Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: This chapter of Psychology and Buddhism: From Individual to Global Community seeks to order and examine psychotherapeutic literature that has been influenced by the Buddhist tradition. The author presents five groups of literature on Buddhism and psychotherapy: (1) Freudian psychodynamics; (2) Jungian mysticism; (3) Neo-Freudian eclecticism; (4) Behavioral pragmatism; and (5) New Age consciousness. While these groupings are roughly chronological in their organization, they do not represent increasingly nuanced synthesis or theoretical progression. The author's goal is to assess the manner in which psychologists have learned from and employed Buddhist ideas, as well as how psychologists have contributed to the Western understanding (and misunderstanding) of Buddhist teachings on the whole. (Zach Rowinski 2005-01-10)