Abstract
We feel guilty to whom we have injured. So the guiltiness has an aspect, namely, "to whom". In the transcultural psychiatry this aspect is often discussed, because it shows directly, which ethical value is supposed to be violated. In comparison with that less attention was paid to another aspect, namely, "through which" we fall into guilt. Therefore this aspect can still give a new viewpoint for problems of the guilt to the transcultural psychiatry. In order to focus this rather neglected aspect, the altruistic anxiety of the German sociophobic patient is compared with that of the Japanese "Tai-jin-kyôfu" patient. In this study we find a transcultural difference in a proportion of two basic ways of the human life, namely, voluntary doing and involuntary becoming.