I’m living in Japan as a graduate student at Tokyo University. I was thinking of starting therapy with one of the doctors at the uni health center (because it’s free). I wouldn’t hesitate if it weren’t for the fact that my need for therapy is due to severe disillusionment with my research that has started turning into outright revulsion. It’s getting so bad that I get physically nauseous at the thought of having to go into lab. I feel like I need therapy if I am to power through three years of this crap, but I worry about using a university therapist because I don’t want my supervisor or anyone important finding out I hate my research so much it makes my stomach turn, literally. Not good career-wise.
There is a good deal of info on here about confidentiality in case of physical illnesses, but I am not sure how much of it applies to psychotherapy. I read that it’s not covered by health insurance so I worry that the rules might be different for it. If someone has any insight or experience or advice related to this, I would really appreciate it.
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When I was an international student in Hokkaido many, many moons ago, I used my University’s free counseling. I don’t remember there ever being anything discussed or shared with staff or teachers . It would have been obvious if someone shared info because I am a girl and was dating a girl and that would have been juicy gossip.
So to answer your question, ask at the first session about confidentiality. They probably will tell you they will keep it private except in the case of physical harm to yourself or someone else.
FWIW: Psychologists are not trained necessarily the same as in other countries. While my counseling helped me in the sense it was nice to have a private outlet, I never got any tools or anything like that to deal with issues.
Also TELL is a good resource outside of your school. I live in the countryside now so I know it is hard for people to access mental health resources in my particular city. Clinics have a month long waiting list. So totally utilize any resources you can.
I have had a psychiatrist (technically an MD of Psychosomatic Internal Medicine or 心療内科) tell me that that there is basically no recognition of psychotherapy or counseling as a medical discipline and that MDs don’t encourage it unless the patient is in an institution.
That being said, your university turning over records of counseling or consulting an MD would be a fairly clear-cut case of a violation of the Personal Information Privacy Law. The only exception being if you pose a danger to others or yourself. I doubt any real practitioner would voluntarily report you unless there is an immediate danger as it would expose them to a lot of liability, both criminal, criminal and PR wise.
Personally speaking, anti-anxiety treatments go a long way to helping with things. There are a lot of options these days, including non-benzo treatments.
They will share your information. Yeah, it is the violation of confidentiality, but they will share it, you are not in a western country. Ask anyone in your university, and they will tell you the same thing. People in my lab were on anxiety medication btw, except for me. Try the clinic in Mejiro. It is affordable, even for students. They also speak English.
If you are having masters or PhD, you can just quit it. They are not mandatory steps like previous years of education. You can find a different graduate program outside of Japan or work later on. I do not know about masters, but quitting PhD is pretty common.
The only positive thing I see about your situation is that Japanese are surprisingly scared of having someone depressed in their lab and workplace. Your prof might actually back off if he learns that you struggle with mental health.
A good rule of thumb is: whoever is paying, is the client.
If it’s free to you, you’re not the client.