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Indigenous Psychologies and Approaches to Well-Being in East Asia

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Global Psychologies

Abstract

This chapter explores the contemporary movement for developing indigenous approaches to mental health and well-being in East Asia, which are an integral part of indigenous psychologies. The East Asian explanatory model of well-being perceives mind and body as mutually constituted, which are in turn parts of a larger whole consisting of physical and sociocultural environments. This holistic approach is based on an implicit model of relational self in East Asian cultures, in which the self is inseparable from other people, nonhuman agencies, physical environments, and the cosmic order. Many East Asian indigenous approaches to mental health and well-being reflect this model of relational self, for example, ethical care, onmeum counseling, Morita therapy, Naikan therapy, Chinese Taoist Cognitive Psychotherapy, and Tao psychotherapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Boon-Ooi Lee

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  1. Boon-Ooi Lee
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom

    Suman Fernando

  2. Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Roy Moodley

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Lee, BO. (2018). Indigenous Psychologies and Approaches to Well-Being in East Asia. In: Fernando, S., Moodley, R. (eds) Global Psychologies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95816-0_16

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