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Mindfulness
Published in Chambers Mary, Psychiatric and mental health nursing, 2017
Morita therapy,16 developed by Dr Shoma Morita, is a psychotherapy in which emotions such as anxiety and fear are understood as a natural phenomenon of the human psyche. Neurosis is understood to result from the secondary meanings attached to these emotional reactions rather than the emotions themselves.
Culturally Sensitive Treatment 1
Published in Len Sperry, Behavioral Health, 2013
Culturally sensitive therapy is a psychotherapeutic intervention that directly addresses the cultural characteristics of diverse clients, such as beliefs, customs, attitudes, and their socioeconomic and historical context. Because they utilize traditional healing methods and pathways such approaches are appealing to certain clients. For example, cuento therapy addresses culturally relevant variables such as familismo and personalismo through the use of folk tales (cuentos) and is used with Puerto Rican children. Likewise, Morita therapy, which originated in Japan, is now used throughout the world for a wide range of disorders ranging from shyness to schizophrenia. These kinds of therapy appear to be particularly effective in clients with lower levels of acculturation.
History and perspective on psychiatry in Japan
Published in Dinesh Bhugra, Samson Tse, Roger Ng, Nori Takei, Routledge Handbook of Psychiatry in Asia, 2015
Shiro Suda, Genichi Sugihara, Nori Takei
As with the Western countries, there was no established treatment for mental illnesses at that time in Japan and most inpatients lived in a bubble without any special care or psychiatric examinations. In Japan, shock therapies (i.e. insulin shock therapy, cardiazol convulsive therapy and electroconvulsive therapy) were introduced and carried out in the 1930s and were reported to be effective. However, these methods were not popular treatments, since services using these approaches were not covered by insurance policies. In these circumstances, it is particularly worth noting that Dr Shoma Morita originated a purpose-centred, response-oriented therapy that was later called ‘Morita therapy’ in the 1930s. This unique therapy is still used in clinical settings and well acknowledged among Japanese psychiatrists as one of the most empirically effective cognitive behavioural therapies for anxiety disorders (‘anxiety neurosis’ in the old-fashioned terminology). Although cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may be now very popular all over the world, including Asian countries, and has become an established treatment for various types of mental problems, it may be surprising for readers in the West to note that one of the CBTs was initiated in the early twentieth century in the Far East. Morita therapy was influenced by the Zen principles of Buddhism. The basic concept is that neurotic symptoms are understood as the expression of the total process constituting the inner conflicts, or the sufferings arising from them, and the unsuccessful efforts of patients to stop rumination or worry, or deny or eliminate their conflicts, and that all of these processes are linked with anxiety. The specific approach (guidance) of Morita therapy is to instruct sufferers to accept the emotion of anxiety as it is, not to eagerly seek a cure, to conquer or suppress anxiety. Successful patients can leave behind their mindset that is fixated on their anxiety and start using their energy more effectively and realistically (Kondo, 1953; Morita et al., 1998). However, despite such a seemingly effective therapeutic approach and a long history attached to it, no practitioners who have been involved with this technique have succeeded in in proving its effectiveness in a rigorous manner using scientific research methods (i.e. randomised controlled trials, RCTs). Consequently, Morita therapy has been less used and is becoming obsolete. This is regrettable.
Relaxation techniques for depressive disorders in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Published in International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 2020
Min Li, Lei Wang, Meina Jiang, Di Wu, Tian Tian, Weixin Huang
The treatments for depressive disorders include pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy (e.g., supportive therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy, Morita therapy, psychodynamic therapy), physical therapy (electroconvulsive therapy and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) and other therapies (Janicak et al. 2002; Grunhaus et al. 2003; Jia et al. 2018; Lenferink et al. 2019; Moghaddasifar et al. 2019; Noone et al. 2019; Thwala et al. 2019; Walston et al. 2019). Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are common clinical treatment strategies for depressive disorders. Pharmacotherapies are effective but may be limited due to adverse effects, such as sexual dysfunction, excessive perspiration, drowsiness, and weight gain (Taylor et al. 2011; Peppel et al. 2019). Moreover, treatment guidelines by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the United Kingdom have recommended psychological interventions as first-line treatments prior to pharmacological treatment. Of the psychological interventions, relaxation-based therapy has been widely studied and is considered a valid treatment option for psychosis (Kieckhaefer et al. 2019), depressive disorders (Jorm et al. 2008), anxiety disorders (Kim and Kim 2018), quality of sleep(Habibollahpour et al. 2019), pain management (Smith et al. 2018), and pregnancy nausea (Fateme et al. 2019).
Neurasthenia: tracing the journey of a protean malady
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2020
Poornima Bhola, Santosh K. Chaturvedi
The treatments involved a unique juxtaposition of western biomedical approaches and Chinese traditional medicine to correct the depletion of energy and restore balance. In Japan, a range of treatments included breathing and meditative practices and Morita therapy. The construct of neurasthenia also represented a social or political critique, a commentary on rapid and unwanted changes, with treatments representing a return to security and traditional ways of living (Wu, 2012). As a culturally sanctioned idiom or explanatory model of distress (Tran, 2017; Desai & Chaturvedi 2016, 2017b), the neurasthenia label facilitated help-seeking while protecting from stigma (Schwartz, 2002). In countries like Japan, it was sometimes a euphemistic term for more severe psychotic conditions like schizophrenia (Machizawa, 1992; Munakata, 1989). As a culturally-embedded language of suffering which legitimized treatment, the concept of neurasthenia gained prominence in China and other Asian countries (Chaturvedi, 1993; Chaturvedi & Desai, 2007).
Recent developments in undergraduate education in psychiatry in Japan
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2020
Tsuyoshi Akiyama, Peter Bernick, Satoko Matsumoto, Anna Tagawa
Psychotherapy is covered in Chapter 9 of the 2018 examination criteria for Japan’s national examination for physicians, and it lists psychoanalysis, autogenic training, Morita therapy, behavioural therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, psychoeducation, art therapy, play therapy, family therapy, group therapy, and general counselling under the scope of exam topics. Cognitive therapy was first included in a textbook for medical students in 2008. In 2013, the textbook’s authors substantially revised and expanded the description. However, cognitive therapy is still not adequately addressed in undergraduate medical education. Reasons for this include a lack of cognitive therapy specialists, insufficient time allocated to psychotherapy education, limited coverage in the national examination criteria, and inadequate coverage of cognitive therapy in Japan’s national health insurance system, due to a lack of appropriate recognition of cognitive therapy as an evidence-based psychotherapy.