The 43rd Japan Diagnosis Seminar by the Institute for Japanese Studies at Seoul National University
Towards Empathy for the 'Illnesses of the Mind/Brain': Medical Anthropology of Depression and Dementia
(「心／脳の病」への共感の可能性にむけて：うつ病と認知症の医療人類学)
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Speaker: Junko Kitanaka (Professor, Faculty of Letters, Keio University)
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Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
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Location: GL Room, Graduate School of International Studies (Building 140), Seoul National University / ZOOM
- ZOOM ID: 583 289 8745
- ZOOM Link: https://snu-ac-kr.zoom.us/j/5832898745
※ This seminar will be held both online and offline, and anyone can participate without prior registration.
- Language: Japanese
Lecture Summary:
Although depression was once rare in Japan, after 1998, the suicide rate exceeded 30,000 annually for 14 consecutive years, and since the introduction of new-generation antidepressants, depression has rapidly become a national concern in Japan. As more workers take leave due to depression, companies have begun implementing stress checks annually as part of depression and suicide prevention measures, raising awareness about mental health more than ever before.
In addition, many people who were once considered simply "呆けた(senile)" are now diagnosed with dementia, and there is a growing trend among the elderly to engage in "brain training" for prevention. Many middle-aged adults also rush to memory clinics after being told during workplace health checkups that brain atrophy has been detected through MRI scans. This demonstrates the increasing 'medicalization' of the latter half of life in Japan.
'Medicalization' refers to the phenomenon where aspects of life that were once considered normal parts of existence (such as birth, aging, illness, and death) or moral challenges (madness, alcoholism, sexual deviance) are redefined as medical conditions requiring intervention. This lecture will explore how the medicalization of depression and aging has unfolded in Japan and what kind of empathy and understanding can emerge when life experiences are reinterpreted from the perspective of psychiatric medicine, using a medical anthropological approach.