Abstract
Any disorder is created out of a complex interaction of sociocultural factors, physical and psychological stress, the personality of the person subjected to these influences, and the inability of the person to adapt adequately to the pressures of the factors.
For example, the Japanese tend to repress their personal opinions and feelings, and to engage in selfsacrificing efforts for the purpose of winning others' approval in their industrial society. To date, they have been socialized and managed under fear-based hierarchical paradigms of social relationships in workplace, school, and community. While they may have generally adapted to the paradigms, they often live extremely stressful lives that may precipitate stress-related disorders.
In the post-industrial era, it is not sufficient to simply supply consumers with the products and services they need. It is essential to produce ones to meet their feeling needs as well. Managers and their employces are expected to show due sensitivity to customers' feelings and to create products and services fulfilled the customers' feelings. That is, they need self-assertiveness with empathy for others' feeling. It is not enough for them to repress their own feeling and to demonstrate self-sacrificing compliances to their boss.
Their affliction with stress-disorders is strengthening their self-abhorrence and depression. Through taking advantage of the affliction, they may grow from non-assertiveness for the purpose of winning others' approval into self-assertiveness with empathy for others' feelings, which may adapt well to post-industrial cultures.
Medical practitioners tend to engage mostly in symptomatic therapies with little consideration to changing their behavior patterns to produce stress-related disorders. Medical cultures in post-industrial Japan need to change from paternalism reflecting the old fear-based hierarchical paradigms into mutual-respecting relationships between medical providers and their users. The users need be supported in their behavioral health self-determination and growth through effective counseling.
