Treatment of depression with “Depression Treatment Team” in a Japanese mental hospital

Poster B23, Friday, October 21, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron

Minako Kashima1,2, Ryoko Yamazawa1, Kayoko Yamada1, Jo Okubo1, Shingo Watanabe1, Hidehito Niimura3, Masaru Mimura3, Masafumi Mizuno4; 1Oizumi Hospital, 2Kawasaki Municipal Hospital, 3Keio University School of Medicine Department of Neuropsychiatry, 4Toho University School of Medicine Department of Neuropsychiatry

Mental hospitals with the role of acute phase treatment are very limited in Japan. Recently, the number of inpatients diagnosed as not schizophrenic but mood disorder has increased in those hospitals especially in metropolitan areas. Many of them are business people who are under pressure to return to work soon. As a consequence, we were confronted with increased needs for intensive treatment with both medication and psychosocial remediation which aimed to recover sooner and prevent relapse after returning to work. Therefore “Depression treatment team (DTT)” has been created at Oizumi Hospital in 2014. We report the content of this team’s activities and discuss the specific treatment for depression in the hospital setting. The DTT consists of doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, psychotherapists, pharmacists and psychiatric social workers. In addition to medication and psychotherapy, the team offers exercise program such as walking and stretching, cognitive behavioral therapy and meetings in which patients can talk together on a variety of topics. Patients are encouraged to record their daily life to review their lifestyle and feeling. We can offer multidisciplinary approach for the patients at the appropriate time by sharing patients’ information among team staff.　The patients can develop a better understanding of themselves in an objective perspective. Therefore, specialized clinicians can provide depression treatment in hospital, and enable patients to improve their lives and activities. In the future, we aim to implement a specialized treatment regimen for depression to provide adequate cure in a non-specific hospital setting.

Topic Area: Mood Disorders

Back to Poster Schedule