March 20, 2008 Yasuda Hall, The university of Tokyo, Japan

In the US and Europe, illness and disorders are understood comprehensively in terms of the Bio-Psycho-Social model and treated by teams of medical and psychological and social work professionals. Internationally the interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of health care is becoming rather popular. The social needs for such a kind of teamwork approach have been getting stronger in Japan as well, but it has not yet been well organised.

In Japan, the medical approach is still dominant and pharmacotherapy is the main approach, even in the mental health field. Many Japanese people are sceptical of too much medication and/or only pharmacotherapy. Patients with serious physical diseases such as cancer, not to mention mental disorders, are eager that their own complaints and narratives are empathetically listened to and accepted psychologically in order to overcome their difficulties. Also, in the field of welfare, child abuse is such a serious problem that psychological treatment and family intervention are needed, in collaboration with social workers and welfare administration.

Due to the greater demands for professional psychologists, clinical psychology has been rapidly gaining popularity in Japan. Now, clinical psychology is one of the most popular courses at university and graduate school. The foundation of the Japanese Certification Board for Clinical Psychologists (FJCBCP) was established in 1988. The number of clinical psychologists certificated by FJCBCP has already exceeded those of the Japanese Association of Psychology.

Clinical psychology is now beginning to develop a large profile and play a more serious role in Japanese society, while actually it is not yet able to work efficiently in the field of the medical and welfare field as well as psychiatric domain. One reason for the inefficiency is that Japanese clinical psychology started its professional enterprise mainly in the educational field because the Ministry of Education officially decided to give clinical psychologists a trial as school counsellors to treat bullying in school. The Ministry of Finance funded the activity in 1995 and it was the first time that the government officially and financially acknowledged clinical psychology as a profession. Since then many clinical psychologists have been hired as school counsellors, and Japanese clinical psychology has been inclined to grow into a form more compatible with the educational requirement. As a result, Japanese clinical psychology could not provide a model that works efficiently in the medical and welfare fields.

However, now that social demands for clinical psychologists is getting greater outside the educational field, it is time to reform Japanese clinical psychology in order to fit in with the medical and welfare field as well. To develop it appropriately, we have to begin by listening to the opinions of other professionals and users, with whom clinical psychologists should collaborate. Then we need to decide what is to be changed and added so as to make Japanese clinical psychology more compatible with medical and welfare professionals. Finally, we should develop a curriculum to educate and train professional psychologists who can work efficiently in a team according to the new concept of clinical psychology as a mental health profession.

For these reason I organized this symposium that is composed of quite a variety of speakers, such as medical doctors whose fields are psycho-oncology and liaison consultation, a director of the children’s welfare centre, an advocate for patients, and a government official from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, as well as clinical psychologists.

I also invited Professor Davisonas the keynote speaker because he is a leading figure in developing clinical psychology in the US. His book entitled “Abnormal Psychology”, known as a bestseller among clinical psychology textbooks, is written on the basis of the evidence-based approach and the Bio-Psycho-social model so that it can provide a common ground for clinical psychology to collaborate with other mental health areas and to grow into a modern scientifically-verified profession. I believe we can learn so much from his ideas and experiences.