Tamaki Saito

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Tamaki Saito

Tamaki Saito

Tamaki Saito,M.D.,Ph.D.(Japan)
Professor of Mental Health
Professor of Social Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Tsukuba

He is specialist in “Hikikomori (social withdrawal)” and other adolescent psychopathology and pathography as a psychiatrist. He has been one of co-chairman of ODNJP (Open Dialogue Network Japan) since 2015, which is central organization for dissemination
activities of Open Dialogue in Japan. As a psychiatrist, he was one of the first to apply dialogical practice to clinical situations, publishing some books on Open Dialogue and giving lectures for diverse group of professionals. He wrote two introductory books on Open Dialogue and each sold more than 20,000 copies. Recently, he is continuing research on Remote Dialogical Practice (RDP) for hikikomori patients who cannot visit hospital

 

Plenary session:

Remote dialogical practice for Hikikomori patients
Tamaki Saito
Remote dialogical practice for Hikikomori patients

I am deeply honored to be in the company of such distinguished scholars and practitioners at the 6th International Conference on Dialogical Practices. As a psychiatrist with over 30 years of experience in Japan, I have been inspired by the works of Jaakko Seikkula, and Tom Arnkil, and their colleagues.

My team and I have undergone extensive training in Open Dialogue by Mia Krutti and Kari Valtanen, and we have successfully implemented dialogical practices in both my university hospital and clinic. To our surprise, we have observed the remarkable effectiveness of dialogical practice, even among patients with psychotic symptoms. Despite claims from some clinicians that Open Dialogue is only effective for Finnish patients, our experience has shown that this is not true.

As a specialist in the Hikikomori phenomenon, which refers to socially withdrawn individuals, I have introduced OD to this patient group and have witnessed its tremendous potential in helping them. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to explore remote settings for our dialogical practices. Although we initially expected remote dialogue to be less effective than face-to-face settings, we have found unexpected success in what we now call Remote Dialogical Practice (RDP).

While we have observed positive outcomes for Hikikomori patients who are reluctant to come to the hospital, I am concerned that RDP may be lacking some essential elements of OD. I look forward to discussing this further with all of you at the conference.