Philosophy and Mental Health in the Age of Nihilism by Lehel Balough

Philosophy and Mental Health in the Age of Nihilism presents an erudite analysis
of East Asian philosophies, particularly the ideas of nothingness and emptiness in
Buddhism and Daoism, which are contrasted with Western existential philosophy
in the ‘Age of Anxiety’. It expands on the idea of self-transformation via self-
cultivation often associated with Buddhism (but also Neo-Confucianism) in the
context of Japanese psychotherapies and philosophies, drawing together these
intricate intersections in a clearly structured manner.

In order to make the case for the significance of developing an ethical ‘floating point’ of a less-fixed and more authentic no-self, the book challenges the complex relationships between authenticity, anxiety, nihilism, nothingness, and emptiness in Western and East Asian (mainly Japanese, but also Korean) philosophies, religions, and psychotherapies.