Abstract
Approximately fifty years have passed since the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine was established. To mark this juncture, I looked back on the history of this Society, and wrote this paper by focusing on the steps taken by Department of Psychosomatic Medicine Toho University and the activities of the Kanto Regional Chapter. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine Toho University was established in October 1980 after it spun off from Second Department of Internal Medicine Toho University. Initially, it started as the Laboratory of Psychosomatic Medicine, and was promoted in May 1991 to be named the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine which still exists to this day. I served as a professor of Department of Psychosomatic Medicine Toho University from October 1980 to March 1999 and worked to make the department develop and grow. I was succeeded in April 1999 by Professor Tsuboi, who still remains active in his post. In my paper, I first provided an overview of the past research activities, then outlined the activities of the Kanto Chapter by summarizing past trends and developments. Of all the Society's chapters, the Kanto region has the largest number of members. It holds regional meetings three times a year. Since starting these meetings in November 1963, a total of 109 such events have been held up to March 2007. At the 50th and 100th regional meetings, commemorative publications (a collection of abstracts), awarding of individuals with distinguished achievements, and other events were carried out to celebrate these turning points.
