[Meaning of "becoming" in the Japanese psychopathologic view as compared with the German-speaking view]

Until now, Japanese cultural concepts such as "ki" and "aida" were used to introduce new perspectives to psychopathology. Universal concepts can also serve this purpose when the culturally different connotations are worked out. In this study,we discuss the concept "becoming," which is not only universal but also undoubtedly one of the key words in psychiatry. As is well known,Zutt made a contribution to psychopathology with a clear differentiation between "becoming" and "doing." It is interesting that some Japanese linguists also mentioned the same difference, namely that between the Japanese logic of "becoming" and the Western logic of "doing." Accordingly, tai-jin-kyôfu as anxiety about "becoming" is contrasted with sociophobia as anxiety about "doing." However, "becoming" in the sense of Zutt is different from the Japanese in three aspects,namely the physical, social and temporal ones. These differences refer to the various meanings of "nature." Finally,we mention the possibility of applying the Japanese term "becoming" to psychopathology.