Disability of the Soul

Karen Nakamura

Description

<p><b>"This is a terrific bookmoving, clear, and compassionate. It not only illustrates the way psychiatric illness is shaped by culture, but also suggests that social environments can be used to improve the course and outcome of the illness. Well worth reading."</b> T. M. Luhrmann, author of&nbsp;<i>Of Two Minds: An Anthropologist looks at American Psychiatry</i></p><p>Bethel House, located in a small fishing village in northern Japan, was founded in 1984 as an intentional community for people with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Using a unique, community approach to psychosocial recovery, Bethel House focuses as much on social integration as on therapeutic work. As a centerpiece of this approach, Bethel House started its own businesses in order to create employment and socialization opportunities for its residents and to change public attitudes toward the mentally ill, but also quite unintentionally provided a significant boost to the distressed local economy. Through its work programs, communal living, and close relationship between hospital and town, Bethel has been remarkably successful in carefully reintegrating its members into Japanese society. It has become known as a model alternative to long-term institutionalization.</p><p>In <b><i>A Disability of the Soul</i></b>, Karen Nakamura explores how the members of this unique community struggle with their lives, their illnesses, and the meaning of community. Told through engaging historical narrative, insightful ethnographic vignettes, and compelling life stories, her account of Bethel House depicts its achievements and setbacks, its promises and limitations. <b><i>A Disability of the Soul</i> </b>is a sensitive and multidimensional portrait of what it means to live with mental illness in contemporary Japan.</p>

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Ethnic studies
• Abnormal psychology
• Psychology
• History of Asia
• Japan

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 13 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801467998
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

A Disability of the Soul

ADisability of the Soul  AnEthnographyof Schizophrenia and Mental Illness in Contemporary Japan

KarenNakamura

cornelluniversitypress ithaca and london

Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from

the Council on East Asian Studies of Yale University, which assisted in the

publication of this book. The book was also published with the assistance

of the Frederick W. Hilles Publication Fund of Yale University.

Copyright ©2013by Karen Nakamura

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House,512East State Street, Ithaca, New York14850.

First published2013by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks,2013

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Nakamura, Karen,1970– author.  A disability of the soul : an ethnography of schizophrenia and mental illness in contemporary Japan / Karen Nakamura.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN9780801451928(cloth : alk. paper)  ISBN9780801478611(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Mentally ill—Rehabilitation—Japan—Urakawacho.2. Schizo phrenics—Rehabilitation—Japan—Urakawacho.3. Community mental health services—Japan—Urakawacho.4. Mental illness—Social aspects—Japan.5. Schizophrenia—Social aspects—Japan.6. Beteru no Ie (Urakawacho, Japan) I. Title.  RC439.5.N352013 362.2'6—dc232012050910

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Thisbookisdedicatedtothememoryof Gen’ichiNakayama(1969–2006) and TsutomuShimono(1969–2010), two young Bethel members whose paths and lives overlapped with mine. Their absence is deeply felt in all of our hearts.

Acknowledgmentsix ANoteonLanguagexiii

 Contents

c h a p t e r o n e Arrivals1 MemoryandCatharsis:Kiyoshi’sStory23

c h a p t e r t w o Psychiatry in Japan35 Coming of Age in Japan: Rika’s Story70

c h a p t e r t h r e e Hokkaido and Christianity87

c h a p t e r f o u r The Founding of Bethel101 UFOs and Other Mass Delusions: Kohei’s Story114

c h a p t e r f i v e The Doctor and the Hospital133 ThirtySeven Years of Institutionalization: Why Did Yuzuru Never Want to Leave the Hospital?156

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Contents

c h a p t e r s i x Bethel Therapies163 Peer Support and a Meaningful Life: Gen’s Story

c h a p t e r s e v e n Departures203

c h a p t e r e i g h t Beyond Bethel: A Postscript

Notes221 References231 Index239

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 Acknowledgments

This was a difficult book to research and to write. I have seen and expe rienced many things at Bethel over the past seven years that have deeply affected me. There is much pain and suffering in the worlds of people with severe mental illnesses, and these are only partly compensated by the strong personal bonds, mutual support, laughter, and warmth that can also be found there. I wrote this book so that people who might have never thought seri ously about mental illness, let alone what it would be like to live with mental illness in another country, might learn not to be afraid when a child, coworker, or spouse tells them of his or her condition. I hope that after reading this book, you, the reader, can understand that another world is possible, but only if all of us—those with mental illnesses as well as those without—are totally committed to building it. I wrote this book for the many students who have lived or are liv ing with a mental illness. In my ten years of teaching, many students have come out of the closet, so to speak, to me privately, but not to their friends and classmates. In an era where being gay or lesbian or trans has become almost passé, there is still a profound stigma attached to mental illness. For a college student, being diagnosed with a mental illness can be devastating. Schizophrenia often appears in one’s late teens or early twenties, and becoming ill can mean a forced medical leave and many years of struggling without a job or education. I wrote this book for all my friends at Bethel who trusted me with their life stories. One of their great fears is that their lives will have meant

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