Mind-body concepts and mental illness: a study of Japanese values

This paper examines Japanese mind-body concepts and attempts to tease out some of the ways this philosophical orientation influences the Japanese view of mental illness. An analysis of key Japanese words will demonstrate that traditionally the Japanese have viewed the mind and body as inextricably intertwined and that this interconnectedness extends to the Japanese self conceptualization. It is argued that this Japanese value orientation sheds light on the stigma associated with mental illness and equally helps to explain the Japanese tendency to somatisize psychological distress. Because "mental" illness is perceived as a character weakness, "somatic talk" becomes a culturally coded idiom of distress providing the Japanese with a culturally acceptable way to influence the behavior of others while at the same time avoiding being labeled with a psychiatric disorder. Somatization in Japan, then, can be understood as an inherently ethical event that has more to do with morals than medicine.