The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological resilience and burnout among university athletes. The participants, 228 university athletes (male＝56, female＝172 ; mean age＝19.57, SD＝1.17), were asked to complete a questionnaire that included the Psychological Resilience Scale for University Athletes (Ueno and Shimizu, 2012) and the Burnout Scale for University Athletes (Amemiya, Ueno and Shimizu, 2013). The results of primary regression and secondary regression analysis indicated that psychological resilience was significantly correlated with levels of burnout; however, the possibility of increasing burnout depending on the presence of certain variables was suggested. Further research is required to consider how instructional programs should be adapted according to subjects’ level of psychological resilience.

The Tokyo Paralympics Games will be held in 2020. Some classes of events for athletes with intellectual disabilities will be included, but the number is expected to be much smaller than those for athletes with physical disabilities. Therefore, few people know of sports for athletes with intellectual disabilities. Under these circumstances, the Japan Basketball Federation for Players with Intellectual Disabilities (JBF-FID), established in 1999, has played several important roles in the promotion of competitive sports for intellectually disabled athletes in Japan. The Japan Basketball Championship for intellectually disabled athletes is one of the most important events. As this tournament has been held every year in various cities throughout Japan, it has contributed to disseminate basketball for intellectually disabled athletes in the country.

The Federation has a national team. Several times a year, camps for athletes of the national team have been held, resulting in improving fundamental technique, skills to judge the situation, and communication skills of the athletes. Overseas expeditions have been difficult due to budget shortages. As public funds allocated by the Japan Paralympics Committee are inadequate, the Federation needs to raise funds through other sponsors; SNS, for example. Many other countries are also confronted by the same problem. As a result, it has become hard to organize tournaments as there is a shortage of participants. We have to explore solutions for the various problems regarding the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Regarding the mental support of athletes, there have been discussions regarding the need for a network between specialists throughout the region; however, in reality, they are still relying on individual networks. Over a period of 13 years, statistics of the Department of Psychiatry/Psychosomatic Medicine, and Psychology Counseling Section, Japan Institute of Sports Sciences (JISS) indicate six cases of external referrals and five cases of no referrals due to the lack of a network. From outside the Tokyo metropolitan area, 36 cases of consultation and 14 cases of regular visits were indicated, respectively. In other words, JISS has the role of coordinating athletes from across the nation to receive mental care at appropriate locations, and the number of cases clearly indicates the necessity of a “referral map.” However, since top athletes have many games, training camps and so on, it is often difficult to receive ongoing care. It is vital for them to receive referrals across the nation, and the key factors which can lead to this success are: 1) regular exchange of information among specialists, creating trust among each other, and 2) speedy, detailed exchange of information．This paper also studied the actual mental care provided by referrals.

There are many reports that exercise intervention for depressive patients improves physical and psychological measures ; however, a consensus has not yet been reached with regard to feasible programs in exercise facilities in Japan. Therefore, we developed a safe exercise program for patients with mental health problems and verified its effectiveness.

Participants consisted of 28 patients (19 male and 9 female, mean age of 39.6±10.7 years) with a diagnosis of depression or in a depressive state ; each had been recommended to exercise by his/her attending physician. The exercise program developed in our facility included aerobic exercise and resistance training using the step-up method, and was intended to be conducted three times a week for three months. Only one patient dropped out of the program.

The mean exercise intensity of 27 patients was 3.6±1.3 METs (metabolic equivalents)-hours each session (frequency : 1.7±1.0 times per week). After the intervention, significant improvements were observed in participants’ scores on the Japan version of the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and alanine aminotransferase levels (blood test). For SDS, improvement was particularly significant in patients who exercised twice a week or more, or 4 METs-hours per week or more. Comments from patients included, “I became aware of change in my physical condition.”

These findings suggest that regular exercise and the step-up method using exercise improves physical and mental health.

Compared to the general population, it has been reported that patients with schizophrenia have a lower level of physical activity and insufficient exercise. The proportion of patients who undertake no regular exercise is very large. In this study, we study the effects of long-term hospitalization on the physical fitness of patients, and investigate the physical activity level of patients with long-term chronic schizophrenia. A comparison is made between long-term chronic schizophrenic patients and elderly residents in the community with similar levels of physical activity and physical fitness . In addition, to structure a safe and effective exercise instruction program for patients who have difficulty with self-managing their physical health, a simple exercise program that could be used in hospital wards was given to patients. This study also examines and verifies the effects of this exercise program by performing a physical fitness test. However, this study has some limitations. Our results may be influenced by selection bias and small sample size. A larger number of subjects with detailed clinical data are needed to elucidate physical effects for patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate trends in athletes’ somatosensory amplification, and to clarify the effects of somatosensory amplification on changes in sensation of muscular relaxation brought about by continuous progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). A survey of 88 athletes (male, 73; female, 15; mean age, 19.61±1.18 yr) was carried out using a questionnaire relating to the level of somatosensory amplification. The survey results indicate that athletes have the same trends in somatosensory amplification as non-athletes with psychosomatic disorders. In the experiment, 23 male college student athletes (age, 21.22±1.24 yr) were examined during three weeks of continuous progressive muscle relaxation practice. Sensation of muscular relaxation after carrying out PMR was examined by subjective evaluation and measurement of somatosensory amplification on day 1 and after one, two and three weeks of PMR. The results show that athletes were able to feel muscular relaxation after one week of PMR, and their somatosensory amplification decreased with two or more weeks of PMR.