General Information

• Place: Weill Auditorium at the Cornell Medical College
  1300 York Avenue at 69th Street-New York City
• Date: May 2, 1998 10:00-1600
• Number in attendance: About one hundred people
• Host: The Meridian Medical Group (J. Liebenberg, C.S.W. and R. Chan, M.D.)

Lecture Program

• Morita Therapy: Theory and Practice
  Kenshiro Ohara-Professor Emeritus of Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
• The Practical Side of Morita Therapy: Inpatient Hospital Treatment
  Akira Uchiyama-Chairperson of Mishima Morita Hospital
• Aorita Therapy and Me
  Tsuneo Okamoto-Director of the Mental Health Okamoto Foundation
• Applying Morita Therapy to the Treatment of Patients with Cancer and Intractable Diseases:Meaningful Life Therapy
  Jinroh Itami-Chairperson of Meaningful Life Therapy

Morita Psychotherapy

• One of the most effective and original forms of Eastern psychotherapy is Morita therapy, an approach developed by the Japanese psychiatrist Shoma Morita (1874-1938). Dr. Morita considered his approach to be a treatment for a particular kind of neurosis, but in the years since his death Morita therapists have also successfully treated people with a wide range of problems including obsessive-compulsive disorder, life threatening illness, depression, and eating disorders. Many people enter Morita therapy simply because they are dissatisfied with the scope and depth of their lives. Morita therapy's emphasis on action rather than on feelings teaches practitioners to live as much as possible a full, productive, interesting and meaningful life in each moment.

About the Symposium

• This symposium provided an unprecedented opportunity to learn from some of Morita therapy's finest teachers: Dr. Kenshiro Ohara, a senior Morita psychiatrist whose books are considered to be among the essential texts of Morita therapy; Dr. Jinroh Itami, a physician who has developed his own Morita therapy-based treatment for people who have cancer or other life threatening diseases; Dr. Akira Uchiyama, a psychiatrist with the Mishima Morita Hospital, which offers in-patient therapy; and Mr. Tsuneo Okamoto, who overcame a severe psychosomatic gastrointestinal disorder through Morita therapy. Impressed by the efficacy of the therapy, Mr. Okamoto founded the Mental Health Okamoto foundation, the world's leading resource center for Morita therapy. The moderator for the symposium was Jean Liebenberg, C.S.W., who practices Morita therapy both as an associate at the Meridian Medical Group and as a member of the Department of Social Work at the Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center.

The program began with Shoma Morita's personal history, as originator of the unique Morita Therapy. It presented his thought and theory.
"The Age of Neurosis" (a book written by Toshio Watanabe) sold 100,000 copies and became a great hit. The program explained the social background of this hit. Furthermore, it introduced the medical facilities which carry out Morita Therapy and how they treat their patients, including experiences and comments of an office worker and a writer who overcame their neuroses.

Morita Therapy has lately attracted considerable attention not only as a psychotherapy but also as a theory of how to live well in our time, called "The Age of Anxiety" or "The Age of the Mind."
DOWNLORD/1.7MB

"The Age of Neurosis"

Newly published French translation of "THE ESSENCE OF NEUROSIS AND ITS THERAPY"

"THE ESSENCE OF NEUROSIS AND ITS THERAPY " written by Shoma Morita with comments by Hiroshi Kawai and published by Hakuyosha has been translated by Nariaki Moriyama and Mamoru Ohnishi into the French language for publication. This book took eight years to be completed. It was supported by the Mental Health Okamoto Foundation.

"Morita Therapy" currently in practice in the U.S.

Ms. Jean Liebenberg works as a social worker at the Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center, New York, which leads the U.S. in the treatment of cancer. She uses the Japanese "Morita Therapy" in order to relieve the minds of patients who feel anxiety.
This specific therapy was founded by Dr.Shoma Morita, professor of Tokyo Jikei University School of Medicine in 1920. Its basic principle is that anxieties and troubles should be taken "as they are" and one should continue on mindfully leading one's daily life.
"In the U.S. society, since childhood, everyone aims to always envisage what one should be in the future and to make effort to attain that ideal. Therefore, patients with cancer who know that their days are numbered are inclined to lose sight of life meaning. I believe that the idea that things should be taken as they are may be of great help," she said, adding that she had happened to find a book on Morita therapy in a bookshop and reading through the book, she found herself helped by it.

SUMMARY OF THE FIRST MORITA THERAPY WORKSHOPS IN GERMANY AND FRANCE

The first Morita therapy workshops were held in both Germany and France from November 13 through November 22, 1997. Morita seminars have already been held very often in China, but these workshops were the first ones in Europe.

In Germany, contrary to our expectation, people had much interest in Oriental medicine and philosophy. There are more than ten Zen organizations in Heidelberg, and various opinions were actively exchanged in the workshop.

On the first day (November 17th) in Germany, the workshop was very well attended by many specialists such as psychologists and psychiatrists. The Germans who attended expressed their opinions or asked questions about the Moritist attitude toward nature and accepting reality as it is, fundamental ideas basic to Eastern philosophy. It appears that Westerners who are totally committed to the emphasis on intellect and science in recent Western medicine and philosophy may have some trouble understanding these Eastern concepts..