Difficulties in amae: A clinical perspective

The Japanese word amae refers initially to the infant's feelings and attachment behavior toward the mother. Doi has vividly described how amae is carried through into adulthood characterizing Japanese social and family relationships and Japanese psychology. Exploring implications of the amae concept for infant research will be helped by including other aspects of amae manifest in clinical work: (1) Amae takes place in the complex vicissitudes of motherhood in Japan in which the mother fulfills her social as well as emotional needs through her infant; (2) as the child grows older he or she learns that amae can only be fulfilled if he or she is able to meet the parent's and the social demand for achievement; (3) there is a long tradition of inhibition of amae among women which is passed on from generation to generation affecting the quality of mothering; (4) the intuitive aspect of good enough amae in the parent-in-fant relationship is being lost due to rapid ongoing social changes. Therapeutic endeavors to retrieve the intuitive aspect of amae prove effective for the increasing numbers of relationship disturbances in infancy.