Hiroshi Ishizu

Attacked by the gods or by mental illness? Hybridizing mental and spiritual health in Okinawa

In 1972, the reversion to Japanese rule brought with it many changes for Okinawans, among them the widespread introduction of psychiatry. Psychiatry was not well received at first due to the extensive presence of shamans, who had traditionally dealt with Okinawans’ spiritual and psychological afflictions. Both psychiatrists and shamans claimed to be able to heal those who were labelled ‘mentally ill’ or ‘mentally disordered’ by psychiatrists. This conflict between systems over the body of the patient/client is relevant to debates today about both the perceived value of generic mental health diagnosis and treatment regimes compared with indigenous healing,1 and the question of isolating how markers or symbols of identity are employed in patients’ help-seeking choices. We examine three cases from the 1970s of patients who were diagnosed as suffering from both schizophrenia and an indigenous condition known as kami daarii.

Current status of infant mental health in day‐care centres in Japan: an investigation of Okinawa and Aomori prefectures

Grasping both the extent and the actual situation of psychosomatic disorders, neurotic habits and developmental disorders of infancy and childhood is vital for their prevention and for taking appropriate measures to deal with the current situation. The purpose of this study is to explore the current situation of infant mental health in Japanese day‐care centres. The investigation regions for this study were Okinawa prefecture and Aomori prefecture in Japan. Our investigation method was a mailed survey, which was answered by the director or a teacher of the day‐care centre. The response rates were 40.9% (Okinawa) and 41.2% (Aomori). This included the answered surveys from 78 day‐care centres (6250 children) in Okinawa and 134 day‐care centres (9613 children) in Aomori. We found that the approximate prevalences of mutism in infants and children in the above‐mentioned day‐care centres were 0.34% (Okinawa) and 0.33% (Aomori). In the same way, the rates of tic disorder were 0.51% (Okinawa) and 0.54% (Aomori), and the rates of elimination disorder were 0.30% (Okinawa) and 0.28% (Aomori). These rates did not show any significant difference. When we compared the rates with those obtained from conventional studies, only slight differences were observed.