Abstract
Mental health and welfare measures and policies are rapidly changing in Japan and are moving toward appropriate psychiatric care and comprehensive community living care. Above all, the significance of the existence of social workers who are responsible for community living care is heightening. Given that trend, this paper touches on dilemmas for social workers that arise when psychiatric care encompasses community living care and discusses the essential roles of social workers. The result is that first the phenomenon of "living care management" is critically evaluated using the concept of "medicalization" and that the essential roles of social workers are noted, predicated on the redefinition of users. Second, the difficulty in seeing the "particular nature of social work" when a multitude of occupations are responsible for community living care is discussed based on characteristics of living care and the particular nature of a professional stance is noted. In addition, the expertise of the social worker lies not in "an individual who applies advanced knowledge and techniques" but in "an individual who derives knowledge and techniques in practice."
