Presentation Information
[SY-81-01]Diary entries in Morita therapy and clients' resilience observed therein
*Rieko Shioji (Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan))
Keywords:
Morita Therapy,Diary,resilience,psychotherapy,depression
In Morita therapy, a form of psychotherapy that originated and developed in Japan, one of the therapeutic goals is to restore the free flow of the mind (including the movement of attention) and life. This recovery process is understood as the manifestation of the client's resilience. In our qualitative study of the “diaries” of inpatient Morita therapy, examples of the manifestation of resilience can be found in the diary entries. For example, there are instances where clients gain a profound sense of the passage of time by observing the growth of plants they have cared for. These descriptions indicate a “subjective experience of time” that differs from the experience of time being stuck, rushed, or left behind. In inpatient Morita therapy, occupational work becomes the center of treatment, while in outpatient therapy, the patient's daily life as described in interviews becomes the center of treatment. The client's experiences within these settings are described in detail during interviews with the therapist or in diary entries. In Morita therapy, interviews with the therapist and diary entries play complementary roles. Morita therapy emphasizes the importance of focusing on topics related to the client's daily life, but this also means shifting the focus away from excessive concentration on symptoms. The process of the client writing a diary, the therapist reading it and providing feedback, and the client rereading it and revisiting their own experiences, also provides opportunities for recovery. We consider the “Diary” of Morita therapy to be art in the sense that “art is found in concrete everyday life”