A symposium on the theme of “conditions of interviewers” was held at the meeting of the 30th Japan Naikan Association in Toyama. At the symposium, I made a speech on the theme above at the request of the preparatory committee. I spoke on the basis of the cases I had heard at the association as well as my own experience as a Naikan interviewer. I think that the discussed problem, “conditions of interviewers” has emerged in the process of the association. As I examined this problem, I felt that I had to take a look at various problems over interviewers and thus “ethic of Naikan interviewers.”

As a result, this paper deals with the theme, “conditions of interviewers”, referring to ethical problems, which was not discussed at the symposium.

  Naikan was very popular among Japanese prisons as an effective correctional treatment between 1954 and 1964. However, there is no prison, which has introduced Naikan, now. The purpose of this research is to solve the cause of Naikan decline in the prisons.

So I analyzed both Mr. Yoshimoto’s activity for Naikan in the prisons and correspondence of the prisons to a time series. As a result, the cause is that semantic element about Naikan in the prisons had changed. And more, it turned out that prison officer’s Naikan was different from Yoshimoto’s original Naikana about interview.

  We divided intensive Naikan participants into three groups: an excellent group, a difficult group, and a dropout group to explore characteristics of each group. The focus of this article is on the difficult group. We began by examining the background factors of the three groups. The difficult group showed a disproportionate number of medical referrals, significantly different from the excellent group but not significant compared with the dropout group. A questionnaire survey indicated that the difficult group showed negative feelings and self concepts. After Naikan the difficult group showed low self concept and self esteem, a highly significant difference from the positive self concept and self esteem of the excellent group. In the difficult group the third theme of Naikan, troubles caused others, seemed to produce a strong sense of guilt.

  A 33-year-old male developed marked depressive symptoms due to an increase in workload. He was admitted to our hospital because he had a suicidal idea. Drug therapy for depression was performed, but no remission was observed. One month administration, intensive Naikan therapy was introduced. However, during the night of the first day of Naikan, he attempted suicide by a drug overdose. The factors associated with this attempt may have been persisting depressive symptoms at the introduction of Naikan therapy, poor motivation of this therapy, and the therapist's attitude lacking flexibility. In Naikan therapy for patients with depression, the risk of suicide should be adequately evaluated by not only the assessment of depressive symptoms but also comprehensive assessment of the life history, family background, personality tendency, and coexisting psychiatric disorders. Therapists should avoid the hasty introduction of Naikan and continue to provide support to patients until depressive symptoms become relatively stable, and signs of motivation appear.

  News of child abuse has become more frequent in recent years, as yet another manifestation of the stresses and strains in modern society. Such news is particularly shocking when it involves abuse inflicted by a child’s own parents. As an example, in one case a housewife in her early thirties habitually became irritated with her four-year-old daughter, and instead of calmly voicing her displeasure, beat the child physically. At the same time, this young woman was reluctant to do household chores, hardly ever cleaning or cooking. It is worth mentioning that this lady’s society, that of urban western Japan, is still remarkably traditional in expecting a wife and mother to both work hard within the home and to be virtually the sole educator and counselor for each child. This poor woman’s behavior disintegrated to the point of, on many days, not even supplying her daughter with sufficient food. In addition, she was constantly having arguments with her husband and they were on the verge of divorce. However, seven days of intensive Naikan Therapy allowed her to realize how much her parents had loved her. and still loved her. This awareness and acceptance helped resolve deeply-entrenched negative emotions she had held toward them. As a result, a profound appreciation for her husband and child emerged, and physical abuse ceased. Clearly, such welcome and dramatic improvement in both family relations and childrearing is clearly a positive effect of Naikan Therapy.

  This article considers several issues in the history of Naikan.

The issues are as follows:

1. The beginning and change of the three theme questions of Naikan.

2. When the name "Naikan Dojo" changed to "Naikan Educational Training Center"

3. Ishin Yoshimoto and the free economy movement.

4. About Christian Pastor Rev. Nicholson.