P139: Psychotherapy for Anxiety and Anxiety related symptoms in Mild Cognitive Impairment - A Case Treated with Morita Therapy-

Abstract

Morita Therapy is a psychotherapy which originated in Japan. Conventionally, it had been applied to ‘neurosis’. The patients who have anxiety symptoms make various efforts in order to be free from the unpleasant emotion. Morita Therapy (1) does not try to eliminate anxiety and its symptoms and builds the patients’ attitude to leave these symptoms as a natural course, and (2) to focus on the feeling that they should aspire to enhancing their life and to encourage them to exert their lust for life. The authors presumed that this concept can be applied to anxiety symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and attempts to intervene. This case is for a male patient aged 74 years old with MCI with the complaint of subjective cognitive impairments. He had severe anxiety for his own cognitive impairment and recognized a severe decrease of Quality of Life (QOL) due to worrying about his own excessive anxiety. The authors implemented the therapeutic approach to address his anxiety and encouraged him to improve his QOL by accepting the anxiety, not excluding it. During the therapeutic process, various problems were evident, such as the caregiver’s excessive fear of dementia, so education about the nature of dementia was provided to dispel the stigma for the family members. As a result, the patient’s anxiety was decreased, and his daily activities were observed in spite of his subjective cognitive decline. This case suggested that Morita therapy was effective for anxiety symptoms in patients with MCI.