Medicine:Lifetrack Therapy

From HandWiki

Lifetrack Therapy, founded by the Japanese Keio educated and Harvard trained psychiatrist Dr. Yukio Ishizuka, is a new personality model and therapy based on universal spheres of psychological health.[1][2][3] Ishizuka's willingness to learn from his patients, as well as his exposure to the East,[4] He draws from the principles of both Zen Buddhism and quantum mechanics in his method of treatment. Ishizuka developed Lifetrack therapy, an approach and methodology to help his patients experience psychological health.

Lifetrack Therapy : positive mental health

Lifetrack Therapy,[1] is Ishizuka's clinical positive mental health approach developed and tested since 1975. The new paradigm of health includes:

  • a full personality model[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] that withstands the demanding criteria for mental health models set forth by Marie Jahoda[12]
  • a hierarchy of defense which is mobilized when one's past experience and current capability to cope are exceeded by life challenges [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
  • a clinical approach that focuses on ‘closeness’ with a spouse or comparable partner for fundamental personality change [10][20][21][22][23][24]
  • the use of crisis as an opportunity to transform self, intimacy and achievement far beyond a previous best level of experience [8][20][25]
  • a method of therapy[26] Lifetrack, that defines,[9] measures[27][28][29][30] and enhances well-being as the central objective[3][9][10][31][32]
  • clinical insights [33] on self-actualization and fear,[34] breakthrough intimacy,[21][35][36] and stages of personality transformation under crisis[37]

Lifetrack theory: three basic psychological needs for psychological health or self-actualization

In 1975, Dr. Ishizuka hypothesized that three basic psychological spheres determine psychological health and self-actualization across cultures.[38] Those three spheres are: the search for self, the need for intimacy, and the quest for achievement. Also referred to as the "triad of psychological adjustment"[39] or "tripod of happiness"[40] the three spheres are subjective, dynamic, and broad enough to encompass all psychological events.[41] These three interconnected spheres characterize a person's personality. A prolonged imbalance or a crisis in any one of these three key interconnected spheres of health influences the others and can trigger defensive symptoms such as anxiety, anger, physical symptoms, depression or in some cases psychosis.[42] The tripod model of health is the basis for Lifetrack Therapy, a clinical approach drawing on the experience and insights accumulated by the daily self-rating data of more than 1,200 patients throughout their treatment on 41 parameters of mental health through periods of crisis to optimal health.[33] The central goal for both the ‘distressed” and the “well” in Lifetrack Therapy is the same: well-being in the primary three spheres of life.[43] Therapy sessions are focused on using crisis as an opportunity to transform the three spheres far beyond a previous best level of experience.

Methods

  • Definition of Positive Mental Health

Lifetrack therapy uses a structured definition of positive mental health or wellness state as the central objective of therapy. Keeping the needs of his patients in mind, where Ishizuka understood the subjective response to life events to be a cause of human suffering, he hypothesized that there may be subjective spheres of life which contribute to happiness or suffering more than others. By defining three subjective spheres that contribute to well-being, Ishizuka provides a conceptual framework for positive mental health. Ishizuka's definition of the three spheres includes a breakdown of each sphere into three dimensions with nine elements each (a total of 27 parameters). States of well-being (peace, friendliness, physical wellbeing, happiness and mastery), stress (anxiety, anger, physical symptoms, depression and psychosis), physical health, and correct substance are also defined by the model contributing to a total of 41 positive mental health parameters.

  • Quantification of Positive Mental Health

For an individual to become happier or to grow in a short period of time there needs to be a means for him or her to actively think, feel and act in ways that foster positive mental health. In the experience of Lifetrack, the ability to improve the subjective world far beyond a previous best requires an active focus of one's mental states throughout therapy. Ishizuka has found that using simple definitions of positive mental health as the objective of therapy and a subjective 10 point rating scale, one can track subjective responses to life events. For example, if you depend on your spouse or significant other at only a 5 on a 10-point scale, that implies that you can think, feel and act in ways that allow you to more graciously depend."[44] With his patients taking five to ten minutes daily to track self, intimacy and achievement spheres, as well as positive peaks of well-being (peace, friendliness, physical-health, happiness, mastery), negative peaks (anxiety, anger, physical symptoms, depression, psychosis), physical health, and proper use of food, beverage, or other substances,[45] focus on incremental thinking, feeling and acting is encouraged. In therapy, Ishizuka actively uses setbacks as a means to promote growth in the three spheres. Together, the therapist and the patient use the definition of positive mental health and the subjective daily rating of the patient in 41 mental health parameters to focus weekly therapy sessions on overcoming setbacks and building health beyond a previous best level of adjustment.

Background for methodology

The new methodology was inspired by Ishizuka's background in medicine and business,[46][47][48] and from the needs of his patients. Although the quantification of positive mental health has limitations,[49][50] Ishizuka points out that similar limitations may exist in quantum mechanics in that the observer influences what he is observing, and that the mind can only experience one aspect of a phenomenon at a specific point in time.[51][52]

Limits of the methodology

According to Ishizuka, the subjective experience of happiness, well-being, depression and the like cannot be adequately or fully described but only experienced by each individual. Since this is the case we should be aware of limits in attempting to define, quantify or track well-being or happiness. Despite that happiness and depression are not steady states, but can change from one moment to the next,[53] Ishizuka's experience shows that repetitive self assessments according to the same fixed model yield highly valuable information. In this sense, individual self ratings in Lifetrack on one health parameter are much like a droplet in the fountain of our psychological experience. These droplets when viewed individually or in isolation may not tell us much. However, when a person uses the same model to track psychological health consistently over time, the collection of droplets accumulate creating patterns, much like the shape of a fountain.[54]

The goal in positive mental health is not to compare psychological health or well-being between two or more individuals or to decide who is healthy and who sick, but to build and strengthen psychological health within the same individual over a period of time. In this respect, psychiatry has much to learn from physics. The physicist Finkelstein was also aware on how “experience” in the exact science of physics cannot be fully communicated to others. However, the physicist argued that if we can show how to make the experience happen and show how to measure it, then we can help others to have it. This is precisely what has been done in Lifetrack therapy.

Lifetrack Therapy

The objective of therapy is positive mental health or well-being

The central goal for both the ‘distressed” and the “well” in Lifetrack Therapy is the same: health and well-being in the primary spheres of life.[43] The focus of therapy is optimal psychological health in the three spheres, rather than the immediate elimination of distressing symptoms. Efforts are focused in therapy sessions on improving the three spheres far beyond a previous best level of experience. Therapy terminates when one has successfully established and sustained new and better balanced patterns of coping in all three spheres, not when symptoms such as depression initially decrease or disappear.[55]

Duration or length of therapy

While the scale for inner health has no optimal limit, under optimal conditions in Lifetrack therapy (one person in the couple is in sufficient distress, there is an effective therapist who can work with both, and the ‘well’ partner is willing to help), a complete transformation of personality, or breakthrough in the self, intimacy, and achievement spheres far beyond a previous best level, may be achieved in 3–6 months.[56]

Tools in Lifetrack Therapy

In Lifetrack therapy the therapist interprets the graphs of the patient's subjective self-rating in weekly therapy sessions on a computer screen (daily when the patient is in the hospital or otherwise require intensive therapy). The active role of the therapist and a patient data tracking system that measures, tracks and focuses growth in one's self, intimacy and achievement spheres, helps place setbacks or crisis into proper perspective.[57] Visualizing both breakthroughs and setbacks with the therapist in key areas that constitutes positive mental health has become an important tool and component of Lifetrack therapy leading to the following insights on the mind:

Clinical findings

The accumulated evidence of daily self-rating data of more than 1,200 patients throughout their treatment on 41 parameters of health include:[33]

  • Self-actualization and fear

Even when individuals desire to build inner health (self, intimacy and achievement), due to fear, they can think, feel, and act in a contrary fashion.[58] Such fear is found in all individuals, healthy or ‘diseased’ to varying degrees and can be triggered when a previous best level of adjustment is surpassed by the challenge one faces. For therapists and patients, understanding the nature of this fear, and predicting it ahead of time, is critical to overcoming it. An effective Lifetrack therapist reminds the patient that the very progress he is making provokes setbacks, and that each setback opens the way to further breakthrough and advance.[1]

  • Breakthrough intimacy

Of the three spheres, Ishizuka has found that intimacy is the most central to health and also the most important conduit for fundamental personality transformation through therapy.[10][21][35] According to Ishizuka, within the intimacy sphere, the adult couple relationship is far more important than even the best therapeutic one. More than an analysis of the past parent-child relationship or a lengthy dependence on a therapist, the couple relationship allows the individual to give and receive love, overcoming fear that may have arisen through a difficult past, failed adult relationships, fear of the unknown, or even ‘isolated’ setbacks in the achievement or self sphere that have seemingly nothing to do with intimacy. In short, intimacy is a conduit to rapid and dramatic inner growth. Even when the initial problem manifests itself in the form of a crisis in the achievement[59] or self sphere, successful Lifetrack therapy for adults always focuses on making a breakthrough in intimacy first.[60] This is due to the primary role that intimacy plays in human growth as well as its importance in sustaining a personality under distress (when the self and achievement spheres have collapsed). In the safe context of Lifetrack therapy, couples learn to overcome defensive symptoms on both sides. The objective is to attain a much higher level of intimacy where defenses such as anxiety, anger, physical symptoms, depression or psychosis recede and allow positive peaks of peace, friendliness, physical wellbeing, happiness and mastery to become dominant.

  • Trade-offs in psychological spheres and four stages of transformation

In successful Lifetrack therapy, where the individual emerges far beyond a previous best level of adjustment in his sense of self, intimacy and achievement, four stages of transformation have been observed.[37] These four stages are the path of personality transformation (or growth) through crisis. The primary instigator of inner growth is the intimacy sphere in stages I and II. Self and achievement catch up to intimacy in stage III and stabilize and continue to advance together at much higher levels than a previous best experience in stage IV.

Positive mental health: integrating health and ‘disease’

Ishizuka's personality model, the Lifetrack model, fulfils all six conditions for measuring health by Jahoda while also integrating an understanding of ‘disease.’[12] Used and tested by patients who experience profound psychological distress as well as optimal health in their self, intimacy and achievement spheres, the Lifetrack model constitutes a new paradigm in health and as well as new form of clinical therapy.[1]

Limitations of Lifetrack Therapy

Lifetrack uses little to no drugs and considers medication, for the most part, as symptom relief. Hence, the Lifetrack model in the current context of psychiatry that focuses on drug treatment, and allots little time to psychotherapy may not be ideally conducive to practice Lifetrack Therapy. While psychologists, social workers, marital counsellors and coaches trained in ‘talking cures’ may also be particularly effective with Lifetrack Therapy, due to strong defensive reactions (anxiety, anger, physical symptoms, depression, psychosis) that can be triggered in a minority of highly defensive individuals, psychiatrists trained in this therapy are advised to work with social workers and psychologists to help deal with all possible contingencies, including the use of medication and possible hospitalizations.

Another limitation to the new paradigm of health is that little academic literature or clinical teaching exists on the model (the book Self-Actualization is in Japanese). Ishizuka continues to give precedence to his patients and breaking clinical ground in therapy, over publishing, research, teaching or the dissemination of his ideas in academia. For English therapists interested in Lifetrack therapy, Ishizuka has presented at the APA[37][61] (American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting) and other world congresses,[13][43][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] and has several professional publications in English including Lifetrack Therapy,[74] Intimacy and Stress: Effective Therapeutic Intervention,[10] Causes of Anxiety and Depression in Marriage,[35] and Conjoint Therapy for Marital Problems, Divorce: Can and Should it be prevented?[11] While the online tracking of health parameters is available for therapists and patients through Lifetrack.com and is systematically presented through cases for therapists in an eBook for therapists; Breakthrough Intimacy – Sad to Happy Through Closeness, or compared to other approaches such as Maslow, Murray, Freud and others on Positive Mental Health Foundation, these teaching materials give preference to those familiar with online technologies. For Lifetrack to spread, additional clinical teaching or academic literature may be useful.

Future of positive mental health, clinical models, applications

The Lifetrack model incorporates both an understanding of disease and optimal health. Lifetrack defines, measures, and tracks positive mental health and provides a clinical method useful to patients to improve psychological well-being. With humanistic models of man, such as the Lifetrack model, which integrate both optimal health and disease in the same model, psychiatrists and clinical psychologists can help individuals develop and maintain health as the objective of therapy while addressing inevitable crisis and inner growth. Just as positive psychology can inform clinical psychology, clinical models in psychiatry based on health may also inform the field of psychology, including positive psychology, known to study Maslow, Rogers, Fromm, and Murray.

The Lifetrack model, based on an understanding of psychological health and healthy human beings, can have implications on other fields such as conflict negotiation (Harvard's Program of Negotiation)[75] or any field that makes simple assumptions about human beings such as transaction cost economics (Oliver Williamson, 2009 Nobel Laureate).[76] With models of man that integrate both an understanding of health and disease, we are better suited to go beyond the field of psychology and apply insights from the “normal” functioning of the mind to political science, economics,[77] international affairs,[78][79][80][81][82][83] nations[84][85][86] and organizations.[87][88][89]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ishizuka, Yukio (1988). ‘Lifetrack Therapy,’ Psychiatric Journal University Ottawa, Vol. 13 No. 4.
  2. Ishizuka, Yukio (1981). Self Actualization, Kodansha, Tokyo. ISBN:978-4-06-145662-4 C0211 P600E(4)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, www.dailypioneer.com, 6/4/06, « He (Ishizuka) seeks to find a permanent solution by reinforcing the patient's personality to make him or her better able to cope and identifying [happiness] as the ultimate goal. »
  4. Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, 6/4/06, www.dailypioneer.com; «
  5. Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, www.dailypioneer.com, 6/4/06: « For personality, as Dr. Yukio Ishizuka, a leading New York psychiatrist of Japanese origin, points, comprises the "way one thinks, feels and acts in three principles spheres of life—self, intimacy, and achievement. »
  6. Peter Costa, Gannett Westchester Newspapers, Health/Science C Section, Wed, September 11, 1985: "Ishizuka said he believes there are three 'spheres' that control and affect our mental health: self, intimacy and achievement.
  7. Samuels, R. Ph.D., "Computer Software Review," Psychotherapy in Private Practice, Spring 1986: 87-88: "As the result of many years of research, Dr. Ishizuka has developed a theory which he refers to as the "triad of psychological adjustment."
  8. 8.0 8.1 Ishizuka, Yukio (1981). Self Actualization, Kodansha, Tokyo. ISBN:978-4-06-145662-4 C0211 P600E(4)
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Ishizuka, Yukio (1988). ‘Lifetrack Therapy,’ Psychiatric Journal University Ottawa, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 197-207.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Ishizuka, Y., « Intimacy and Stress : Effective Therapeutic Intervention, » Psychiatric Ann. 1981, 11(7), 259-265.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Ishizuka, Y., « Divorce : Can and Should It Be Prevented ? » Family Therapy, Vol. IX, Number 1, 1982, 69-90.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Ishizuka, Yukio (1988). ‘Lifetrack Therapy,’ Psychiatric Journal University Ottawa, Vol. 13 No. 4 : 205. « While there have been various contributions in the literature on the concept of Positive Mental Health and Wellness, as described in the introductory portion of this paper, this paper presents a direct and systematic application of this concept in therapy in a way that satisfies most, or all, of the 6 conditions of Positive Mental Health suggested by Jahoda in 1958. »
  13. 13.0 13.1 Ishizuka, Y., « Hierarchy and Matrix of Defense, » Proceedings of the 10th World Congress (1983) of Social Psychiatry, Intergroup, 1984.
  14. Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, ww.dailypioneer.com, 6/4/06, « Identifying five symptoms of stress-anxiety, anger, psychosomatic disorders, depression and psychosis, which he regards as consequences of one's failure to cope with life and its challenges, he seeks to find a permanent solution by reinforcing the patient's personality to make him or her better able to cope and identifying happiness as the ultimate goal. »
  15. "Stress is Your Friend," Asahi Shinbun International, August 27, 1992.
  16. "Stress," Live Magazine, Volume 5, 1996.
  17. "Japanese Executives Under Stress," Yomiuri Shinbun, January 12, 1986.
  18. "International Front, Japanese Middle Management under Stress," Nippon Keizai Shinbun, 1985.
  19. Yogata, M., "Personal Setback and Growth," Marubeni, December 1985.
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 Ishizuka, Y., « Divorce—can and should it be prevented ? » Family Therapy, Volume IX, Number 1, 1982 : 69-90.
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Ishizuka, Y., « Conjoint Therapy for Marital Problems, Psychiatric Ann. 9 : 6, June 1979.
  22. Ishizuka, Y., « Causes of Anxiety and Depression in Marriage, » Psychiatric Ann. 9 :6, June 1979 : 302-309.
  23. "Do You Have Someone You Can Count On?" Gennai, April 1992.
  24. Barbara Woller, "When Work is Your World," Gannett Westchester Newspapers, C section, Tuesday, February 2, 1988: "The real disease, [Ishizuka] says, is the inability to get close to yourself and others."
  25. "Stress," Nikkei Business, September 7, 1992.
  26. Ishizuka, Yukio (1981). Self Actualization, Kodansha, Tokyo. ISBN:978-4-06-145662-4 C0211 P600E(4).
  27. Richard Samuels, "Computer Software Review," Psychotherapy in Private Practice, Bol 4(1), Spring 1986: "The LIFE TRACK program was developed by Yukio Ishizuka, MD. This unique program allows the therapist to graphically display on either a color or monochrome monitor, the changing self reported condition of a patient on more than 40 parameters which are derived from three "interconnected life spheres" of self intimacy and achievement."
  28. Casey, E., "A New Computer Tool," Wall Street Micro News, October 1985.
  29. Kishi, N., "A Man Who Dares: A Psychiatrist who Quantifies the Human Mind," Bunshu Weekly, November 4, 1993.
  30. Wadier, M., "Psychiatric Software Moves Ahead," American Business, Winter 1986.
  31. Michael Berger, "A Japanese psychiatrist's answer to executive stress," International Management, March 1987: 50: "..reduce your anxiety and stress levels, since you become fully aware of all the factors involved in your sense of well-being or unhappiness."
  32. Peter Costa, "Psychiatrist uses computer as tool to fight depression," Gannett Westchester Newspapers, Health/Science, C Section, Wednesday, September 11, 1985: "Dr. Yukio Ishizuka of Rye believes he can help an executive stabilize his world and thus improve his mental well-being."
  33. 33.0 33.1 33.2 Ishizuka, Y., (2007), Lifetrack Therapy, Summary from an APA presentation Annual Meeting, San Diego, May 2007
  34. Ishizuka, Y., (1981). Self Actualization, Kodansha, Tokyo. ISBN:978-4-06-145662-4 C0211 P600E(4)
  35. 35.0 35.1 35.2 Ishizuka, Y., « Causes of Anxiety and Depression in Marriage, » Psychiatric Ann. 9 :6, June 1979.
  36. Ishizuka, Y., « Intimacy and Stress : Effective Therapeutic Intervention, » Psychiatric Ann. 1981, 11(7), 259-265
  37. 37.0 37.1 37.2 Ishizuka, Y., "Breakthrough Intimacy - Treating Personality" APA (American Psychiatric Association) Annual Meeting San Diego, May 2007.
  38. Ishizuka, Y., « Causes of Anxiety and Depression in Marriage, » Psychiatric Ann. 9 :6, June 1979 : (p.305)« Dr. Ishizuka has worked as a management consultant with Arthur D. Little, Inc., and McKinsey & Co. In Europe, North America, and Japan, treating effects of stress in executives and professional men and women in both their occupations and their family lives. »
  39. Samuels, R. Ph.D., "Computer Software Review," Psychotherapy in Private Practice, Spring 1986: 87.
  40. Peter Costa, Gannett Westchester Newspapers, Health/Science C Section, Wed, September 11, 1985
  41. Ishizuka, Y., « Causes of Anxiety and Depression in Marriage, » Psychiatric Ann. 9 :6, June 1979 : p. 303 « These three spheres can be visualized as converging circles, each representing a distinct area of importance but also interacting with the others (Figure 1). Sphere 1 depicts life with one’s self – being in touch with one’s feelings and at peace with one’s self. Sphere 2 covers life with important others – the intimate relationships of marriage that we are discussing here, but also with one’s parents, children, and close friends. The third sphere concerns life in the world – one’s work, career, etc. »
  42. Peter Costa, "Psychiatrist uses computer as tool to fight depression," Gannett Westchester Newspapers, Health/Science C Section, Wednesday, September 11, 1985: "In his so-called "tripod of happiness" model, the three spheres converge and intersect. When they are of approximately equal size, most people are happy; when one leg of this life tripod dominates, the individual can suffer imbalance and (in crisis) may topple into depression or anxiety or develop other defensive reactions like physical symptoms, he said."
  43. 43.0 43.1 43.2 Ishizuka, Y., « Personality Transformation is Therapy Objective, » Proceedings of the World Congress of Psychiatry, Spain, 1996.
  44. Quantifying Subjective Experience
  45. Costa, P., « Psychiatrist uses computer as tool to fight depression, » Gannett Westchester Newspapers, September 11, 1985, : « In the Lifetrack program, people display on a computer screen that represent 41 categories or emotional conditions, which they monitor each day. » (C1)
  46. The new methodology was inspired by Ishizuka's combined medical background with plus six years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. followed by four years of M&A. Realizing his patients could benefit from a methodology to better understand health and the healthy mind, Ishizuka developed a simple subjective accounting system for positive mental health. The accounting system initially begins with a scale from one to ten. According to Ishizuka, "having to artificially stick a number on your thoughts, feelings and actions reinforces the idea that experience is controllable. It gives you a lever to hold on to and to shape.
  47. "Now, feedback from Lifetrack, USA today, Thursday, September 26, 1985: "It's like an accounting system for your emotions, Ishizuka said. At the end of a week there's a line graph showing emotional peaks and valleys."
  48. "From Management Consulting to Psychiatric Practice," Trapedia, May 1982.
  49. For more on the possibility and limits to measuring the subjective mind see Happiness Defined? Quantified?
  50. For more on developing a science of health see Science of Health
  51. Happiness Defined? Quantified?? | Positive Mental Health
  52. Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, 6/4/06, www.dailypioneer.com; « He draws from the principles of both Zen Buddhism and modern post-particle physics in his method of treatment. While the latter emphasises the interconnectedness of the entire universe, the former believes that a solution to human suffering lies in being one with the universe.
  53. Happiness Defined? Quantified?
  54. Happiness Defined? Quantified?
  55. Hiranmay Karlekar, The Pioneer, www.dailypioneer.com, 6/4/06, « Dr Ishizuka's work acquires a special significance when viewed against Fromm's assertion. His approach to psychiatric treatment differs fundamentally from the prevalent mode of diagnosing specific psychiatric distress or disorders which are considered to be "dysfunctions and diseases of the brain" and treating them with drugs in accordance with any of the growing multiplicity of therapeutic approaches and focusing primarily on providing relief to targeted symptoms. The result is not cure but, in the best possible cases, continuous suppression of the symptoms and, in the worst one's, to intermittent relapses, leading to the collapse of one's psyche and eventual suicide. In sharp contrast, Dr Ishizuka believes in a pattern of treatment that goes down to the roots. »
  56. Peter Costa, « Psychiatrist uses computer to fight depression, » Health/Science C Section, Gannett Westchester Newspapers, Wed, Sept 11, 1985 : « Two to six months are required for most patients, more time for people with what he calls ‘challenging’ serious problems. »
  57. Samuels, R. Ph.D., « LifeTrack, » Computer Software Review, Psychotherapy in Private Practice, Spring 1986 : « LIFETRACK is by far the most patient-interactive computerized patient data system that I have evaluated thus far. It permits both the patient and therapist the opportunity to see the actual subjective changes day by day, week by week, or month by month. The implications for insurance purposes are apparent and the need for accountability in psychotherapy can be well met by this program. »
  58. Ishizuka, Y., (1981). Self Actualization, Kodansha, Tokyo. ISBN:978-4-06-145662-4 C0211 P600E(4)
  59. Woller, B., « When Work is Your World, » Gannet Westchester Newspaper, February 2, 1988, C section : ‘The fear of closeness is the core of the problem,’ he (Ishizuka) says, ‘Workaholics are really looking for closeness indirectly, through achievement,’ Through their work, he says, they hope to be ‘indispensable, wanted, admired and deep down – loved.’… ‘(People) figure in work if they are prepared and make no mistakes, they have to be a success and people will admire success,’ says Ishizuka, ‘That appears to be much more controllable than the amorphous emotions of another human being. Having been hurt, most people opt for something more concrete.’
  60. Ishizuka, Y., « Conjoint Therapy for Marital Problems, » Psychiatric Ann, 9 :6, June 1979 : « I (Ishizuka) attempt to concentrate on intrapsychic experiences of the individuals, intimate relationships, and real-world adjustment as the two spouses dynamically interact and reinforce each other. »
  61. Ishizuka, Y., "Lifetrack Therapy - Treating Personality with Breakthrough Intimacy" Presentation to Private Practice Committee Meeting, American Psychiatric Association, Westchester Division, 2006
  62. Ishizukay, Y., "Breakthrough Intimacy - Transforming Borderline Personality" Xth ISSPD (International Society for Study of Personality Disorders) Congress, Hague, September 2007
  63. Ishizuka, Y., five 2-hour workshops presented at IV World Congress for Psychotherapy Buenos Aires, 2005 : (1) Breakthrough Intimacy – Treating Personality, (2) How to Cure Depression without Drugs, (3) Borderline Personality Disorder can be cured in 6 Months, (4) Why Couple therapy is the Gold mine of Therapeutic Productivity, (5) Psychoterapy with Single Diagnosis, Five Symptoms, and the Same Treatment.
  64. Ishizuka, Y., and Ishizuka N. « ‘Fear of Closeness’ Underlies Interpersonal as well as International Conflicts, » Proceedings of World Congress of Psychniatry, Spain, 1996.
  65. Ishizuka, Y., « Couple Therapy as the Standard Mode of Intervention, » Proceedings of the World Congress of Psychiatry, Spain, 1996.
  66. Ishizuka, Y., « Patients’ Self-rating for ‘Incremental Thinking, » Proceedings of the World Congress of Psychiatry, Spain, 1996.
  67. Ishizuka, Y., « Overcoming Defense Against Closeness, » Proceedings of the World Congress of Psychiatry, Greece, 1989.
  68. Ishizuka, Y., « Lifetrack Therapy : A New Approach, » Proceedings of World Congress of Psychiatry, Greece, 1989.
  69. Ishizuka, Y., « Three Dimensions of Intimacy, » Proceedings of the World Congress of Psychiatry, Vienna, 1984.
  70. Ishizuka, Y., « Daily Subjective Rating of Adjustment by Patients, » Proceedings of the 10th World Congress (1983) of Social Psychiatry, Intergroup, 1984.
  71. Ishizuka, Y., « Psycho-Physiology and Positive Mental Health, » Proceedings of the 10th World Congress (1983) of Social Psychiatry, Intergroup, 1984.
  72. Ishizuka, Y., « Reinventing the Wheel of Therapeutic Process, » Proceedings of the 8th World Congress of Social Psychiatry (1981), Plenum, 1984.
  73. Ishizuka, Y., « Towards Integrative Concept of Therapeutic Objectives, » Proceedings of the 8th World Congress (1981) of Social Psychiatry, Plenum, 1984.
  74. Ishizuka, Y., « Lifetrack Therapy, » Psychiatric J Univ. Ottawa, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1988.
  75. Ishizuka, Nathalie, “Lifetrack Assumptions about Conflict Resolution and Third Party Intervention: A Case Study of Kissinger in the Middle East,” Published as Working Paper, Harvard Law Program on Negotiation, July 1995.
  76. Ishizuka, Nathalie, “The Psychological Make or Buy Decision: Psychology and Transaction Cost Economics,” paper presented at the Academy of Management, Boston, August 1997.
  77. Ishizuka, N.,“The Psychological Make or Buy Decision: Psychology and Transaction Cost Economics,” paper presented at the Academy of Management, Boston, August 1997.
  78. Ishizuka, Nathalie, “Is GATT a ‘Good’ Psychiatrist?: Building a Multilateral Framework,” Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Masters Thesis, December 1995. Comments by Arthur Dunkel, former Head of GATT (now WTO).
  79. “The Japanese Mind: Its Implications for the U.S.-Japan Relationship” AT&T Global Business Symposium, with Mr. Clyde Prestowitz and others, Bedminster, NJ, December 12, 1991 (1.5 hours)
  80. Donna Greene, « U.S. and Japan : A Marriage Born of Need » Q&A : Dr. Yukio Ishizuka, The New York Times, Sunday March 29, 1992
  81. Ishizuka, Y., and Ishizuka N. ‘Fear of Closeness’ Underlies Interpersonal as well as International Conflicts,’ Proceedings of World Congress of Psychiatry, Spain, 1996
  82. Ishizuka, Yukio, “Facing Structural Challenges: The U.S. and Japan.” AT&T Global Business Symposium, Phoenix, Arizona, March 26, 1992 (2.5 hours)
  83. Ishizuka, Nathalie. “A Trinitarian Model of War and Peace,” Working Paper submitted to Herbert Kelman for his class, Social-Psychological Approaches to International Conflict, Harvard University.
  84. Ishizuka, Yukio, “Japan’s Place in the World,” Zaikai-Koron, a Japanese business monthly, 1976. Among those interviewed by Dr. Ishizuka were Mr. David Rockefeller, Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, Mr. George Ball, former Secretary of State, Mr. Joseph Fravin, CEO of Singer & C., Professor Henry de Bettignies, Director of the Asian Center of INSEAD, and Professor Hugh T. Patrick of Yale University.
  85. “The U.S.-Japan Relationship from a Psychological Perspective” A panel on the U.S. – Japan Relationship, with Prof. Paul R. Krugman and others, Tufts University, Medford, MA (45 minutes)
  86. "Japan: The Price of Success," Reader's Digest, December 1986, quotes Ishizuka.
  87. Ishizuka, Yukio. Lecture: “In Search of Excellence and Well-Being” Presentation of Life-Track to Mr. Ralph Pheifer, Chairman of IBM Asia and Americas and staff to help enhance executive performance. 1985 (2 hours)
  88. Ishizuka, Yukio. “Individual and Organizational Excellence and Well-Being” Lecture for Keizai Doyu-kai Nagoya Chapter meeting of 200 CEOs and senior executives, 1987 (1.5 hours)
  89. Ishizuka, Nathalie, “The United Nations as a Crisis Manager: Lessons from Preventive Mental Health to Preventive Diplomacy,” U.N. University, Eisaku Sato Memorial Foundation Award for Essay, 1996. Longer Report Submitted to Kofi Annan and Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

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