Prof.
RHEE was exposed to German literature along with taking
a personal interest in British, American and French
psychiatry. In the beginning, he was influenced by Eugen
Bleuler, Ernst Kretshmer and Kurt Kolle. Later on, as
a result of the influences of Sigmund Freud, Pierre
Janet and Jean-Martin Charcot, he came to believe in
the emotional origins of most mental disorders which
further confirmed the personal insights he had formed
during late childhood. He then came across Ludwig Binswanger’s
paper on ‘Inner Life History’(Binswanger 1963). After
3 or 4 years study of psychiatry, he began to understand
the inner world of his patients. As a medical student
he was exposed to Hermann Hesse’s novels which depict
the inner world and loneliness. He also read Arthur
Schopenhauer and much of Friedrich Nietzsche, Soeren
Kierkegaard and Max Scheler. In the first years of his
psychiatric studies, he was also introduced to Martin
Heidegger’s “Sein und Zeit”(Heidegger 1927). He read
almost all of the books written by Bertrand Russell(except
“Principia Mathematica”), studied linguistics, psychology,
cultural anthropology and was interested in the American
philosophers, William James and John Dewey, plus the
study of shamans/shamanism.
In 1953, he worked with a case of psychogenic headaches
which he successfully treated over a period of 12 sessions(RHEE
1960). In 1954, he went to New York to study psychoanalysis
on the strong recommendation and urging of an American
military psychiatrist. Here, he was exposed to North
American psychiatry and was analyz
-ed for six months,
also attending the William Alanson White Institute as
a general student for one year. After four years of
study at various other institutions in the United States,
he visited Europe and attended four International Congresses,
including the World Philosophers’ Congress.
Upon his return to Korea at the end of 1958, he introduced
dynamic psychiatry, psychotherapy and interview techniques,
as well as existential psychiatry to Korea.
Since 1965, he has been studying the eastern Tao including
Buddhism, Confucianism, Laotzu and Chuangtzu with prominent
Buddhist monks and scholars such as Hangwon(Sungsan),
Waloon, Oonheo, Kyungbong, Lee Heeick, Lee Jongick,
Whang Seungki, Tanheo, Jikwan, and Jongbeom, plus other
scholars of Confucianism and Laotzu and Chuangtzu like
Lim Changsoon, Rhew Seungkook, Lee Jeongho, Lee Namyeong,
Kim Choongyeul, Song Hangryong, Lee Kangsoo, and Choi
Joongseok.
Prof. RHEE argues that in Buddhism, a Bodhisattva helps
all sentient beings by fostering and providing relationship
and in doing this, accommodates him/herself to the ego-strength
of the sentient being congruently. The Bodhisattva becomes
or embodies any kind of Object(s) needed by the sentient
being(Oh 1980). Complete removal of projection through
purification of the mind or the resolution of love and
hate is the final goal of the Bodhisattva. In Confucianism,
it is recognized as the resolution of desire; in Laotzu,
as wu wei(no striving) and
in Chuangtzu, as liberation
from being hung upside down. Medard Boss(Boss 1965)
maintained that in terms of purification of the mind,
the best western psychoanalytic training serves only
as an introductory course.
In 1974, Prof. RHEE founded the Korean Psychotherapy
Case Study Group, which then developed into the Korean
Psychotherapy Study Group in 1976 and became the present
Korean Academy of Psychotherapists(KAP) after 1979.
It is at this academy that Prof. RHEE has been teaching
Taopsychotherapy for approximately 30 years.
4. Major International
Academic Activities
As to his international academic activities, he has presented
a series of papers at international meetings；“Pro
-cess
of the Tao Practice and Psychotherapy”(RHEE 1976) at
the 10th meeting of the International Federation for
Medical Psychotherapy(IFMP) in 1976(Paris), “The Tao,
Psychoanalysis and Existentialism/Existential Thought”
(RHEE 1990) at WPA in 1977(Honolulu), “The Tao and Western
Psychotherapy(RHEE 1979),” at the 11th meeting of IFMP
in Amsterdam, Holland, “Assimilation of Western Psychotherapy
in Asia”(RHEE 1984) at the Pacific Congress of Psychiatry
in 1981(Manila) and “The Tao and Western Psychotherapy”
at the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatry, Taipei, Taiwan
in 1982.
“The Tao, Psychoanalysis and Existential Thought/Existentialism” has been presented more than 10
times at different meetings. In May 1984, the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association(KNA) hosted
the 3rd Pacific Congress of Psychiatry and Prof. RHEE was then President of KNA and the Congress.
At the 13th meeting of IFMP in Yugoslavia in 1985 and the 14th meeting of IFMP in Switzerland in
1988, he organized some symposia about “Psychotherapy in East and West”, which made a significant
contribution to integration of the eastern Tao and western psychotherapy and these were both cochaired
with Medard Boss.
In 1988, Prof. RHEE was elected as a member of the board of trustees of
IFMP. In December 1989, he presented
“The Tao and Taoistic Intervention”(RHEE 1989) upon the
request of members of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis；this conference was held in Florida,
USA.
In 1991 he presented “Psychotherapy：East and West”(RHEE 1991) at the 15th meeting of IFP
(the former IFMP) in Hanover, Germany, and chaired and gave lectures about “Integration of Eastern
Tao and Western Psychotherapy” at two workshops held at Masaryk University in Bruno, Czechoslovakia
and in Moscow, Russia and hosted by the USSR Academy of Sciences(now, the Russian Academy
of Sciences).
In 1988 he lectured on “Asian Foundations of Psychotherapy：The Tao and Psychotherapy”(RHEE
1988) and on
“Assimilation of Western Psychotherapy in Asia：The Korean Case” at the plenary session
of the 2nd Pan-Asia Pacific Conference on Mental Health in Beijing, China. In 2002, he chaired
the workshop “The Taopsychotherapy” at the meeting of the 12th WPA(World Psychiatric Association)
in Yokohama, Japan. Most recently in 2003, he led the symposium titled “Taopsychotherapy
of Psychoses” at the 14th International Symposium of the Psychological Treatments of Schizophrenia
and Other Psychoses’(ISPS) in Melbourne, Australia.
In addition, there are simply too many other activities
to enumerate.
His professional activities encompass broad areas such
as psychotherapy, problems of identity and subjectivity
in and of Koreans, fusion of the eastern Tao and western
psychotherapy, significance of the Tao in contemporary
times, relationship between the Tao and science plus,
psychotherapy and traditional culture within Korea.
Unlike other Eastern countries - such as Japan and India
which imported psychotherapy from the west and are imitating
it - much progress has been made in Korea under the
leadership of Prof. RHEE by creating a fusion of traditional
culture, in particular the Tao with western psychotherapy
hence becoming the ultimate form of psychotherapy. |
