『Mental health now, when we need it most』
Nobuo Okamoto
Executive Director
The Mental Health Okamoto Memorial Foundation
Japanese medicine has made magnificent strides in the modern era, and now provides the nation’s citizens perhaps the top level of medical care in the world.
Yet we have been leading our longer lives in an increasingly complicated and stress-inducing society, in a way that invites overload and mental anxiety. As the environment and lifestyle take their toll on both physical and mental health, quite a few of us wind up falling into what is known as a neurotic condition.
Tsuneo Okamoto, creator of the Foundation, was himself one such sufferer. He struggled for years with a severe psychosomatic gastrointestinal disorder, all the while pursuing a procession of treatments and cures, to no avail. Thus, Mr. Okamoto was at his wit’s end when he encountered Morita therapy. After studying the theory underlying the Morita therapeutic method, he put his newfound knowledge into practice to treat his stomach distress. Within an astonishingly short period, Mr. Okamoto’s chronic disorder was completely resolved. In awe and gratitude, he committed himself to the mission of spreading knowledge about the outstanding psychotherapeutic tool that Morita therapy represents, hoping to reach as many people with neuroses and other psychological conditions as possible. He established the Foundation to embody that mission.
The unique psychotherapy for neurosis named for its founder, psychiatrist Shoma Morita, is a significant Japanese contribution to the treatment of psychosomatic diseases worldwide. We fervently hope that the Foundation’s grant-making, educational and outreach initiatives will increase the knowledge of psychotherapy, including Morita’s landmark approach, and play some small role in furthering people’s health and well-being.