What is Morita Therapy? The Nature, Origins, and Cross-Cultural Application of a Unique Japanese Psychotherapy
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ORIGINAL PAPER
What is Morita Therapy? The Nature, Origins, and Cross‑Cultural Application of a Unique Japanese Psychotherapy Holly V. R. Sugg1 · David A. Richards1 · Julia Frost1
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Morita Therapy is a Japanese psychotherapy which contrasts with established Western approaches in teaching, through behavioural experience, that symptoms are part of the natural ecology of human experience. Morita Therapy has received increasing international interest over the decades, and the first randomized controlled trial of Morita Therapy to be published outside of China has recently demonstrated the promise of the approach in treating Western patients. To respond to the resulting interest in Morita Therapy from patients and practitioners, and facilitate further Morita Therapy research, it is necessary to provide the detailed explanation of Morita Therapy which is currently rare in the West. In this article, we fill this gap with a thorough description of Morita Therapy in terms of the key principles, objectives and processes of the approach; its basis in Eastern philosophy and naturalism; its sociohistorical context and development over a wide range of formats, patient conditions, and countries. To enable Western practitioners to appreciate and capitalize on the potential value of Morita Therapy as a distinct alternative for patients, we illustrate the approach’s unique method and objective compared to Western psychotherapies, and provide recommendations for practitioners applying Morita Therapy across cultures. Keywords Morita therapy · Psychological therapy · Mental health · Cross-cultural psychotherapy
Introduction Morita Therapy, a Japanese psychotherapy developed by Dr Shōma Morita in 1919, is a holistic, experiential approach which aims to re-orientate patients in nature (Morita 1998). With a focus on allowing suffering as it is, and unpleasant thoughts and emotions conceptualized as natural and uncontrollable phenomena, Morita Therapy contrasts with the focus of established Western approaches on symptom reduction and control (Krech 2014). Despite a grounding in Eastern philosophy and Japan’s distinctive culture, Morita Therapy has received increasing international interest and the first published randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Morita Therapy in English-speaking countries has recently demonstrated the promise of the approach for UK patients (Sugg et al. 2018). Thus, for the first time, rigorous empirical data on the application of
Morita Therapy in the West is available, and there is increasing interest in the approach worldwide. The purpose of this article is to provide the necessary in-depth explanation of Morita Therapy which is currently rare in the West. Firstly, we present the core features of the approach, including key principles, objectives, and processes, alongside illustrating how these differ to Western psychotherapies. Secondly, we explain the philosophical context of Morita Therapy. Finally, we describe the development and diversity of Morita Therapy over different for
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