The Problem of Identity in Buddhism and Psychoanalysis

Episode 64 · Series 3 — A Year of Body, Speech & Mind With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Mark Siegert and Harvey Aronson Just what is one’s identity? One Western meaning is that identity is a single, healthy part of development required for a happy, successful life. Another view, both in Buddhism and in some aspects of Western psychotherapy, is that identity includes multiple identities, and under extreme pain, especially with a history of prior trauma, these identities can lead to severe distress. In psychotherapy, this level of distress, under certain conditions, may potentially lead to serious mental disorders such as dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). But even in the absence of a significant mental disorder, identity can still be problematic to living. Western psychotherapists and Buddhists both work with all of these, but in very different ways with different goals. In both, they aim to increase self-knowledge and free up problematic areas. But in Buddhism, the goal goes further, all the way up to full liberation.