A Different Approach to Treating Anxiety with Morita Therapy from Japan

Mt Fuji

Last year, I interviewed a ninety year old man who’d obsessively collected containers for the refundable deposit which he’d then donate to charities and medical research.

Ostensibly he did this to pass the time after his wife passed away. But it was more than that. It was mutually beneficial for others.

In collecting the bottles and cans around each retirement unit each day, he chatted with other residents, providing social connection and an emotional boost both for himself and for others. This activity helped him deal with his grief. It reminded me of a Japanese approach to treating emotional illnesses.

Treatment for Anxiety and Obsessive Conditions

Some people suffer more with obsessive illnesses and general anxiety than other people and really struggle to cope with living in the world. They wash their hands frequently, are obsessed with germs, may not cut their hair, compulsively diet or compulsively eat. They worry – incessantly and their emotions are all over the place.

Western medicine treats the symptoms and medication is not always successful.

The Japanese have a different approach to treating emotional illnesses and conditions. It’s called Morita therapy.

What is Morita Therapy

Morita therapy was developed by Shoma Morita, (1874–1938), a Psychiatrist and Philosopher at the University School of Medicine in Tokyo. Its goal: to have the patient accept life placing an emphasis on letting nature take its course.

Morita therapy views emotions as part of the laws of nature and aims to lessen the damaging effects of anxiety.

Anxiety is like a donkey tied to a post with a rope. It will walk round and around the post, attempting to free itself but will only become entangled. The same thing applies to people who overthink obsessively about something. They become trapped in their own suffering in trying to escape.

Morita’s philosophy is to accept our desires, anxieties, fears and worries and then let them go. Western therapies focus on modifying a patient’s emotions, while Morita therapy focuses on teaching patients to accept these emotions without trying to control them.

Our feelings change as a result of our actions. Therefore, in addition to accepting patients emotions, Morita therapy seeks, through experience and repetition, to create and learn new emotions, via actions.

Principles of Morita Therapy

1. Accept your feelings. Don’t try to control or get rid of them, lest they become more intense. Just as we cannot predict or control the weather, we can only observe our feelings.
2. Recovery will come when we avoid focusing on our feelings. Focus instead on the present moment and avoid intellectualizing the situation.
3. Morita therapy does not offer its patients an explanation. It allows them to learn from their actions and activities. (It is up to the patient to make their own discoveries through experience).
4. Morita therapy helps the patient develop his character or life purpose, so he or she can face any situation. Emotions cannot be controlled, but each person can take charge of their actions every day.

Morita helps patients develop a clear sense of purpose and keep in mind:

What do we need to be doing right now?

What action should be taken?

The Four Phases of Morita Treatment

1. The Patient rests for five to seven days in a room without any external stimuli. No TV books, family, friends or speaking. All the patient has is his/her thoughts. He is visited regularly by a therapist, who observes the rise and fall of his/her/their emotions, but they do not interact with him as much as possible.

When the patient gets bored, he is ready to move on to the next stage of therapy.

2. Light occupational therapy for 5 to 7 days. The patient performs repetitive tasks in silence. They may journal their thoughts and feelings. The patient goes outside after a week of being shut in, takes walks in nature and does breathing exercises. He may start simple activities such as gardening, drawing and painting.

During the stage a patient is not allowed to talk to anyone except the therapist.

3. A second week of occupational therapy. The patient performs tasks that require physical movement, such as chopping wood, walking in the mountains, but is also immersed in other activities such as writing, painting, or craft.

The patient can speak with others but only about the task at hand.

4. The return to social life. The patient leaves hospital and is reintroduced to social life but continue meditation or occupational therapy that was developed during the previous treatment steps.

The idea is to re-enter society as a new person with a sense of purpose and without being controlled by social or emotional pressures.

Morita therapy involves self-reflection. The patient stops identifying others as a cause of his problems and deepens their own sense of responsibility.

Morita said, ‘If you are angry and want to fight, think about it for 3 days.”

Accept that the world is imperfect just like the people who live on it.
It is still full of opportunities for growth, achievement
and self-satisfaction.