In imagery interview as kind of meditative psychotherapy, the clients asked to close eyes and to develope and express his free imagery as if he were dreaming. In this situation, deep emotional process is freed and strengthened minimizing the ego defence and untherapeutic reasoning, which promotes the psychotherapeutic process.

In this article, effectiveness for Juvenile delinquents treated by imagery interview therapy was studied by analyzing the 14 clinical cases. Rapid development of awareness of his depth, extraordinary effective catharsis, experience of emotional growth, some other positive therapeutic progress were observed in imagery interview especially in maladjusted delinquents (so called unsocialized delinquents).

It seems that the imagery emotional process stimulates the therapeutic regression and / or reorganization, and afterwards the insight on reality level makes it fixed.

Clients (maladjutsed delinquents) who were not successful in the ordinary interview psychotherapy often developed rapid emotional outburst or release.

In some cases, specific positive feeling is uncovered as a result of imagery proceess. For example, a maladjusted delinquent boy experienced a serious affective feeling toward his mother, which recovered his feeling of guilt. This method is, therefore, especially pronounced in the cases of emotionally disturbed delinquents who show some difficulty in verbal conceptual communication.

Therapist’s empathic response in the world of imagery seems to be the most important in this process. But, when the imagery-emotional process is often radical, the client sometimes falls into anxiety attack, which increases his resistance and defence. (author’s abstract)

The mainpurpose of this article is to analize dynamic human relations in the correctional institutions and to establish scientific techniques for correctional treatment through integrating traditional and newly introduced techniques. The author’s own experiences accumulated at the prison, the training school for juvenile delinquents and juvenile detention and classification home as well as the records of many predecessors’ achievements were utilized for the study.

(I) Therapeutic approach in the correctional institution.

This section is concerned with tracing back the history of therapeutic approaches exterimented in correctional institutions and understanding how the newly introduced techniques from Europe and America were applied in our correctional institutions. The role and the training of therapists in correctional institutions and team approach in treatment were discussed reffering to the two books authored by Dr. T. Hemmi who had been engaged in this problem enthusiastically.

The therapeutic approach was driven foward mainly through therapists’ close and continuous contact with officers and inmates rather than leadership of administrators. The essential condition for therapeutic activities is mutual trust between officers and inmates and we-feeling among staff members. True meaning of confinement and the relationship between individual and group psychotherapy were also recorsidered.

(Ⅱ) Therapeutic activities experimented at Nakano Prison.

The history of therapeutic activities at Nakano Prison, one of the institutions which have the most systematic treatment programs, was characterized by dividing it into 4 phases.

(1) establishment of reception center and preparation for treatment center (1957-1959), (2) therapeutic activities by counseling committee and treatment unit (1959-1962), (3) practice and study of group counseling (1962-1965), (4) treatment programs for maladjusted inmates and traffic offenders (1965- ). Many practical problems concerning these phases will be discussed in the articles to be continued.