Yoshimoto Ishin created "NAIKAN" by changing the "MISHIRABE". He moved the emphasis on a sense of guilt from a feeling of transient and empty . In this process, a method to question three items "What have you received?", "What did you do in return?" and "What are the annoyances you made?" was established. The fourth question” What kind of annoyance did you receive?” is not adopted. Because of disturbing the acquisition of the sense guilt. But Yoshimoto Ishin mentioned the cases of child abuse “Punching, Confinement, Binding” as the example of the received annoyances and it unnecessary to listen to it in "NAIKAN". Such treatment attitudes are not currently permitted. If "NAIKAN" therapy trainee does not correctly learn how to deal with the fourth question” What kind of annoyance did you receive?”, there is the danger of losing sensitivity to pain that suffers from damage of the annoyances.

  Although intensive Naikan therapy has shown its efficacy in the treatment of addiction from the early days, its clinical application has been limited due to the originality in the structure of the therapy. Especially in an outpatient setting, it is fairly impossible to meet the demands which the original Naikan therapy requires for therapeutic change. Thus, when applying Naikan therapy into an outpatient setting, it is important to find the correct “trade-off point” of its therapeutic effect and the reproducibility of the structure. Here will be presented an intensive Naikan therapy program conducted in an outpatient setting. Out of the 18 participants whom had been diagnosed as addicts of either alcohol, gamble, drug, sexual behavior, stealing, 14 of them had kept themselves abstinent after 6 month post to the intervention, which only 5 could keep themselves abstinent for 3 month prior to the intervention. The abstinent participants showed improvement in depressive mood (p<0.05), meanwhile non-abstinent participants showed decrease in the score which measures psychological avoidance to their mother (p<0.01). Results suggest that this outpatient-styled intensive Naikan therapy could be effective in addiction treatment, although further research including RCT is needed to examine the concrete effect.

  This study reports the current situation and issues related to daily Naikan meetings where the technique of self-disclosure is used by the therapist at an outpatient addiction clinic. The aim of this study is to clarify what self-disclosure by the therapist implies to the patient during the daily Naikan meetings using a questionnaire survey and the KJ method. The results suggest that self-disclosure by the therapist is connected to a realization of equality, a consciousness of feelings of intimacy and security, and an encouragement for candid dialogue with the patients, and thus tends to be positively received by them.

  The objective of the study is to clarify the depth of self-observation in Naikan therapy established by Ishin Yoshimoto from a psychological assessment's point of view using Rorschach test（projective psychological test）. We used the following three congestion cards as Ⅱ , Ⅵ , and Ⅸ of Rorschach inkblots　addressed by Satoru Tuji（1997）so as to reduce the subjects’ burden.　Depending on patterns of thinking caused by Rorschach inkblots’ stimulation, there is a difference in the depth of self-insight in our three subjects who take part in inquiring into self-observation. We suggest that it is necessary for effectively evaluating the depth of self-observation to comprehend an each subject's different patterns of thinking caused by Rorschach inkblots’ stimulation in our consideration in addition to Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

  In this study, we followed a course of 24 days from the terminal treatment to the death of Mr. M; a Naikan introspective seeker. In the palliative care ward of the hospital where M stayed, treatment was made to alleviate cancer pain, in which he reached a gentle death. Meanwhile, since M was in good health, he had acquired a new outlook on life and death throughout Naikan method. That attitude was to be continuously aware of death and to have a purposeful meaning in life. This view on life and death that he cultivated was also reflected during his terminal period. Furthermore, at the end of his life, we believe that Naikan method had a great influence on the spiritual aspect of M.