant gifts of being human. As indicated in Kohut’s concept of “tragic man” (Kohut, 1977), though, it is inherently tragic for us that meaningful experience can be found only in a human relationship with others.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

In this article, I attempt to illustrate the ways in which a person experiences himself or hersel... more In this article, I attempt to illustrate the ways in which a person experiences himself or herself as being human, including what it means to be treated as human by others. This study consists of a review of the literature in clinical ethics and psychoanalysis, and the psycho-biographical research of Heinz Kohut, who sought the meaning of being human while in the grip of a ten year struggle with lymphoma. The study shows that, from a self psychological perspective, the sense of being human can be described as a psychological state in which a person feels an emotional tie with others and makes sense of temporal continuity in his or her existence. Through careful examination of Kohut’s words and his life, I conclude that a sense of being human can be organized through sharing with the other about how the person was born, and how he has been with the other, through an authentic and honest relationship with others, or through a hope of passing on something significant to the next generation. I argue that these human processes serve to connect a person’s subjective experience from the past with the present, from the present to the future, and to the experience of others in the present.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

In this article the author attempts to explore how the patient and analyst experience aspects of ... more In this article the author attempts to explore how the patient and analyst experience aspects of their process that feel random or contingent, and to describe the therapeutic effect the experience has on an analytic process in which analyst and patient allow themselves to view the therapeutic process as contingent. Through discussion of the case vignette of a female patient with whom the analyst slips into an intersubjective disjunction, the author concludes that contingency and necessity are significant terms through which patient and analyst together make sense (Orange, 1995) of their emotional experiences. The author emphasizes that a traumatized person or a relational organization easily fall into a dualism between contingency and necessity, and that a traumatized system is perturbed when an analyst and a patient allow themselves to confront the possibility that any phenomena could be both contingent and necessary. The author finally suggests that contingency and necessity have to do with a person finding a meaning of his life.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

Margy Sperry’s excellent discussion addressed my article, “Is It a Problem for Us to Say, ‘It Is ... more Margy Sperry’s excellent discussion addressed my article, “Is It a Problem for Us to Say, ‘It Is a Coincidence That the Patient Does Well’?” in a psychoanalytic and phenomenological context. By examining the intersection between philosophy and psychoanalytic complexity theory, Dr. Sperry provides a basis for my perspective. Along with her discussion, I discuss the ways in which the theme of contingency and necessity emerges in the process of transformation in the three areas: from isolation to connection, from explanatory discourse to experiential discourse, and from a search for a reason to a search for a meaning.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2008

In this article, I attempt to propose an additional and new dimension of twinship selfobject need... more In this article, I attempt to propose an additional and new dimension of twinship selfobject need: A patient yearns for a sense that the analyst recognizes himself or herself in the patient. Through clinical vignettes with two Japanese patients, I illustrate that this new dimension and Kohut's original definition are related, but represent two different kinds of transferences. I discuss

International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 2007

This representative case study investigates three Japanese immigrants' unconscious narcissistic f... more This representative case study investigates three Japanese immigrants' unconscious narcissistic fantasies. Unlike traditional psychoanalytic research on immigration, which views the central factor of psychological distresses arising from immigrating as object loss, mourning work, and identity reformation , this study finds that the essential factor of an immigrant's psychological distress is the injury to the narcissistic fantasy. An immigrant arriving in a new country hopes that his or her central organizing fantasy will be realized immediately, concretely, and positively, and an immigrant dreads experiencing his or her central organizing fantasy as valueless or illegitimate in the new country. The disruption of the fantasy can be experienced in an immigrant as a sense of betrayal by both the old and the new country, which, together, represent the whole world. The author argues that, for an immigrant patient, entering into psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic therapy is experienced as a kind of re-immigration.

Routledge eBooks, Sep 16, 2015

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Feb 17, 2021

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Feb 17, 2022

ABSTRACT How does “the other” emerge in our clinical practice? “The other” is something which is ... more ABSTRACT How does “the other” emerge in our clinical practice? “The other” is something which is neither experienced nor perceived by you as yourself, in contrast to “I,” the center of a sense of continuity and cohesion of experiences. Psychoanalysis has tried to capture “the other” in many forms; it may be referred to as unconscious, an internal object, or another person. In this article, I examine “the other” from the perspectives of intersubjective system theories and the Ethical Turn in psychoanalysis, and illustrate that this theme is linked to discrimination, persecution, prejudice and defamation. We, as therapists, cannot escape judging and discriminating a patient because we are trained to distinguish the world with names. We create a difference between “I” and “the other,” which cannot be distinguished. I suggest that we be ready to put ourselves into the moment without context, in which the patient can be us and we can be the patient. We are always both “I” and “the other,” a player-witness.

Psychoanalytic Inquiry

ABSTRACT This article examines the refugee experience as a loss of home. When home is viewed as m... more ABSTRACT This article examines the refugee experience as a loss of home. When home is viewed as much more than simply a place but is understood as a concept that signifies how human beings locate themselves among other human beings in the world, the loss of home is seen as almost always traumatic. The article begins with the psychoanalytic literature on the refugee experience. Then with reference to a study of the refugees of the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor explosions, it discusses the societal traumas that drive people out of their homes. It is suggested that all humans share a sense of radical anxiety upon being disconnected from or unstably bonded to home. Next, Buber’s understanding of home is considered. The article concludes with an illustrative clinical vignette and a discussion of the possible intergenerational transmission of exile and homelessness starting with the experience of early humans.

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

This article begins the examination of suffering and its relation to the experience of being huma... more This article begins the examination of suffering and its relation to the experience of being human. Trauma is neither an experience nor an actual event, but the beginning of the "human" condition. The argument is illustrated through interwoven narratives of transgenerational trauma that arose in the psychoanalytic treatment of a traumatized patient whose parents were atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It describes the patient's and analyst's surrender to the nameless universe in which the division between victim and victimizer is a production of contingency.

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2021

ABSTRACT The twinship/alter-ego experience, defined as a sense of being human among other human b... more ABSTRACT The twinship/alter-ego experience, defined as a sense of being human among other human beings, is one of the most significant concepts of Heinz Kohut’s Psychology of the Self. Throughout his work, Kohut always referred to both the twinship and alter-ego terms interchangeably, but he never clarified his use of the two very different concepts to encompass one idea. In this article, we attempt to clarify this by exploring how the twinship experience and the alter-ego experience do, or do not, come into contact with each other. Through a reexamination of a case vignette about Anna, who we have discussed elsewhere, we illustrate that the twinship experience is an intersubjective process which involves both the significance of the way in which two people came to meet each other and how they have experienced being together, while the alter-ego experience is about a human dialogue between different facets within a person, and between different people, both of which emerge in the traumatic world that people existentially share with, and hide from themselves and each other. We conclude with an assertion that a “sense of being human” emerges in a space where these two very different, but related experiences encounter, and engage with each other in a “complex relational dance” (Suchorov, personal communication).

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

The Psychoanalytic Zero, 2020

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2021

More people than ever before in history are living as refugees The first part of their article pr... more More people than ever before in history are living as refugees The first part of their article presents a general account of the experiences of refugees during the last five years during which Italy was rocked by political turbulence and the COVID-19 crisis Following their review of some of the psychoanalytic literature on the refugee experience, they report on a study they conducted with refugees of the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor explosion [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Psychoanalytic Inquiry is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abs...

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2021

Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 2017

In response to Donna Orange’s discussion in which she addresses the relationship between informed... more In response to Donna Orange’s discussion in which she addresses the relationship between informed consent and one’s ethical response to the Other, I attempt to articulate that informed consent is born at the moment of an analyst’s responding to her patient’s demand prior to the awareness of his professional role. Informed consent proclaims the birth of a human relationship in which both participants take responsibility for each other’s suffering. I conclude that it is part of the fundamental ethics of our professional work to create a space for mutual responsibility, for the future therapeutic relationship, in the present relationship, and that the analyst’s efforts in this regard can be a way of making the impossibility of informed consent possible in an intersubjective field.

Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 2017

A traumatic event strikes people without their knowledge and willing agreement or permission. In ... more A traumatic event strikes people without their knowledge and willing agreement or permission. In other words, informed consent is missing at a crucial moment in their lives. But experiencing an event without consent does not always traumatize people. We are exposed to everyday events in our lives without consent. Indeed, as Loewald (2000) says, human beings are "born without informed consent" (p. 243). In this article, I attempt to explore and illustrate in what ways people are or are not traumatized by being exposed to an event without consent, viewed from the perspective of the "psychology of being human" (Togashi and Kottler, 2015). In a review of the case vignette of a female patient suffering from complex trauma, I demonstrate that the relation of informed consent to traumatic events is a form of existential anguish in response to living in our contemporary world, a world that is increasingly experienced as uncertain. Finally, I argue that the lack of informed consent to a traumatic event can violate one's sense of responsibility, and show how we may undertake the process of granting informed consent retrospectively in a therapeutic process. Informed consent cannot be achieved in a human relationship, but is instead a dialogue through which people negotiate, discuss, talk, and attempt to understand each other when they happen to meet.

Kohut's Twinship Across Cultures, 2015

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

In this response to Doris Brothers’ discussion in which she describes the process by which a “sur... more In this response to Doris Brothers’ discussion in which she describes the process by which a “survival-threatening event” can create emotional meaning, I have attempted to illustrate two aspects of trauma; the trauma of a “bad” event and the trauma of “nothing.” A human being, existing in an uncertain world, faces a difficult task in maintaining the sense of being human. Despite the difficulty, the potential for finding meaningful experience in an empty and uncertain world, and perceiving a hopeful future, is one of the significant gifts of being human. As indicated in Kohut’s concept of “tragic man” (Kohut, 1977), though, it is inherently tragic for us that meaningful experience can be found only in a human relationship with others.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

In this article, I attempt to illustrate the ways in which a person experiences himself or hersel... more In this article, I attempt to illustrate the ways in which a person experiences himself or herself as being human, including what it means to be treated as human by others. This study consists of a review of the literature in clinical ethics and psychoanalysis, and the psycho-biographical research of Heinz Kohut, who sought the meaning of being human while in the grip of a ten year struggle with lymphoma. The study shows that, from a self psychological perspective, the sense of being human can be described as a psychological state in which a person feels an emotional tie with others and makes sense of temporal continuity in his or her existence. Through careful examination of Kohut’s words and his life, I conclude that a sense of being human can be organized through sharing with the other about how the person was born, and how he has been with the other, through an authentic and honest relationship with others, or through a hope of passing on something significant to the next generation. I argue that these human processes serve to connect a person’s subjective experience from the past with the present, from the present to the future, and to the experience of others in the present.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

In this article the author attempts to explore how the patient and analyst experience aspects of ... more In this article the author attempts to explore how the patient and analyst experience aspects of their process that feel random or contingent, and to describe the therapeutic effect the experience has on an analytic process in which analyst and patient allow themselves to view the therapeutic process as contingent. Through discussion of the case vignette of a female patient with whom the analyst slips into an intersubjective disjunction, the author concludes that contingency and necessity are significant terms through which patient and analyst together make sense (Orange, 1995) of their emotional experiences. The author emphasizes that a traumatized person or a relational organization easily fall into a dualism between contingency and necessity, and that a traumatized system is perturbed when an analyst and a patient allow themselves to confront the possibility that any phenomena could be both contingent and necessary. The author finally suggests that contingency and necessity have to do with a person finding a meaning of his life.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2014

Margy Sperry’s excellent discussion addressed my article, “Is It a Problem for Us to Say, ‘It Is ... more Margy Sperry’s excellent discussion addressed my article, “Is It a Problem for Us to Say, ‘It Is a Coincidence That the Patient Does Well’?” in a psychoanalytic and phenomenological context. By examining the intersection between philosophy and psychoanalytic complexity theory, Dr. Sperry provides a basis for my perspective. Along with her discussion, I discuss the ways in which the theme of contingency and necessity emerges in the process of transformation in the three areas: from isolation to connection, from explanatory discourse to experiential discourse, and from a search for a reason to a search for a meaning.

International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 2008

In this article, I attempt to propose an additional and new dimension of twinship selfobject need... more In this article, I attempt to propose an additional and new dimension of twinship selfobject need: A patient yearns for a sense that the analyst recognizes himself or herself in the patient. Through clinical vignettes with two Japanese patients, I illustrate that this new dimension and Kohut's original definition are related, but represent two different kinds of transferences. I discuss

International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 2007

This representative case study investigates three Japanese immigrants' unconscious narcissistic f... more This representative case study investigates three Japanese immigrants' unconscious narcissistic fantasies. Unlike traditional psychoanalytic research on immigration, which views the central factor of psychological distresses arising from immigrating as object loss, mourning work, and identity reformation , this study finds that the essential factor of an immigrant's psychological distress is the injury to the narcissistic fantasy. An immigrant arriving in a new country hopes that his or her central organizing fantasy will be realized immediately, concretely, and positively, and an immigrant dreads experiencing his or her central organizing fantasy as valueless or illegitimate in the new country. The disruption of the fantasy can be experienced in an immigrant as a sense of betrayal by both the old and the new country, which, together, represent the whole world. The author argues that, for an immigrant patient, entering into psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic therapy is experienced as a kind of re-immigration.

Approaches to Psychic Trauma: Theory and Practice , 2019

岩崎学術出版社, 2018

臨床家はどのように苦悩する患者に出会うのか? 苦悩する患者とのやり取りで,臨床家自身も傷つきを背負うかもしれない中で,臨床家はどのようにして患者に向き合うのか? 人は人であろうとする限り傷つきや... more 臨床家はどのように苦悩する患者に出会うのか? 苦悩する患者とのやり取りで,臨床家自身も傷つきを背負うかもしれない中で,臨床家はどのようにして患者に向き合うのか? 人は人であろうとする限り傷つきやすく,脆弱である。それでも臨床家は人として患者に出会い,人としての悲しみに付き合う。その出会いとは何だろうか。精神分析や精神分析的心理療法に携わる臨床家は,意外にも,そうしたことをそれほど深く考えてこなかった。本書は,精神分析や精神分析的心理療法に携わる専門家とともに,その臨床実践を倫理という側面から考えようとするものである。

Traumatized People: Psychotherapy seen through the Lens of Diverse Specialist Treatments, 2018

Kohut's Twinship Across Cultures: The Psychology of Being Human chronicles a 10-year-voyage in wh... more Kohut's Twinship Across Cultures: The Psychology of Being Human chronicles a 10-year-voyage in which the authors struggled, initially independently, to make sense of Kohut‘s intentions when he radically re-defined the twinship experience to one of "being human among other human beings".

Commencing with an exploration of Kohut’s work on twinship and an illustration of the value of what he left for elaboration, Togashi and Kottler proceed to introduce a new and very different sensitivity to understanding particular psychoanalytic relational processes and ideas about human existential anguish, trauma, and the meaning of life. Together they tackle the twinship concept, which has often been misunderstood and about which little has been written. Uniquely, the book expands and elaborates upon Kohut’s final definition, "being human among other human beings." It problematizes this apparently simple concept with a wide range of clinical material, demonstrating the complexity of the statement and the intricacies involved in recognizing and working with traumatized patients who have never experienced this feeling. It asks how a sense of being human, as opposed to being described as human, can be generated and how this might help clinicians to better understand and work with trauma.

Written for psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists interested in self-psychological, intersubjective, and relational theories, Twinship Across Cultures will also be invaluable to clinicians working in the broader areas of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, social work, psychiatry and education. It will enrich their sensitivity and capacity to understand and treat traumatized patients and the alienation they feel among other human beings.