Place Making for Psychologists in Hospitals : Lessons Learned from Meeting, Relationships, and Mutual Support

Abstract

I joined the medical consultation office in 1988 as the hospital’s first psychologist and was in charge of psychological testing and consultation requested by the Physical Medicine Department, handling two cases that were considered the starting point of psychosomatic medicine. At that time, I learned about the perspective of psychosomatic correlation and became acutely aware of my lack of knowledge of physical diseases and my professional immaturity as a psychologist. A few years later, as clinical psychologists gained more recognition in the society, the scope of the profession in hospitals expanded. With the support of various people, the Center for Mental Health Care was established in the Central Clinical Department, in 2012, and a clinical psychology department was set up within it, creating a system that allows direct requests to psychologists from doctor in all departments. What has been important to us since the beginning is the process of carefully interacting with each patient and communicating psychologists’ expertise to other professionals through such interactions. Such encounters and connections with patients and others gave the impetus to creating a place for psychologists within the hospital. Based on these experiences, we will also consider psychologists’professionalism and their future mission.