The problem of 'social withdrawal' among young adults is the focus of considerable attention in Japan today. Among the various manifestations of social withdrawal, a 'primary social withdrawal' group has been identified that cannot be diagnosed by the established classification of mental disorders. In an earlier report it was suggested that the onset mechanism for primary social withdrawal is not merely a problem of the withdrawn person themselves, but also includes problems of family relationships. The aim of the present study was to identify the characteristics and problems in family relationships associated with primary social withdrawal. For that purpose a survey was conducted using David H. Olson's Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale as well as a questionnaire that the present authors devised on family interactions and the personal situation of the withdrawn person. The results pointed to the following four characteristics of primary social withdrawal families: (i) there are definite rules within the family; (ii) the families share values and an unfounded pride; (iii) there is a lack of emotional exchange in the family, and it is difficult for members to sympathize with each other's negative feelings; and (iv) although concerned about each other, there is little verbal exchange. From these family characteristics, the onset mechanism for withdrawal is triggered by insignificant matters such as minor setbacks in the developmental issues of youth. Then, given the person's personality traits and aforementioned characteristics in family relationships, the person becomes mired in social withdrawal.

Objective/BackgroundThe prevalence of depression in women is two times as much as that in men. However, the rehabilitation programme for return to work for patients with depression in Japan mainly focuses on male individuals. Japanese working women usually have the central role in housework in addition to paid work. Therefore, we hypothesized that Japanese working women with depression need a support programme for housework as well as paid work. The purpose of this study was to investigate the stress factors relevant to the existence of depression, in both paid work and housework, among working women.MethodsThis study recruited 35 women with depression and 35 women without depression. We carried out a cross-sectional investigation with two questionnaires having the same structure: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Generic Job Stress Questionnaire (for paid work) and the NIOSH Generic Housekeeping Labor Stress Questionnaire (for housework). We extracted the stress factors contributing to the existence of depression using logistic regression.ResultsThree stress factors were found–-two in housework, and one in paid work. In housework, variance in workload and underutilization of abilities were associated with the presence of depression. In paid work, interpersonal conflict was an associated factor.ConclusionRehabilitation programmes involving variance in workload and under self-evaluation in housework, and interpersonal conflict in paid work must be adequately addressed to support working women with depression.

Psychopathological investigation was conducted on the basis of the clinical observation of 23 subjects whose cenesthopathic symptoms began before 30 years of age. This illness is called 'adolescent cenesthopathy' based on the specificity of this mental condition to the adolescent period. Adolescent cenesthopathy is compared to schizophrenia, depersonalization, sensitive delusion of reference and other symptoms. Outstanding features of adolescent cenesthopathy are shown from the perspective of its difference from schizophrenia in terms of the specific characteristics of the symptoms in this disease.

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Having a role to play is one of the most important factors for occupational therapy clients to reconstruct their daily lives. Their roles allow them to engage in activities and social interactions, and contribute to their self-esteem and identity [1]. For women, mother is one of the most typical roles. Since the 1990s, many studies in the field of occupational therapy have focused on the role of the mother and parental behavior [2]. Additionally, the parental consciousness of women have been reported to be higher than that of men [3]. When mothers have difficulty in parenting activities, they tend to have more stress than fathers. Previous reports have investigated the disruption of mothering activities due to illness. Vallido, Wilkes, Carter and Jackson (2010) [4] suggested the following themes in their systematic review of women's experiences of mothering disrupted by illness: mechanism of disruption, reframing the mother's role, experiencing guilt or shame, protecting the children, experiences with health care professionals, living to mother, and mothering to live. Additionally, they mentioned that we should consider these themes when developing intervention and support programs. Depression is an illness that disrupts mothering. The lifetime prevalence of depression in women is twice that in men. This difference is attributed to changes in the hormonal balance or changes in life stages throughout women's lives [5, 6]. Women are reported to have a high prevalence of depression in the postpartum and menopausal periods. Postpartum depression develops within 1 year after childbirth [7, 8, 9], and is a notable topic in women's health. About 10% to 15% of new mothers worldwide develop depression [10]. Moreover, symptoms can continue depending on the severity of