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[Event Report] The 22nd Special Breakfast Meeting “The Current Status and Future Direction of Japan’s Mental Health Policy”

[Event Report] The 22nd Special Breakfast Meeting “The Current Status and Future Direction of   Japan’s Mental Health Policy”
To speak on the theme of “The Current Status and Future Direction of Japan’s Mental Health Policy”, we welcomed two speakers from the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP): Dr. Yoshiharu Kim, Director of the Department of Adult Mental Health and also President of the National Information Center of Disaster Mental Health, and Dr. Hiroto Ito, Director of the Department of Social Psychiatry.

As is widely known, the number of patients with mental disorders continues to grow, especially for depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, Japan not only faces an increase in the number of people with dementia as society becomes super-aged, but is also characterized by such social issues as the high incidence of suicide as well as mental health and social and economic losses in disaster-affected areas. In response to this situation, in the next phase of the country’s regional medical plan, which came into effect this April, mental disorders have been added to what are regarded as the 4 conventional major diseases (cancer, stroke, heart attack, and diabetes) to create a framework of “5 major diseases” that will be the focus of new prefectural disease control measures.

Amid growing health policy-related interest in this area, at this Breakfast Meeting, we heard from Dr. Kim about his observations during his activities in mental health in the disaster-affected region, and what his findings reveal about the future of the mental health field in Japan. Also, from Dr. Ito, we heard about the current situation and issues relating to mental health in national and local health care plans, and he also talked about the recently established National Mental Health Care Project for Patients with Physical Illness.

■Theme
“The Current Status and Future Direction of Japan’s Mental Health Policy”

■Speaker
– Yoshiharu Kim, M.D., Ph.D
President, National Information Center of Disaster Mental Health
Director ,Department of Adult Mental Health National Institute of Mental Health
National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry

– Hiroto Ito, Ph.D.
Director, Department of Social Psychiatry
National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and
Psychiatry


■Date and Time
July 25th, 2013  8:00-9:15

■Venue
 Hotel New Otani Tokyo, Room Azalea

Exhibition date:2013-07-25

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