What does this research mean for the field?

Analytic avoidance of race in psychoanalytic practice reproduces the erasure of Asian American subjectivity, which can be mitigated through community kinship and diverse representation that foster racial reflective functioning. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

Examine the cultural and clinical forces that erase Asian American subjectivity within psychoanalytic discourse and therapeutic practice.

August 27, 2026Psychoanalytic Inquiry

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: The Slippery Invisibility of Asian American Personhood and Subjectivity

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Authors

ECElisa K. Cheng

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Implication

Clinical case narrative reveals how avoiding race reproduces Asian American invisibility in therapy, highlighting the role of peer community in restoring subjectivity.

Key Points

Examine the cultural and clinical forces that erase Asian American subjectivity within psychoanalytic discourse and therapeutic practice.
Integrated autobiographical reflection, psychoanalytic theory, and clinical case material from a second-generation Chinese American psychoanalytic candidate.
Analyzed a clinical vignette featuring racialized and gendered erotic transference alongside countertransference dynamics.
Demonstrated that therapeutic avoidance of race reproduces societal erasure, driving clinicians toward racial dissociation, accommodation, shame, and silence.
Identified professional kinship, increased representation, and the development of a collective analytic third as vital mechanisms for fostering racial reflective functioning.

Cite This Study

Elisa K. Cheng (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8fe9da10c91c1e92621cef https://doi.org/10.1080/07351690.2026.2712877

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Implication

Clinical case narrative reveals how avoiding race reproduces Asian American invisibility in therapy, highlighting the role of peer community in restoring subjectivity.

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: The Slippery Invisibility of Asian American Personhood and Subjectivity

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: The Slippery Invisibility of Asian American Personhood and Subjectivity

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Also Consider

Also Consider