I’m looking for advice regarding psychological care in Japan.
My wife has struggled with chronic depression for years – there’s ups and downs, but the downs can be pretty severe. Paralyzing basically. She can barely function for weeks at a time.
While we were living in Europe she got psychological care at a pretty high standard. One to two hours of talk therapy and EMDR per week, and sometimes special sessions with animal-assisted therapy and other approaches. Ever since we moved to Japan she gets basically nothing but her medication, which is not *nothing*, but it’s becoming clear it’s not enough. The meds only go so far. She sees her prescribing therapist for one 10 minute chat a month, when she gets her prescription renewed. It hurts to see her suffering, and backsliding from all the progress she’s made, but there’s no way we can afford to pay out of pocket for the full extent of care she needs. At this point I’m even considering leaving the country and going back to Europe just to get her in proper treatment again.
Does anyone have experience getting comprehensive therapy for a mental health issue in Japan? We’re near Tokyo so I think there are going to be therapists available for pretty much anything, but we would need to find some health insurance plan that covers most of the treatment. Is there some sort of additional coverage you can purchase that works for “elective” psychological care? Is there something we can do to get the regular national health insurance to cover it? Should I be looking at facilities that deal specifically / mainly with foreigners, like St. Luke’s? Any advice is appreciated. I don’t even know where to start looking.
by ksarlathotep