The study of spiritual care as a new form of emotional care at Sophia

I graduated from the Department of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities here at Sophia University. I am teaching an Ethics Seminar for junior and senior students in the same department from April of this year. But I don't think this is the only reason I was brought back to my alma mater.

Sophia University has an Institute of Grief Care, the only one of its kind in Japan, handed over from St.Thomas University in Western Japan. Grief care provides care for people grieving the loss of their loved ones. I have been helping to run the institute for some time, requested by Sister Yasuko Takaki, who was the first director of the institute and is now a special director.

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, I gave a talk at a grief care seminar in August 2011 in the affected city of Kamaishi, held jointly by the Institute of Grief Care and Caritas Japan's Sendai Diocese Support Center. After my talk, a man came up to me to show me photos of his family members. "They all died in the tsunami. Is it OK for me to go on living?" I didn't know what to say. Sister Takaki came over and hugged him, and said, "Thank you for living!"

"That's it!" I thought. It was not words but her embrace and the way she stood close to him as he went through this difficult time, that would bring healing. That man later became a leader of a local volunteer group.

Sister Takaki is providing terminal care for dying people who face fear and despair as well as spiritual care for those dealing with emotional pain, which is the most difficult thing to deal with.

Twenty-three years ago, when I started talking to young people hanging around downtown late at night-dubbed the "night watch" by the media-motorcycle gangs were in their heyday. They seemed kind of fun, although I might get in trouble for saying so, but in those days even though youths were physically venting their feelings through delinquency and violence, they didn't seem to really have major psychological problems.

As youths came to spend more time on video games, mobile phones and the Internet, though, the number of biker gangs decreased, and the number of young people with psychological problems increased.

Nine years ago, I established the Mizutani Juvenile Problem Institute. Equipped with five phone lines and six computers, six staff members and I respond to young people's inquiries 24-7. In reality, youths often hear my name on TV or other media, so I'm usually the one to talk to them. My coworkers sort out their enquiries and respond quickly if a child's life is at risk. You have to be mentally tough here because they sometimes send messages such as "I want to die" or "I'm going to die, " and send images full of blood.

In Japan today, 7% of youth in their late teens to early twenties, or one million people, have cut their wrists. Another one million people have been diagnosed with depression while as many as 10 million people receive medical treatment for mental disorders. In total, one in ten Japanese are suffering from some kind of emotional disorders.

Two main kinds of treatments are used now. One is psychiatric treatment involving prescription drugs, or the "physical" method. The other is clinical counseling using talking, or the "reasoning" method. These treatments are working in some cases, but the shocking numbers mentioned above show that are limitations to what these two methods can achieve.

I believe we can find a third treatment in philosophy and religion. We as humans have been relying on gods and other supernatural beings for centuries. I think this ancient wisdom has something to offer in a treatment that can be called "transcendental" although I must make it clear that I'm not advocating any religious cults.

I've been teaching at Hanazono University in Kyoto for the past eight years. The university asked me to share my experiences with the "night watch" for youth and teach youth studies and philosophy. Hanazono University is based on the Rinzai school of Buddhism, which practices Zen meditation. I was thinking of applying Zen meditation to emotional care, and saw this as a chance to study Buddhist philosophy once again.

I also felt a Christian foundation is important for grief care when I saw how care workers were helping disaster victims in northern Japan. This is not something just anyone can do. I came to appreciate the power of religion in this field.

Of course I am not saying the “transcendental” method is a panacea to dealing with psychological problems. What’s important is integrating this new method with existing ones, and establishing a methodology of spiritual care. That’s the goal Sister Takaki and the Institute of Grief Care are aiming to achieve. I believe Sophia University, with a solid religious foundation, is positioned to lead academic studies in this field.

Of course I am not saying the "transcendental" method is a panacea to dealing with psychological problems. What's important is integrating this new method with existing ones, and establishing a methodology of spiritual care. That's the goal Sister Takaki and the Institute of Grief Care are aiming to achieve. I believe Sophia University, with a solid religious foundation, is positioned to lead academic studies in this field.

I think I was brought back to Sophia for a reason, and that is to offer support in this area. I don't know how qualified I am, but at least I can act as a spokesman. People may be turned off by this kind of topic as too religious when Sister Takaki or my Buddhist friends talk. But people may be more receptive when I talk.

There are a couple of reasons that my work is urgent. First, I want to tell young people who aspire to become clinical psychotherapists that they cannot save themselves by saving others. An alarming percentage of the people wanting to become counselors have experienced wrist-cutting themselves. It's dangerous and indeed impossible to try to save oneself by saving others. We must correct this kind of misunderstanding in order to avoid tragic results.

"Do something helpful for others. Their gratitude will give you strength to live. " This is what I tell young people who say they want to die. Many young people who follow my advice feel the effects of my words, and recover. It's not that I've saved them. They gained new strength to live in themselves, with only a little bit of help. I really want people to understand that eventually only you can save yourself.

Finally, there's a personal reason why I need to hurry. I have cancer throughout my body. I was hospitalized five times last year and had another operation in March, but the cancer will spread further. I don't want to die, but of course I must go when my time comes.

My only regret is that it's unlikely that I can compile the knowledge and wisdom I've gained in the past 57 years in a systematic way. I would need some ten years to do so, but I'm unlikely to have that long. So I've been looking for some young people to whom I can pass on my work, and now I've been given this fresh chance to meet students at Sophia, my alma mater.