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2011年5月1日日曜日
Psychiatrists Japan
Psychiatrists aid traumatized foreigners
A group of psychiatrists who have been providing mental health support for foreign residents has set up an emergency committee to aid non-Japanese suffering from stress and trauma from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
News photo
For foreigners: Fumitaka Noda, professor of psychiatry at Taisho University in Tokyo, is interviewed Tuesday. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO
"Those who are suffering the most are the elderly, children, the handicapped and foreigners. And foreigners are particularly prone to become isolated, suffer from a lack of information in their mother tongue, easily become confused by false rumors and suffer from growing anxiety," said Fumitaka Noda, president of the Japanese Society of Transcultural Psychiatry and professor of psychiatry at Taisho University in Tokyo.
"It's really important to provide them with accurate information, and then to listen and understand their anxiety," said Noda, who has been providing mental health care services to foreigners in Japan for 18 years, especially to refugees.
Comprised of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, the transcultural psychiatry society established the Transcultural Mental Health Emergency committee March 19 to help foreigners directly affected by 3/11.
As the only medical society in Japan that focuses on studies of foreigners who have mental health issues due to transcultural problems, the society is working closely with groups that support foreigners, including the Japan Foundation, to continue gathering information on people in need of professional help. It is also planning to teach supporters basic knowledge of mental health, so that when they spot signs of depression or posttraumatic stress disorder they can contact Noda and his colleagues.
Mental health care has become more important as people recover from the initial shock of the disaster and gradually start to get a clear picture of what happened and what situation they are in, Noda explained.
"As people start to look around, they begin to feel more clearly the sense of loss, and anxiety over the future. . . . Some may develop PTSD," Noda said. "Many suffer from numbness. Because they lost everything they had and they begin to wonder about the meaning of making an effort, making a commitment or loving someone."
If such cases continue over a long period, then people need to seek professional help, Noda said.
As part of his preparation to aid foreigners, Noda also went to Soma in Fukushima Prefecture, just outside the 30-km zone around the crippled nuclear plant, at the end of March.
What struck him was the lack of mental health professionals on hand. "There were hospitals but no psychiatric facilities in the surrounding area. . . . So many psychiatric patients were suffering from a lack of medication," Noda said.
Although there is now a hastily set up psychiatric unit in a local hospital, more help from mental care professionals is still needed, said Noda, who visited shelters in the city and listened to peoples' stories and concerns.
"People were under huge stress. Some said they can't sleep and some said their children were crying and screaming every night and had no idea what to do," he said.
Psychiatrists aid traumatized foreigners | The Japan Times Online
A group of psychiatrists who have been providing mental health support for foreign residents has set up an emergency committee to aid non-Japanese suffering from stress and trauma from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
News photo
For foreigners: Fumitaka Noda, professor of psychiatry at Taisho University in Tokyo, is interviewed Tuesday. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO
"Those who are suffering the most are the elderly, children, the handicapped and foreigners. And foreigners are particularly prone to become isolated, suffer from a lack of information in their mother tongue, easily become confused by false rumors and suffer from growing anxiety," said Fumitaka Noda, president of the Japanese Society of Transcultural Psychiatry and professor of psychiatry at Taisho University in Tokyo.
"It's really important to provide them with accurate information, and then to listen and understand their anxiety," said Noda, who has been providing mental health care services to foreigners in Japan for 18 years, especially to refugees.
Comprised of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, the transcultural psychiatry society established the Transcultural Mental Health Emergency committee March 19 to help foreigners directly affected by 3/11.
As the only medical society in Japan that focuses on studies of foreigners who have mental health issues due to transcultural problems, the society is working closely with groups that support foreigners, including the Japan Foundation, to continue gathering information on people in need of professional help. It is also planning to teach supporters basic knowledge of mental health, so that when they spot signs of depression or posttraumatic stress disorder they can contact Noda and his colleagues.
Mental health care has become more important as people recover from the initial shock of the disaster and gradually start to get a clear picture of what happened and what situation they are in, Noda explained.
"As people start to look around, they begin to feel more clearly the sense of loss, and anxiety over the future. . . . Some may develop PTSD," Noda said. "Many suffer from numbness. Because they lost everything they had and they begin to wonder about the meaning of making an effort, making a commitment or loving someone."
If such cases continue over a long period, then people need to seek professional help, Noda said.
As part of his preparation to aid foreigners, Noda also went to Soma in Fukushima Prefecture, just outside the 30-km zone around the crippled nuclear plant, at the end of March.
What struck him was the lack of mental health professionals on hand. "There were hospitals but no psychiatric facilities in the surrounding area. . . . So many psychiatric patients were suffering from a lack of medication," Noda said.
Although there is now a hastily set up psychiatric unit in a local hospital, more help from mental care professionals is still needed, said Noda, who visited shelters in the city and listened to peoples' stories and concerns.
"People were under huge stress. Some said they can't sleep and some said their children were crying and screaming every night and had no idea what to do," he said.
Psychiatrists aid traumatized foreigners | The Japan Times Online
2011年4月30日土曜日
Japan's Quake orphans
Even more than six weeks on, it’s still difficult to estimate the number of children who have been orphaned by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11.
The Ministry of Health has registered around 100 confirmed cases, but the number is expected to rise as more of the people listed as missing are confirmed dead. For some of the kids left behind, the path to recovery will be harder than others and they are likely to end up in state care.
Support project
In Japan, fostering and adoption are still very rare. Without a living relative to take over their care, some of the orphans in Tohoku will be placed into group homes. Often, although staff care for their charges and are doing their best in a less-than-ideal situation, the homes are under-resourced, overcrowded and short-handed.
The founder of Smile Kids Japan, Michael Maher King, unloads supplies at a Kesennuma evacuation center.
The founder of Smile Kids Japan, Michael Maher King, unloads supplies at a Kesennuma evacuation center.
That’s why NGO Living Dreams, which matches volunteers with orphanages in the Tokyo area, and Smile Kids Japan, a nationwide volunteer network founded by British teacher Michael Maher King, have teamed up to raise money and volunteers to help out orphanages in Tohoku.
They've named their scheme the Tohoku Kids Support Project and are hoping to provide a lot more than just the immediate necessities.
“Having worked with many orphanages, I know how important it is for these kids to feel normal,” says Amy Moyers-Knopp, the project's co-director. “They need stability in their lives and dreams to look forward to.”
Read more: Japan's new post-quake orphan problem | C
Japans new post-quake orphan problem /a>
The Ministry of Health has registered around 100 confirmed cases, but the number is expected to rise as more of the people listed as missing are confirmed dead. For some of the kids left behind, the path to recovery will be harder than others and they are likely to end up in state care.
Support project
In Japan, fostering and adoption are still very rare. Without a living relative to take over their care, some of the orphans in Tohoku will be placed into group homes. Often, although staff care for their charges and are doing their best in a less-than-ideal situation, the homes are under-resourced, overcrowded and short-handed.
The founder of Smile Kids Japan, Michael Maher King, unloads supplies at a Kesennuma evacuation center.
The founder of Smile Kids Japan, Michael Maher King, unloads supplies at a Kesennuma evacuation center.
That’s why NGO Living Dreams, which matches volunteers with orphanages in the Tokyo area, and Smile Kids Japan, a nationwide volunteer network founded by British teacher Michael Maher King, have teamed up to raise money and volunteers to help out orphanages in Tohoku.
They've named their scheme the Tohoku Kids Support Project and are hoping to provide a lot more than just the immediate necessities.
“Having worked with many orphanages, I know how important it is for these kids to feel normal,” says Amy Moyers-Knopp, the project's co-director. “They need stability in their lives and dreams to look forward to.”
Read more: Japan's new post-quake orphan problem | C
Japans new post-quake orphan problem /a>
2011年4月28日木曜日
Japan to announce plan to join int'l custody pact in May - The Mainichi Daily News
Japan to announce plan to join int'l custody pact in May
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan plans to announce in May its plan to join an international treaty that deals with cross-border child custody disputes, government sources said Wednesday.
The government is expected to instruct the justice and foreign ministries to develop necessary bills, with the aim of approving the plan to have Japan join the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction during a regular Diet session next year, the sources told Kyodo News.
Japan has been under international pressure to join the child custody treaty, which would help resolve cases in which foreign parents are prevented from seeing their children in Japan after their marriages with Japanese nationals fail.
If Japan remains outside of the treaty, it could damage international confidence in the country, the sources said.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan is expected to relay Japan's policy on the matter at the Group of Eight developed countries' summit in late May in Deauville, France.
The Hague Convention sets procedures for resolving child custody cases in failed international marriages. As Japan has yet to join it, non-Japanese cannot see their children if their Japanese spouses takes them to Japan from the country where the family had been living.
Whether to join the convention has triggered a heated debate in Japan, where it is customary for mothers to take sole care of children after divorce. It is not unusual for children to stop seeing their fathers after their parents break up.
Japan to announce plan to join int'l custody pact in May - The Mainichi Daily News
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan plans to announce in May its plan to join an international treaty that deals with cross-border child custody disputes, government sources said Wednesday.
The government is expected to instruct the justice and foreign ministries to develop necessary bills, with the aim of approving the plan to have Japan join the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction during a regular Diet session next year, the sources told Kyodo News.
Japan has been under international pressure to join the child custody treaty, which would help resolve cases in which foreign parents are prevented from seeing their children in Japan after their marriages with Japanese nationals fail.
If Japan remains outside of the treaty, it could damage international confidence in the country, the sources said.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan is expected to relay Japan's policy on the matter at the Group of Eight developed countries' summit in late May in Deauville, France.
The Hague Convention sets procedures for resolving child custody cases in failed international marriages. As Japan has yet to join it, non-Japanese cannot see their children if their Japanese spouses takes them to Japan from the country where the family had been living.
Whether to join the convention has triggered a heated debate in Japan, where it is customary for mothers to take sole care of children after divorce. It is not unusual for children to stop seeing their fathers after their parents break up.
Japan to announce plan to join int'l custody pact in May - The Mainichi Daily News
Japan Gay
Taiga Ishikawa, 36, won a seat in a Tokyo ward assembly in the Japanese capital’s local elections on Sunday. He is the first openly gay person to hold office in Japan.
Mr Ishikawa told AFP: “I hope my election victory will help our fellows nationwide to have hope for tomorrow, as many of them cannot accept themselves, feel lonely and isolated and even commit suicide.”
He also said: “As a ward assembly member, I would like to reinforce support for LGBT children in schools.”
Mr Ishikawa revealed his sexuality in his 2002 book Where Is My Boyfriend?. He said: “Many of my readers told me they were isolated and that my situation in the book was so similar to theirs.”
Japan’s first openly gay politician victorious in election - PinkNews.co.uk
Mr Ishikawa told AFP: “I hope my election victory will help our fellows nationwide to have hope for tomorrow, as many of them cannot accept themselves, feel lonely and isolated and even commit suicide.”
He also said: “As a ward assembly member, I would like to reinforce support for LGBT children in schools.”
Mr Ishikawa revealed his sexuality in his 2002 book Where Is My Boyfriend?. He said: “Many of my readers told me they were isolated and that my situation in the book was so similar to theirs.”
Japan’s first openly gay politician victorious in election - PinkNews.co.uk
2011年4月26日火曜日
Mental health care East Japan Great Earthquak
MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN DISASTER
1. Top of page
2. DAMAGE TO THE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
3. JSPN ACTIVITY IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE
4. MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN DISASTER
5. REFERENCES
Recent disasters due to earthquakes include the Haiti earthquake (12 January 2010, M7.0) in which more than 222 570 were killed and 300 000 injured. The Eastern Sichuan earthquake (12 May 2008, M7.9) was another disaster in China with 69 195 killed and 374 177 injured. At least 15 million people were evacuated from their homes and more than 5 million were left homeless. Reports of the Haiti2–4 and Sichuan earthquakes5–8 from mental health view points are all instructive in figuring out the tactics for the East Japan Great Earthquake.
Earthquakes are relatively frequent in Japan and some of them have been serious enough to cause damage to human life for several months. The most recent disaster caused by earthquake is the Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake (16 January 1995, M6.9), which caused 5502 deaths, with 36 896 injured. About 310 000 people were evacuated to temporary shelters. Over 200 000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Numerous fires, gas and water main breaks and power outages caused severe damage to lifelines of city life. Owing to the long-lasting effects to the mental health of the victims, may reports by mental health professionals have been published.9–18 The JSPN organized a special symposium on mental health of Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on May 17, 1995, 4 months after the disaster.9
Other earthquake disasters in the central part of Japan, the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake (23 October 2004, M6.8),19–21 the Noto Peninsula Earthquake,22 and the Hokkaido Earthquake23 were studied and reported on their effects to mental health for many years. Other disasters caused by floods,24 massive traffic accidents,25,26 and the Ehimemaru accident, in which a Japanese high school training ship was hit and sunk by a collision with a US Navy submarine,27 were also studied and analyzed from psychiatric view points.
All reports pointed out the common findings that weaker people, like the elderly, children, and the mentally handicapped, tend to become the first victims of the disaster. Under the critical situations, mentally handicapped people have less chance of being helped, and sometimes they are the first to be neglected under circumstances. The East Japan Great Earthquake might be no exception.
Mental health care and East Japan Great Earthquake - Takeda - 2011 - Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences - Wiley Online Library
1. Top of page
2. DAMAGE TO THE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
3. JSPN ACTIVITY IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE
4. MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN DISASTER
5. REFERENCES
Recent disasters due to earthquakes include the Haiti earthquake (12 January 2010, M7.0) in which more than 222 570 were killed and 300 000 injured. The Eastern Sichuan earthquake (12 May 2008, M7.9) was another disaster in China with 69 195 killed and 374 177 injured. At least 15 million people were evacuated from their homes and more than 5 million were left homeless. Reports of the Haiti2–4 and Sichuan earthquakes5–8 from mental health view points are all instructive in figuring out the tactics for the East Japan Great Earthquake.
Earthquakes are relatively frequent in Japan and some of them have been serious enough to cause damage to human life for several months. The most recent disaster caused by earthquake is the Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake (16 January 1995, M6.9), which caused 5502 deaths, with 36 896 injured. About 310 000 people were evacuated to temporary shelters. Over 200 000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Numerous fires, gas and water main breaks and power outages caused severe damage to lifelines of city life. Owing to the long-lasting effects to the mental health of the victims, may reports by mental health professionals have been published.9–18 The JSPN organized a special symposium on mental health of Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on May 17, 1995, 4 months after the disaster.9
Other earthquake disasters in the central part of Japan, the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake (23 October 2004, M6.8),19–21 the Noto Peninsula Earthquake,22 and the Hokkaido Earthquake23 were studied and reported on their effects to mental health for many years. Other disasters caused by floods,24 massive traffic accidents,25,26 and the Ehimemaru accident, in which a Japanese high school training ship was hit and sunk by a collision with a US Navy submarine,27 were also studied and analyzed from psychiatric view points.
All reports pointed out the common findings that weaker people, like the elderly, children, and the mentally handicapped, tend to become the first victims of the disaster. Under the critical situations, mentally handicapped people have less chance of being helped, and sometimes they are the first to be neglected under circumstances. The East Japan Great Earthquake might be no exception.
Mental health care and East Japan Great Earthquake - Takeda - 2011 - Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences - Wiley Online Library
2011年4月23日土曜日
Great East Japan Earthquake
More than 100,000 survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake are still living in evacuation centers.
The hygiene and health care conditions at these facilities are far from exemplary, and privacy is in short supply.
Many evacuees are complaining of mental and physical health problems.
Some evacuees are still looking for missing family members. Others are reluctant to leave their ravaged towns and villages because they have been making their livelihood in agriculture or fishing.
Many of the people living in evacuation centers urgently need decent and comfortable housing in their own communities. Their needs should be met as soon as possible. The principal means to achieve the goal is clearly provisional housing.
Already, over 70,000 requests for temporary housing have been filed by evacuees, mainly in the three hard-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism says it will strive to build the temporary houses by summer. But the work is not progressing at a fast enough pace.
A raft of obstacles are hampering the effort, including soaring prices of construction materials and shortages of experts to install water supply and sewerage systems and electricity and gas facilities.
Measures to overcome these obstacles should be taken swiftly, such as using cheap imported materials and dispatching employees of the central and local governments to help carry out necessary tasks.
The biggest challenge in building temporary dwellings is to find land for them. Land secured so far is still less than half of the total area needed to build the planned houses.
In much of the disaster areas, the narrow strips of flatland available, sandwiched between the mountains and the sea, were struck by the massive tsunami.
The tracts of land owned by the state or local governments are far from enough to build the temporary dwellings needed.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has eased the rules for converting farmland into housing plots and urged local governments in the affected areas to provide information concerning fallow rice fields and neglected farmland.
asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：EDITORIAL: Temporary housing needed for disaster victims - English
The hygiene and health care conditions at these facilities are far from exemplary, and privacy is in short supply.
Many evacuees are complaining of mental and physical health problems.
Some evacuees are still looking for missing family members. Others are reluctant to leave their ravaged towns and villages because they have been making their livelihood in agriculture or fishing.
Many of the people living in evacuation centers urgently need decent and comfortable housing in their own communities. Their needs should be met as soon as possible. The principal means to achieve the goal is clearly provisional housing.
Already, over 70,000 requests for temporary housing have been filed by evacuees, mainly in the three hard-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism says it will strive to build the temporary houses by summer. But the work is not progressing at a fast enough pace.
A raft of obstacles are hampering the effort, including soaring prices of construction materials and shortages of experts to install water supply and sewerage systems and electricity and gas facilities.
Measures to overcome these obstacles should be taken swiftly, such as using cheap imported materials and dispatching employees of the central and local governments to help carry out necessary tasks.
The biggest challenge in building temporary dwellings is to find land for them. Land secured so far is still less than half of the total area needed to build the planned houses.
In much of the disaster areas, the narrow strips of flatland available, sandwiched between the mountains and the sea, were struck by the massive tsunami.
The tracts of land owned by the state or local governments are far from enough to build the temporary dwellings needed.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has eased the rules for converting farmland into housing plots and urged local governments in the affected areas to provide information concerning fallow rice fields and neglected farmland.
asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：EDITORIAL: Temporary housing needed for disaster victims - English
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