Of the many different types of psychotherapy, Morita therapy and Mindfulness are therapies that work on the natural healing powers inherent in people and help them to live a happy and healthy life. Developed more than 100 years ago by psychiatrist Shoma Morita, Morita therapy has expanded in recent years from inpatient treatment for neurotic patients to include the treatment of anxiety in people with illnesses. Morita therapy does not explore the causes of anxiety and illness, but rather moves away from the “toraware” mind in a vicious circle. It helps the person to move away from unnatural ways of life and thus to notice a way of life that is “arugamama”. This way of living “arugamama” is also a way of living of Mindfulness, which begins with awareness, and is also the aim of integrative medicine, which aims is to help people live healthier and happier lives.

Aromatherapy is one of the popular complementary and alternative therapies used throughout the world. Several odors used as interventional stimuli in aromatherapy have been reported in previous studies to affect physiological indices. This minireview focuses on the effects of odor on blood pressure and autonomic nerve activity, as well as the mechanisms by which odor affects blood pressure and autonomic nerve activity. Odor inhalation is known to cause an increase or decrease in blood pressure. Furthermore, it has been reported that the blood pressure response to odor inhalation involves olfactory-central nerve system mechanisms, local vascular mechanism of action, and mechanisms mediated by afferent C fibers in the respiratory organ. It has also been found that there are differences in physiological responses induced by odor at different odor concentrations and the site of action, even though the odor type is the same. Therefore, medical aromatherapy is considered to be more effective when the odor type, odor concentration, and treatment method are appropriately selected according to the subject characteristics and purposes.

Objective : The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Onychomycosis Foot Care Therapy (OFT) in a multidisciplinary collaboration to improve tinea pedis thickened nails in diabetic patients.

Methods : A multicenter non-randomized prospective comparative study. The subjects were patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes (mean age±SD : 72.1±12.4) with onychomycosis in a hospital, clinic, home-visit nursing facility, or nursing home who consented to the study. They were divided into an OFT group (Cosme Soda Pro, grinding, nail groove cleaning, Efinaconazole, Hirudoid, and foot pressure point massaging) and a control group (foot bath, tinea medication other than Efinaconazole, Hirudoid, and foot pressure point massaging). Primary outcomes were infected area every three months up to one year and presence of Trichophyton after one year. Secondary outcomes were new nail growth, nail thickness and pulse rate.

Results : The analysis included 122 participants (61 in each group). The median area of infection improved from 100% at baseline to 70% at 3 months and 33.0% at 1 year in the OFT group, and from 100% at baseline to 80.3% at 6 months and 75.0% at 1 year in the control group. Cases negative for Trichophyton by direct KOH microscopic examination at 1 year were 62.3% in the OFT group and 0% in the control group.

Conclusion : The OFT group showed a trend toward earlier reduction of infected area and more cases of negative for Trichophyton. The results suggest that continued multidisciplinary foot care may be useful in the treatment of severe onychomycosis in diabetic patients.