Conference Info
The Congress is designed to encourage dialogue around the following themes and related questions:
‘Contexts’ for Health
- What constitutes a therapeutic environment?
- How do we account for geo-cultural ‘best fit’ when engaging Morita therapy outside Japan?
Accounting for Culture in Assessment and Diagnosis
- How can we account for the relationship between process, content and context in practice and research?
- How do we interpret neurasthenia, shinkeishitsu, and other diagnostic categories inside and outside Japan?
Values Underlying Therapies
- How much Zen is embedded in Morita Therapy?
- How much Buddhism is embedded in Morita Therapy?
- How urban-bound are some of our theories/methods of psychotherapy, such as ACT, CBT, MiCBT, and so on?
Therapeutic Methods and Processes
- How do the stages of Morita therapy diminish symptoms of anxiety, dissociation, and symptoms of clinical and context-based depression over time and place?
- How does ‘therapeutic alliance’ evolve during the course of Morita therapy?
Research Designs and Outcomes
- What does ‘evidence-based’ mean (according to what methods and by support of what funding bodies -- where)?
Special Challenges for Therapeutic Response
- Cancer patients and psycho-oncology
- HIV positive and AIDS
- Refugees and internally displaced people
- War veterans and UN Peacekeepers
- Victims/survivors of natural disasters
- Youth issues (self harm, eating disorders, sexual-identity confusion)
- Developmental challenges related to trauma (borderline features)
- Therapy for the creative, bright & existentially generative client
Conference Working Committee
Chair and Associate Chair:
- Peg LeVine, EdD, PhD (Chair of 7th Congress, Australia)
- Naoki Watanabe, Kansai University of International Studies, Japan (Associate Chair of 7th Congress, Australia)
Advisory Board to the 7th Congress
- Ishu Ishiyama, PhD (University of British Columbia, Canada)
- Kenji Kitanishi, MD (President of Japan Morita Society; Professor at Japan Women’s University, Japan)
- Toshihide Kuroki, MD, PhD (Hizen Psychiatric Center)
- Kei Nakamura, MD (Jikei University and Director of Morita Therapy Center, Japan)
- Shinichi Usa, MD (Sansei Hospital, Kyoto, Japan)
- Marika Vicziany, PhD (Director, Monash Asia Institute, Australia)
- Naoki Watanabe (Kansai University of International Studies, Japan)
Programming Congress Committee
- Didier Bertrand, PhD (Director AFESIP, Lao PDR / Toulouse, France)
- Di Clifton, MD (Director Psycho Oncology and Psychiatry)
- Dr Lina Huot, MD (Psychiatrist, Cambodia)
- Peg LeVine, EdD, PhD (Monash University, Australia)
- Yoshimi Matsuda, PhD. (Australian Catholic University, Australia)
- Brian Ogawa, DMin (Washburn University, USA)
- Natalia Semyonova, PhD (Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, Russia)
- Naoki Watanabe (Kansai University of International Studies, Japan)
LeKond Institute Secretariat Committee
- Dianne Clifton, MD
- Andrew Harris, MA, PhD candidate
- Robert White, PhD candidate
- John Mercer, PhD candidate
- David Chong, MA
- Peter O'Mara, arthouse consultant
Editorial Review Board
- Di Clifton, MD
- Andrew Harris, MA
- Ishu Ishiyama, PhD
- Christopher Ives, PhD (Professor of Religous Studies, Stonehill College)
- Kenji Kitanishi, MD
- Peg LeVine, EdD, PhD
- Yoshimi Matsuda, PhD (Australian Catholic University, Australia)
- Kei Nakamora, MD
- Brian Ogawa, PhD
- David Richards, PhD
- Nancy Slater, PhD (Professor, Adler Institute Chicago)
- Naoki Watanabe (Kansai University of International Studies, Japan)
Support:
This conference is made possible by the support of the following contributors:
- The Japan Morita Therapy Society, Japan
- LeKond Institute (Morita Therapy Australia)
- The Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, Australia
- The Okamoto Mental Health Foundation, Japan