Tokyo Counseling Douglas Berger Psychiatrist Tokyo

by Douglas Berger Douglas Berger Psychiatrist Tokyo, M.D., Ph.D., is

Dr. Douglas Berger runs a Tokyo counseling & mental health center in Tokyo called the Tokyo Meguro Counseling Center. We conduct individual, couples, family, and child and adolescent counseling and psychotherapy. Our Tokyo counseling services include treating self-confidence problems, family and interpersonal relationship problems, depression and other mood disorders, eating disorders, OCD, alcohol abuse, stressful life experiences, and child and adolescent disturbances. We are pleased to see you direct in our office and can also do effective Phone or Skype counseling if you live far from the Tokyo counseling office.

Charts & Graphs. We frequently look at clinical issues in visual form to help persons in our counseling service in Tokyo receive help.

Core Issues and Defenses; a flow chart of the core psychological issues people have, and the adaptive and maladaptive defenses people use.
Mood Effects on Psychology; a diagram of how abnormal mood can lead to feelings and behaviors that are not optimal.
Self Esteem Needs in Relationships; an illustration of how the mechanics of intimate relationships can lead to crashes in self-esteem.
Obedience and Defiance Cycle; how a cycle between obedience and defiance can lead to resentment, guilt and fear, and secondary depression, anxiety, conflict, and decreased self-assertion.

Types of therapy

Clients receiving help at our Tokyo Counseling service experience a friendly and compassionate atmosphere. We take the work at hand to help these persons seriously and enjoy seeing people grow out of their distress. An eclectic counseling approach using a balance of the different major types of therapy (cognitive/behavioral (CBT), psychodynamic, supportive, group psychotherapy and others) is used to fit with what each individual requires in order to achieve the goals set in the sessions.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Our Tokyo counseling service also provides psychodynamic or insight-oriented psychotherapy. Central driving issues or “core issues” such as feeling inadequate or unloved can engender maladaptive defenses against the issues (i.e. trying too hard to get noticed by others or getting into unhealthy romantic relations) that can be maladaptive for the individual. Realizing that one has these defenses and how they can be maladaptive, as well as minimizing the negative feeling states related to one’s core issues is a very useful tool in therapy. Further description of this approach is here: Core Issue-Defense Paradigm, and here are some clinical case examples. Defenses are a common manifestation of the therapeutic work necessary related to these maladaptive behavioral styles.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is also used: CBT works on negative thinking patterns that often torment and distress people. We use CBT as an add-on treatment for depression and associated symptoms and conditions, or as a stand-alone treatment for situational distress. Analysis of dysfunctional thoughts and rational reappraisals, life planning & strategy for behavioral, social, and mood improvement can be applied in a worksheet and homework fashion to help with self-improvement. This shows how Psychopharmacology-Integrated CBT can be used together as a “medication-illness schema” to integrate with a psychology-psychotherapy scheme in order to become synergistic in effect with counseling and medication interventions.

Depression & Anxiety

Our service also has a keen focus on abnormal mood states, called either “mood disorders” that include depressions and manic spectrum (bipolar) or “anxiety” disorders. Whether depression and anxiety are part of the same underlying mood state or they are separate entities may vary from person to person. Often, psychiatric diagnoses can overlap and be vague and unclear, however, and while a “diagnosis” is used to help the directionality of treatment, there is no real absolute proof of a diagnosis like there is for a medical condition like a tumor, stroke, etc.

This is our Depression & Anxiety specialist page with detailed information. Sometimes an illness like severe depression or anxiety may require medication in order to allow the talk therapy to jump-start. The therapists at our counseling office have considerable experience in using both non-medical as well as psychiatric medications for these problems. We keep up to date with the many medications used in Western countries that are not yet available in Japan. Your therapist can provide you with information and recommendations regarding psychiatric medication, and the Meguro Counseling Center works together with a number of physicians licensed in Japan who can provide a prescription as appropriate.

This link can provide you with a quick way to see if you might suffer depressive symptoms DEPRESSION CHECK-UP.

It is very important for us to factor in substance use and abuse when people have psychiatric symptoms. You can see this page here Alcohol Treatment in Japan. We are happy to help persons with alcohol or substance abuse issues in Tokyo or greater Japan via phone or Skype counseling.

We also see persons with Postpartum Deression (PPD) at our counseling center. The incidence of PPD is 5% to 9% of women in the first few months after childbirth but can also occur after a miscarriage. The presentation is very similar to that of a major depression, and is probably caused by changes in brain chemistry that accompany the hormonal and other physiologic changes of pregnancy. Mothers who have had several children without PPD can still experience PPD at subsequent pregnancies.

A related problem is called the Baby blues or Maternity Blues. This is more commonly seen affecting up to 80% of women, is usually mild and transitory, but can last up to a few days. It usually does not require specific treatment.

ADD & ADHD

Our counseling practice also sees many persons with ADD or ADHD: see our ADD/ADHD article in the Tokyo Families Magazine. ADD stands for attention deficit disorder, and ADHD stands for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

ADD/ADHD is usually first noticed in children and adolescents, but a considerable number of adults with attention deficit continue to experience symptoms such as distraction, clutter, trouble with time-management, hyper focus or “zoning” into certain activities. Hyperactive symptoms such as constantly being on-the-go, over-work, impatience, intolerance (especially of persons who seem to move slowly), and others, may also persist into adulthood. This is commonly called Adult ADHD.

There are two major forms of Attention Deficit Disorder; the Predominantly Inattentive Type (ADD) and the Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive type (ADHD). Some persons may also have a combined type. While ADD/ADHD has become widely known in society in recent years, many persons do not realize they may have this until it is pointed out to them and explained carefully.

Thank you for visiting our Tokyo Counseling Page

This page has given an overview of the problems we see and some of the potential interventions we might employ. We are pleased to offer our services to persons looking for counseling in Tokyo. We are caring and compassionate in our approach and work together with clients in choosing a menu of treatment choices that best fits their needs, budget, and types of modalities that an individual feels right for themselves.

We would be happy to offer you or someone you love a helping hand at our Tokyo counseling service.

Douglas Berger Psychiatrist Tokyo, M.D., Ph.D., is the Director of the Meguro Tokyo Counseling Center. Fully bilingual in English and Japanese, he is a psychiatrist. Douglas Berger is a graduate of New York Medical College where he also completed a 4-year residency program in psychiatry. Dr. Berger’s Japanese qualifications include a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo School of Medicine received for psychiatric research done while at the Tokyo University Department of Psychosomatic Medicine. He also completed a fellowship in Psychosomatic Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Now living in Tokyo, Douglas Berger has served on the Faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry in New York as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and licensed practicing U.S. physician.