Dr. Perdigão notes that analysts are often confronted with issues arising out of cultural differences and may on occasion conduct analyses in a language that is not the patient's native tongue. This has become more pertinent with the worldwide expansion of psychoanalysis. One of the challenges analysts face is how to better understand patients who come from different cultural backgrounds.
The impetus to study this subject and further my understanding of transcultural analysis was the result of having analyzed a Japanese man who was in the United States on a scholarship for postgraduate studies. I will discuss some theoretical issues, then present a brief outline of the course of the analysis along with a transcription of four consecutive sessions and finally offer a discussion of the specific problems raised in that analysis.
