Mental health and comm unity groups

Mental health issues in Okinawa, Japan’ s southernmost prefecture, have become problematic in the years following the Second World War. Increasing incidences of schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorders, among other conditions, are indications that mental health authorities in Okinawa are facing expanding demand for services. Particularly schizophrenia, with rates four times as high as those in most prefectures in Japan (Ogura, 1996), is a source of concern for psychiatrists and mental health specialists. Although treatment of patients has improved considerably since the Americans relinquished control of the prefecture to Japan in 1972, the current Okinawan mental health system is faced with inadequate facilities that are in ever-increasing demand, overworked practitioners and logistic problems that in the tough economic climate are difficult to overcom e.