Counseling Service for Kansai Japan

Meguro Counsulting Center Japan

Meguro Counseling Center Japan
English Speaking Counseling for Kansai Japan

Tel: 03-3716-6624｜E-mail｜日本語

Native English speaking and fully Japanese bilingual U.S. Licensed American board-certified psychiatrist from New York and Japan-certified psychologist staff provide caring and compassionate psychological counseling, psychotherapy including insight-oriented psychodynamic therapy, CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), supportive psychotherapy, life coaching, marital/divorce, family, child & adolescent counseling, and psychopharmacology-integrated psychotherapy, at this psychology and mental health service. Physically located in Tokyo, we provide effective Skype or phone consultations for persons all over Japan with a focus on the Kansai areas of Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe.
We are open weekdays, Saturdays, and national holidays from 7:30am to 12:00pm, and weeknights from 6:45pm to 11:15pm. Phone or Skype distance counseling is also available, and Japanese medication prescriptions can be conveniently mailed to your home anywhere in Japan through our fully-integrated medical services (the Japanese National Health Insurance can be used for medication prescriptions). We are an LGBTQ+ friendly center.

Center Overview

The Meguro Counseling Center is a counseling and psychology mental health service that provides caring and compassionate professional English speaking psychotherapy and Psychopharmacology-Integrated Psychotherapy by American therapists native to and professionally trained in the United States. The Center provides counselling and psychological care for the international community, as well as counseling in Japanese for the local Japanese community, and in New York City before relocating to Japan. We also have extensive experience helping military and civilian persons who work on U.S. Military bases in Japan.

The therapists at the Meguro Counseling Center are experienced in individual counseling for children, adolescents, and adults, marriage and couples counseling (particularly inter-cultural counseling for Japanese-Western couples), family counseling, divorce counseling, life counseling, career counseling and coaching, and group psychotherapy. Corporate training and conflict resolution is also available, please inquire for details. Phone or Skype distance counseling is often conducted for persons living in Kansai (Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto) and other areas of Japan that are far from our location in Tokyo.

Some of the more common problems that the therapists at the Meguro Counseling Center have experience treating include self-confidence problems, relationship/family problems, depression and manic depression, anxiety (GAD) and panic disorder, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) phobias, social anxiety disorder (SAD), ADD and ADHD, traumatic experiences (PTSD), feelings of unreality, sleep disturbances, psychosomatic (mind/body) disorders, women's issues, gay, lesbian and transgender issues, sex addiction, and child and adolescent disturbances. The Meguro Counseling Center therapists have considerable experience in the anxiety and depression. See an article on Depession in the Tokyo Families Magazine.

Clients who entrust the Meguro Counseling Center with their counseling needs are treated kindly and professionally, and the work at hand in the care of these persons and their issues is taken extremely seriously.

Click here for a QUICK DEPRESSION CHECK.

Approach and Activities

Counseling & Psychotherapy. The first step in determining the appropriate approach is to perform a thorough evaluation. The result of this evaluation and a provisional plan is presented to the client at the end of the first session, although the plan may need to be modified over the first few sessions. The Meguro Counseling Center feels that it is imperative that clients become fully educated about how the therapy will work and are active players in this endeavor. The home page here aims to be part of the educational process. One of our educational videos, Major Problems & Therapy Methods, desribes the therapy approaches most commonly used in counseling, and serves as a primer to understand the way your therapist will think about and approach your issues.

Insight-oriented psychodynamic psychotherapy, CBT (cognitive behavioral psychotherapy), supportive counseling, and other forms of psychotherapy and mental health care are practiced at The Meguro Counseling Center. Each individual's needs are into account in the process of determining the best combination of therapies to undertake. Please see the Counseling Approach page for further details.

Marriage Counseling & Divorce. The Meguro Counseling Center sees many couples in crisis and has considerable experience with marriage and couples counseling. The pattern of trouble between the partners needs to be elicited and presented clearly to the couple so that they can work on resolving what is usually a negative cycle. Marital conflict sometimes leads to the painful conclusion of divorce. The Meguro Counseling Center works closely with a Japan and U.S. barred divorce Lawyer, and can provide advice and counseling on child custody, child abduction, and divorce counseling for international couples. See an article on International Divorce in the Tokyo Families Magazine.

Child and Adolescent Counseling. The Meguro Counseling Center strives to provide the highest level of care to children and adolescents who frequently present with developmental, academic, behavioral, family and/or peer-relationship issues. See our related site the Child and Adolescent Counseling Service. Articles written by the Center on Student's Self Esteem, ADD/ADHD, and Friendships and Parental Resentment, can be see in the Tokyo Families Magazine.

Psychological/Psychiatric Testing. The Meguro Counseling Center can provide psychiatric testing and evaluation of intellectual functioning, ADD/ADHD, learning disabilities, depression, etc. and give an official letter from an American Board-Certified psychiatrist related to the result of this evaluation. These evaluations are based on a medical model and provide diagnostic information similar to visiting a medical doctor. Reports based on testing are usually acceptable to schools, workplaces, insurance companies, legal proceedings, etc., and are done at a small fraction of the cost of psychological testing. See an article on Psychological/Psychiatric testing in the Tokyo Families Magazine.

Charts & Graphs. The Meguro Counseling Center often uses charts and graphs in order to conceptualize psychological issues in visual form. These are some examples of the many files used with clients at the Center (the graphs require individual discussion in order to make sense in context of each unique situation):

Core Issues & Defenses; a flow chart of the core psychological issues people have and the adaptive and maladaptive defenses people use. This chart is used to help people understand the fundamental working of, and the weakness and strengths, in their personality makeup. This is a related paper on how defenses can be used in psychotherapy to help one understand and work-through maladaptive behavioral styles.
Mood Effects on Psychology; a diagram of how abnormal mood can lead to negative self conclusions which then promote 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. This graph is useful to help persons who are suffering a break-up in an important relationship.
Obedience & Defiance Cycle; how a cycle between obedience and defiance can lead to resentment, guilt and fear, secondary depression, anxiety, conflict, and decreased self-assertion. This graph is also used in this case illustration video.

Psychopharmacology-Integrated Psychotherapy. The Meguro Counseling Center usually favors an approach that is integrated with psychotherapy when it is necessary to use medical treatments. The therapists at the Meguro Counseling Center have considerable experience in treating psychiatric conditions with psychotherapy in tandem to medication, and your therapist can provide you with information and make specific recommendations to you for psychiatric medication that can be received through our fully-integrated medical services, either directly or mailed to the convenience of your home. The Japanese National Health Insurance can be used for the medication part of our service. This is an educational video made by the Meguro Counseling Center on Psychopharmacology-Integrated Marriage Counseling for ADHD that shows an example of how this kind of therapy can work.

The Center is intimately familiar with the effects and possible side-effects of these medications and has a strict set of policies and procedures to insure a minimal chance of harm from using psychotropic agents. Please see the psychiatric medication page for more details.

Psychiatric medication may be used in cases of severe depression or other significant psychiatric illness. For mild or moderate depression, psychotherapy and other non-medical interventions may be of benefit. These interventions may include using certain supplements, special exercises, and biorhythm therapies. While the Meguro Counseling Center is a community counseling center and not a medical facility, the Meguro Counseling Center staff are very familiar with pharmacologic interventions and can recommend a regimen of care.

Further information on the indications for psychiatric medication and the integration and interface of using medications along with psychotherapy:

Psychopharmacology-Integrated Psychotherapy. This page describes some of the uses of medication, how the Meguro Counseling Center can arrange prescriptions for you, and details on the cautions one needs to keep in mind when taking psychiatric medications. It is important to read this page thoroughly if you receive psychopharmacology integrated with psychotherapy.
Psychopharmacology-Integrated CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy). This page is an example of integrating a medication-illness paradigm with a psychology-psychotherapy paradigm in order to boost therapy effects from both angles.
Depression & Anxiety Specialists. This page has further information on the types of anxiety and depression seen at the Meguro Counseling Center, the psychological and biological basis of the different types of these conditions, and when psychotherapy and/or medication might be helpful.
Illness vs. Personality Symptoms. This chart illustrates examples of primary and secondary symptoms seen in psychiatric illness vs. those seen in personality problems. It is helpful to see the difference between these two types of symptoms and disorders in order to understand when therapy and/or medication may be used to treat them.

Research Activities. The therapists at the Meguro Counseling Center have published a number of research papers on topics including expatriate adaptation to living in Japan, eating disorders, dissociative disorders, parental bonding, personality disorders, schizophrenia, cross-cultural issues related to Japan, suicide in medical patients, psychiatric medication development in Japan, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), antidepressant trial methodology and development in Japan, and others. They have also given a number of presentations on these and other topics at various international conferences.

This page lists the Center Director Dr. D. Marc Bergé's research activity. Dr. Bergé also sponsors The D. Marc Bergé Psychopharmacology Research Fellowship in Japan, and the Meguro Counseling Center contributes a portion of counseling proceeds to research work at the Rockefeller University Department of Neuroscience.

Community Education. The Meguro Counseling Center has been providing community education on a volunteer basis on a number of psychosocial topics relevant to living in Japan, and children and families in particular, through the Tokyo Families Magazine that can be read on the articles archive page. Community articles in other publications can be read here. Topics published include child and adolescent issues, relationship issues, personality issues, culture & emotional issues, isolation in Japan, depression, efficacy of psychotherapy, ADD/ADHD, etc. Click this link to read these articles. Also see what we write about on Twitter：Dr. Bergé's Twitter Page・Meguro Counseling Center Twitter Page.

Recent popular articles:

Educational Videos. The Meguro Counseling Center has community education videos posted on-line that can be viewed on the left column on this page or through these links (install this High-Definition Add-on if you use a Firefox browser):

Lecture #1: First Visit Evaluation. Dr. Bergé explains how the initial session is used to determine the therapy approach depending on the category of the problem.
Lecture #2: Major Problems & Therapy Methods. Dr. Bergé continues on from the initial lecture describing the therapy approaches most commonly used in counseling.
Lecture #3: Case Illustration; Interview, Evaluation, and Therapy (obedience-defiance cycle). In this mock interview, Dr. Bergé demonstrates how a commonly seen cycle between obedience and defiance can lead to resentment, depression, conflict, and guilt.
Lecture #4: Case Illustration; Psychopharmacology-Integrated Marriage Counseling for ADHD. A mock session about a couple with marital problems related to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a common condition with many misconceptions about the signs and symptoms that effect relationships.

Community Speaking. The Center also conducts educational speaking engagements at various support groups, schools, and community organizations on counseling and psychiatric issues (i.e., how psychotherapy works, post-partum depression, child and adolescent issues, etc.), and addresses a number of mental health topics of relevance to the international community in Japan through the media of the Center's home page and related websites (see the links on the left margin and page bottom). Please contact the Center if you wish to have the Meguro Counseling Center speak at one of your group or organizational functions.

Professional Education. The Center highly values the professional standards set by the American Psychiatric Association and the therapists maintain Continuing Medical Education and other types of ongoing educational and/or mental health research activity in order to provide the highest-quality of care possible. Journal articles are circulated monthly, and the Center conducts in-house educational meetings and seminars for the therapy staff who attend and present research reports at numerous local and international mental-health conferences and symposia. Educational topics focus on the pressing needs of persons seen at the Center (i.e., therapy resistant depression, suicidality, relationship and job crises, etc.). Please see the Meguro Counseling Center Code of Ethics page for further details on our professional standards.

Therapists and Locations

Therapist Staff.

Doug Bergé, M.D., Ph.D, a fully bilingual American Board-Certified Psychiatrist, U.S. licensed medical doctor, and graduate of New York Medical College who also has a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo Department of Psychosomatic Medicine. Dr. Bergé has many years of psychotherapy experience in Japan and has published a number of mental-health research studies in professional journals. Dr. Bergé's Credential Verifications here.
Ms. Meena Sukirti, M.A. in applied psychology, is an Indian psychologist and career counselor. Ms. Sukirti has experience in neurodevelopmental disorders and career counseling.
Ms. Akiko Owada, M.S., a Japan-Certified Psychologist in Tokyo. Ms. Owada has written both undergraduate and graduate dissertations in psychology.
See the Therapist Profiles page for more details.

Location. Sessions are conducted by Skype or phone for persons living at a distance from our offices in Tokyo. Sessions are carried out in English with native English speaking clients, and in Japanese with native Japanese speaking clients.

Costs & Insurance. The Meguro Counseling Center strives to maintain therapy costs as low as possible. Overhead costs are kept to a minimum, and clients are seen as infrequently as optimal care will allow (usually once or twice a month). There is no business office to maintain, and there are no administrative, secretarial, or reception staff that could know that you attended a counseling session.

Although the Japanese National Health Insurance can be used for medication prescriptions, it does not cover our counseling services, which are required to evaluate and follow up with any medication needs. Counseling fees can often be partially or fully reimbursed to you if you have an international insurance plan (such as Cigna International, InterGlobal, ProtExPlan, U.S. military, etc.). Please inquire with us about the current fee structure.

Please see the Practice Details page and the Location and Therapy Hours page for more details.

We would be pleased to lend you a helping hand. Please feel free to contact the Center for further information on how we can help the needs of persons in Kansai (Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe).

｜Home｜Japanese （日本語）｜Emergency Information｜Counseling Approach｜Psychodynamic Psychotherapy｜Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy (CBT)｜Group Psychotherapy｜ Marriage, Family, & Divorce Counseling｜Child & Adolescent Therapy｜ADD/ADHD｜ADHD in Japan｜English Speaking Psychotherapy｜Core Issue-Defense Paradigm｜Depression Symptom Checklist ｜Depression & Anxiety｜Psychiatric Medication｜Case Examples｜Tokyo Families Articles｜Mental Health Search/Links｜Japan Links｜Mental-Health Books｜Skype Therapy｜Corporate Services｜Therapist Profiles｜Psychologist in Tokyo｜Tokyo Counseling｜Native New Yorker Therapist｜YouTube Channel｜Practice Information｜Japan Military & SOFA Counseling｜Practice Information｜Code of Ethics｜Location & Therapy Hours｜Contact｜D. Marc Bergé, M.D., Ph.D. ｜News Articles｜

D. Marc Bergé, M.D., Ph.D.

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The Meguro Counseling Center consists of Western-trained therapists able to provide face-to-face mental-health care for the international community in Japan. With extensive experience in Japan, these therapists have a deep understanding of the stresses of living in Japan.

Meguro Counseling Center Community Education:

The Meguro Counseling Center provides community education on mental health topics through the Tokyo Families Magazine. Click the link or image to see the articles archive.

The Meguro Counseling Center has presented on the topic of post-partum depression to the Tokyo Pregnancy Group. Click the image to see information on Post-Partum Depression.

Community articles in other publications can be read here.

Meguro Counseling Center Educational Videos: