Greeting

WELCOME: Life stage, life cycle, culture and mental health

Toshinori Kitamura, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.Psych.

Over the past 30 years spent in clinical research, I have often found myself thinking that observing the psychology of the individual whom one may be interviewing at the time is simply not sufficient to fully appreciate the human psyche. Each individual is at a certain point throughout his or her life stage, somewhere between birth and death, and as such forms the life cycle that is passed on from generation to generation. In addition, the development of the individual is cherished in interpersonal relationships with the people that surround the individual: family members, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and people in communities. Interpersonal relationships are situated in the midst of wider social environments such as culture, climate, and legal systems. Medical and welfare professionals can better understand their clients by keeping this wider situational perspective in mind. This results in values-based medical services.

I define psychiatry as the “study on various psychological phenomena using the researcher’s own mind as a research tool”. The mind of the individual cannot exist without the brain. It is not possible, however, to figure out everything about the mind of the individual no matter how much we study about brain. Psychiatry is the study of that part of the mind which cannot be determined by research into the brain, and the role of mental health care services is to heal that very same part. These ideas are embodied in research and clinical methodologies which allow us to survey psychiatry and mental health care in frameworks of life stage, life cycle, and culture.

We are ready to provide the best caring mental health service in a cozy relaxing atmosphere.

Toshinori Kitamura, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.Psych.

Career

Qualifications

1972 MD in Japan
1979 Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK*
1993 Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK*

* the first Japanese membership and fellowship

Career

Work Experience

1972-1973 Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo
1973-1976 Tokyo Musashino Hospital (Institute of Clinical Psychiatry)
1976-1980 Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham Medical School (Honorary Research Fellow), and All Saints Hospital in Birmingham (Senior House Officer), U.K.
1980-1983 Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo (Assistant of Professor)
1983-1991 Department of Geriatric Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, Japan
1991-2000 Department of Sociocultural Environmental Research, National Institute of Mental Health, Japan
2000-2010 Department of Clinical Behavioural Sciences (Psychological Medicine), Kumamoto University Graduate School of Life Sciences, Kumamoto, Japan (Professor)
2010-present Kitamura Mental Health Institute Tokyo (Dean)

Education

1972 Keio University, Tokyo, M.D.

Member of editorial board

1989-2007 Archives of Psychiatric Diagnostics and Clinical Evaluation (Editor-in-Chief, 1989-1991)
1993-1997 British Journal of Psychiatry
1995- Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
1998-2010 Archives of Women’s Mental Health
1998- International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
2008- Open Family Studies Journal (Regional Editor)

Specialist topics

  • Mood Disorders (including bereavement reaction)
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Personality Disorders
  • Perinatal Psychiatric Disorders (included Depression during Pregnancy and Postpartum period)
  • Bonding Disorders (Anxiety during Parenthood) and Child Abuse
  • Industrial Psychiatry and School Mental Health
  • Psychiatric Diagnostics and Symptoms Assessment Method