[Purpose] To research the mental health level of high school girl athletes who concentrate on their sports club activities having a dormitory life and to utilize the result as a source material for coaching with long-range outlook.

[Method] We tallied up the responses from 39 students who had participated in the survey every year during their three-year tenure in a certain sports club. We adopted Type A behavior, NEO-FFI, SCI and POMS as psychological tests.

[Results] The third graders adopted intellective stress-coping behaviors based on their experience more notably than the first graders. We also found that they had more competitive spirit which is a feature of Type A, and that they tended to restrain themselves excessively. Moreover, the result indicated that adopting escape behavior to cope with stress was potentially harmful to mental health.

[Conclusion] We think it is possible to treat them checking their mental health level by psychological tests.

The focus of our research was to investigate the effect of exercise therapy on psychiatric patients' attention and anxiety. Subjects for this study were eleven of inpatients who participated in exercise therapy. The exercise intensity for this study was moderate and was of one hour duration.

The STAI was used to describe the state anxiety of subject immediately pre and post exercise situations. Attention was determined (pre-post), by the patient catching a measuring stick dropped by the tester.

As a result, after just one bout of exercise therapy, there was significant improvement of state anxiety and attention capabilities (p<0.05). Therefore, we consider exercise therapy indicates the possibility of an effective treatment for the improvement of state anxiety and attention capabilities in psychiatric inpatients.

There are original situation concerning the onset of disease and symptoms in psychiatric disorders in athletes. Taking into consideration, athletes may have processes to suicide all their own. In this article, the author tried to clarify characteristics of suicide in athletes through the analysis of the suicide rate and the case of suicide victim in collegiate athletes.

Suicide rate in collegiate athletes tended to be lower than that in college nonathletic students. Especially in team sports, the feeling that athlete mentally ill did not want to give teammates troubles might lead him hesitate to be treated and deny his falling ill, finally following his increase of self-reproach, which was greatly influenced by Japanese original culture.

Finally the author proposed the strategy to prevent suicide in athletes. He referred to the importance of the roll of athletic trainer and team physician who would accept consultations from injured athletes.

Dissociative disorders are the disorders in which the normal integration of memory or identity is disrupted completely or partially. Much of the senses and memories are normally selected under conscious control as the focus of attention; however such conscious control is presumed to be disrupted in dissociative disorders. Dissociative disorders are psychogenic in origin, and are closely related to traumatic events, intolerable difficulties, or disrupted interpersonal relationships.

The present case is a dissociative amnesia resulting from the loss in a badminton match in which the victory was expected. The onset of the dissociative symptoms was five years previous to the present episode, and parents and trainers were aware of the numerous previous dissociative symptoms of the patient. The patient herself felt stressed and occasionally told about it to her parents. But parents and trainers did not take care of her stress.

In the present case, early psychiatric care, including education on stress coping skills, should have been considered earlier. Psychological education on mental health in sports may be necessary to prevent the recurrence of dissociative symptoms.

Our hospital provides group exercise programs in occupational therapy. We interviewed two schizophrenia patients whom we had difficulty encouraging to do the programs due to their motivational deficiency in physical exercise. Examining their needs and interests, we introduced them to exercise programs in consideration of the individual characteristics of the patients. The results were as follows : Case 1—he came to willingly participate in the games involving body sensations, and his activities increased ; Case 2—he began to work on the training while singing together with the staff. Through these cases, we realized that when introducing motivational deficient patients to exercise, it is essential to identify and remove the factors underlying them, and therefore, give each patient the assistance according to their characteristics. When operating the exercise program for the mental patients, it is important not only to expect their physical effects but also to introduce them to the program respectively, considering each individual characteristic of the patients such as their needs, interests, and concerns.

This paper discusses the Homeless World Cup as a new tool of empowerment for homeless people who are marginalised from the society. Since 2003, the Homeless World Cup has been held as a new supporting frame which attempts to socially include homeless people, by organising an international football game for them. Mel Young¹⁵⁾ who is one of founders of the World Cup, emphasises that although providing a working opportunity or living place to homeless people is important, other projects are required and playing football has become one of them. According to the Homeless World Cup Foundation⁸⁾, participating homeless players succeeded in recovering from alcohol or drug abuses, enhancing motivation towards employment or education, or starting new life with a home. Due to a lack of world consensus on the definition of homeless, the issue of eligibility may be arguable. Nevertheless, Homeless World Cup could be worthy of attention as a means of empowering and supporting homeless people.

The two pillars of the activities of the Saitama Mental Health and Welfare Association are the promotion of mental health and the participation of people with mental disorders in society. With regard to the participation of people with mental disorders in society, the Association supports social integration through sports. Since it was first established, the Association has held softball tournaments and table tennis tournaments. Later, it was involved in the spread of volleyball through the prefecture and implementation of a prefectural tournament. At present, a grant-in-aid is being used to implement a ground golf tournament and promote its diffusion. The Association is also engaged in support for futsal. People with mental disorders need medical, health and social welfare support, and also individualized support for participation in society. For such people with mental disorders, sports can provide support for a range of social participation activities. In Saitama prefecture, sports events are structured in a way appropriate to the situation of people with mental disorders. Sports can also be used in the comprehensive rehabilitation of people with mental disorders.