Yoga and Psychoanalysis (Perspectives on the Psychology of Regression)

This book discusses the relevance of tracing back the course of individual development noted in psychoanalysis (regression) and in Patañjali’s Yoga (prati-prasava).

Although Freud found the diagnostic benefits in tracing the history of the patients’ early childhood experiences, he also recognized the influences of the history of civilization and evolution. He also viewed the regression to earlier history in a negative light. Ernst Kris, on the other hand, saw some benefits of regression. The nature and extent of the influence of Jewish mysticism on Freud is highly controversial, and scholars have pointed out the possible influence of Kabalarian mysticism, which held that enlightenment follows from going all the way back to the origin of human beings at the beginning of the cosmos. This view has an interesting parallel in Patañjali’s Yoga. This volume highlights these significant parallels in the Indian and the Western systems of knowledge in the study of human psychology and explores the need for their mutual understanding. It also examines converging trends in modern psychology to recognize the need for transcendence of ego in individuals.

This book will be of immense interest to students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners of psychology, psychoanalysis, and Yoga Psychology. It will be of great interest to psychologists, counsellors, mental health professionals, clinical psychologists, yoga enthusiasts, and those interested in transpersonal psychology.