Encounter with Psychoanalysis: How I Became a Psychoanalyst

ABSTRACT

I encountered psychoanalysis for the first time in my registrar time, when I treated some borderline patients and read borderline papers by Dr. Kernberg. Later, I studied psychoanalytic clinical practice at The Tavistock Clinic in London. This greatly influenced me to choose to be a psychoanalyst.

When I was 10, I was involved in a severe traffic accident and was hospitalized. I met many victims and survivors of the atomic bomb there. All of them were suffering from heavy mental trauma. My father himself was harmed in the atomic bomb attack, and he also survived but suffered from profound mental pain and agony through his life. I show that these experiences were influential background for my understanding the importance of psychoanalysis.

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Takayuki Kinugasa

Dr. Kinugasa is Director, Hiroshima-City Mental Health and Welfare Center; and Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Hiroshima University. He retired last year and is working privately.