This study compared the family image between Japanese and Korean students using the semantic differential (SD) technique. Eight concepts ("mother," "father," "child," "home," "work," "man," "woman," and "me") were measured for analysis of the meanings.

　To determine the SD scale, two questionnaries were first carried out. In the questionnaire 1, 75 subjects selected adjectives to describe each concept from a list of 192 adjectives. As a result, 65 scales were selected on the basis of the frequency of adjective selection. In the questionnaire 2, the 8 concepts were evaluated on the 65 scales with the SD method. As a result of the factor analyzing data from 82 Japanese students, three major factors were extracted. These were named affective evaluation, social evaluation, and activity, respectively. For the questionnaire 3 in which the family image was compared between Japanese and Korean students with the SD method, 23 scales were selected on the basis of factor loadings of the three factors. As a result of factor analysis of SD data from Japanese and Korean students, the same three factors were extracted. Therefore, the semantic structure of the 8 concepts in both groups consists of three dimensions: affective evaluation, social evaluation, and activity, and the relationship among the concepts were considered from factor scores and D scores.

　The affective evaluation of the concepts, "mother," "child," "home," and "woman," was positively higher than "father," "work," and "man" in the two groups. In this evaluative dimension, the self concept "me" was relatively evaluated as low as "father" and "man". Therefore, it seems that students in both groups identify themselves with father and man rather than mother and woman. The concept "child" was evaluated negatively in the social evaluative dimension, and represented extremely high activity. Korean students rated the social evaluation of 7 concepts except for the concept "work" significantly higher than did Japanese students. Mother and father were given higher social evaluation than woman and man as person concepts in both groups.

　The closest semantic relationship was found between mother and home from the D score, and also the D scores between father and work, and man and work were low to indicate a relatively closer semantic distance.

　Some problems of child’s identification with father were examined in terms of Tesser’s (1984) self-evaluation maintenance model in 201 undergraduate students. A questionnaire measured two of three main variables in the model (relevance, performance) and some other variables (father-image, self-esteem and so on). Two weeks later, closeness to father-remaining variables in the model―was measured through Schematic Projective Technique (Mizushima, 1986).

　It was found that subjects who perceived their fathers as performing considerably better than themselves on high relevant matters (1) recognized themselves more close to father, (2) repeoted higher degree of identification with father, (3) had more positive images of father, than the other students. These tendencies were especially marked among female subjects.

　These results were interpreted in flame of the model and some problems for adaptation of the model to father-child relationship were discussed.

　This article aims to evaluate the effectiveness of family therapies by Family System Graph Method. The first study tries to clarify the differences of changing patterns between verbal and nonverbal communication aspects of family systems in family therapy sessions. The second study shows a case example of application of the new graphic description method which includes the function of a therapist and boudaries between each subsystems.

　The validity of this method in evaluating the effectiveness of family therapies is underlined, especially as a descriptive tool.

　The Purposes of this study were (1) to examine the clinical usefulness of premarital counseling which had been gradually introduced to Japan in recent years, and (2) to discuss the difficulties in practice of premarital counseling.

　Premarital counseling in the form of application of Sager’s (1981) "Marital Contracts" was attempted to two couples who are going to marry in the near future. In the premarital counseling, conscious and unconscious expectations, needs and desires for their marriage and mate were examined in detail.

　The procedures of premarital counseling were discussed in comparison with Markman’s PREP (Premarital Relationship Enhancement Program; 1986). In addition the low motivation of the premarital couples to take advantage of premarital counseling and the negative effects of premarital counseling were also discussed.

　It was confirmed that Sager’s "Marital Contracts" provided the premarital counseling very useful framework. It is expected that premarital counseling will be more available to many couples who are going to marry in order to examine their mate selection processes.

　Although atopic dermatitis is generally said to be an allergic disease, I had many experiences in obtaining good results through the psychosomatic treatment by myself for those cases of atopic dermatitis in which allergen removal therapy had proved to be ineffective. On the basis of these experiences I propose to regard atopic dermatitis as a habit disorder in which the patient get accustomed to the bad habit of scraping. Children with atopic dermatitis are apt to scrape every itch they feel. The treatment consists in cutting off this vicious cycle of scraping by means of family therapy including paradoxical approach.

　A case of a 4-year old boy: The patient, who was also complicated with asthma received alimentary allergen removal therapy without good results. Then, the patient was kept on family therapy for his supposed psychosomatic disease and his family was encouraged to make him scrape enough for a definite time. The result was remarkable remission of his eruption.

　A case of a 10-year old boy: The patient, who had been suffering from atopic dermatitis since one year of age, was in remission of asthma. The patient presented severe type of atopic dermatitis and was autistic. Then, with a view to cutting off the vicious cycle between the patient and his mother, hospitalization therapy of the patient alone without any help from his mother was started. In anticipation of the effect of group therapy, other two children with the same disease were also hospitalization with him. The patient, who was only weeping initially in hospitalization became remitted of eruption as he tended to be yearned after by the other two children. The patient himself also recovered his natural child- like traits. But, after leaving hospital, eruption recrudescenced, suggesting a strong degree of intrafamilial vicious cycle. Subsequent family therapy, in which his mother made him scrape itches as much as he liked led to the remission of his skin erruption. The patient is now in quasi-healing thereof.

　Under the mask of atopic dermatitis, the family of a patient with the disease is apt to repeat the word "don't scrape!", and in such circumstances the disease will become more and more difficult of healing. Generally, eruption seems to become naturally better in the neglect of the patient's scraping on the part of his family.