[Psychological trauma risks among disaster workers: perspectives on their mental health following the Great East Japan Earthquake].

Following the March 11, 2011 Great Japan East Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, disaster workers have been working day and night for recovery efforts. A large part of disaster workers, i.e., Self-Defense Force, police, fire department, and coast guard personnel, were highly acknowledged by the Japanese public for searching nearly 19,000 dead or missing victims. This recognition will be beneficial for their psychological recovery. On the other hand, dentists and government employees also took a large role in these mortuary missions, but their work was hardly known to the people. Furthermore, local government employees became victims of public criticisms. Similar phenomenon has been seen among Fukushima nuclear plant workers. These workers have experienced a whole array of traumatic stress, including near-death work experiences, irradiation fear, loss of their properties and their loved ones. The electric company has been blamed by the public for their disaster responses, so the public portrays these employees as disaster perpetrators. However, this trend is leading to serious discriminations and harassments, and adversely affecting their mental health. We all hope the recovery efforts to complete as soon as possible. However, when people criticize these workers, their burden of psychological trauma will continue to grow, and their recovery process will be impeded. It is crucial for the society to recognize these hard-working people and to show appreciation and support for their dedications.

[Complexities of the stress experienced by employees of the Fukushima nuclear plants].

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants suffered serious damage by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The employees of the plant worked very hard to stabilize the nuclear reactor and to prevent any secondary accidents. They were in one of the most severe situations in this disaster, but they were the people who hesitated most to request help for themselves. We started visiting the Fukushima Daini Plant office that was used as the frontline base for Daiichi Plant workers since July, 2011. These visits were held once or twice a month and we offered mental health support to the employees. We have completed interview with the total number of 339 plant workers by April, 2012. We offered several ways of mental support including clinical treatment, continuous counseling, or one time advice, depending on mental condition of each interviewee. Complexity of huge disaster and individuality of suffering from it were discussed in this article. Like local residents, many plant workers also experienced death/missing of family, loss of housing, refuge life, and dispersion of family. Furthermore, they have been suffering from various kinds of criticism and slander against Tokyo Electric Power Company. Many workers, even though they were not in management positions, seemed to have guilty conscience and sense of responsibility that forced them to stay in the risky working site. We could find some struggling coexistence of sense of guilt (as a causer of disaster) and sense of victim in their mind. It was suggested that continuous effort to listen and pay attention to their talk is important in order to support their mission to stabilize the power plant and to prevent them from over-stress and burnout.

Parkinsonism induced by atypical neuroleptics in a patient with severe iron deficiency.

Although still controversial, iron deficiency has been indicated as one of the risk factors for developing neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal symptoms (EPSs), including akathisia, dystonia, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Here we report our experience of iron supplementation and alternating neuroleptics for treating Parkinsonism in a schizophrenic female patient having severe iron deficient anemia.

The effect of paroxetine on Taijinkyofusho: a report of three cases.

Taijinkyofusho is a culture-related syndrome conceptualized in Japan. While previous studies suggest its psychopathological similarities to social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, introspection regarding shame and low self-esteem is particularly linked to Japanese culture. We present three cases of Taijinkyofusho: Cases 1 and 2 show neurotic features while Case 3 shows delusional thoughts. Paroxetine was used for treatment but was productive in only the first two cases. Phobic and obsessive thought patterns were altered in Cases 1 and 2, suggesting that the significant core symptoms were responding to the treatment. In the future, large-scale pharmacological studies will be necessary to investigate treatment outcomes Taijinkyofusho. Such studies would contribute to providing information for effective treatment as well as for examining relationships between Taijinkyofusho and related disorders.