the japanese society of alcohol-related problems

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

© 2004 Society for the Study of Addiction

Addiction,

99

, 419–424

doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2004.00712.x

Blackwell Science, Ltd

Oxford, UK

ADDAddiction

0965-2140© 2004 Society for the Study of Addiction

99Original Article

The Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related ProblemsKatsuya Maruyama & Susumu Higuchi

Correspondence to:

Susumu HiguchiNational Alcoholism Center Kurihama

Hospital5-3-1 NobiYokosukaKanagawa239–0841JapanE-mail: [email protected]: 81 46 848 1550Fax: 81 46 849 7743

Submitted 11 December 2003; initial review completed 15 December 2003;

final version accepted 15 December 2003

NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

The Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems

Katsuya Maruyama & Susumu Higuchi

National Alcoholism Center Kurihama Hospital, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an outline of the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Prob-lems. The precursor of the Society was the Japan Alcoholism TreatmentResearch Group, inaugurated in 1979, by merging two local research groups inthe Tokyo and Osaka areas, both of which were exclusive gatherings of psychi-atrists associated with alcoholism clinics. The Research Group developed intothe Society in 1992, as the number of participants including those from othermedical professions increased yearly, and the subjects of the group widened toinclude all addictive behaviours. In reflecting the process of establishment, it isunique in many aspects as a scientific society. The Society is not a science-orientated body for presentation of new research findings. The main pro-gramme of the annual meeting is therefore a set of symposia in which membersparticipate and discuss clinical and/or social problems arising from dependencyon alcohol or drugs. Perhaps because of its content, the annual meeting isattended each year by the largest number of participants among all the societiesin Japan concerned with alcohol and drugs. For the next several years, the Soci-ety’s activities will be directed at (1) establishment of guidelines for early iden-tification of and intervention in alcohol-related problems; (2) expansion of itsmembership to include those in related fields of medicine and non-medical pro-fessions; (3) improvement of the system of journal publication; and (4) creationof a system for timely adequate response to social problems associated withdrugs and alcohol.

KEYWORDS

Alcohol-related problems, drug abuse, Japan, scientific

society.

FOUNDATION AND AFFILIATION

Apart from the Society, other organizations in Japan asso-ciated with alcohol and drug addiction include the Japa-nese Medical Society of Alcohol and Drug Studies, theJapanese Society of Biomedical Research on Alcohol, theJapanese Society of Psychiatric Research on Alcohol andthe Japanese Society of Addictive Behavior. Althoughthere are exchanges of personnel between the Society andthese other organizations, the Society is unaffiliated withany of them and operates independently.

The precursor of the Society was the Japan Alcohol-ism Treatment Research Group, inaugurated in 1979, bymerging the Kansai Alcoholism Treatment ResearchGroup and the Kanto Alcoholism Treatment Managers

Group, both of which were exclusive gatherings of psychi-atrists associated with alcoholism clinics. The majorobjectives in establishing the Group were as follows: (1) toprovide a forum for exchange of information among spe-cialists involved in clinical treatment of alcohol-relatedproblems; (2) to pursue activities for protecting thehuman rights of patients with alcohol-related problems;(3) to establish a network encompassing the government,medical organizations and self-help organizations, withemphasis on regional activities; and (4) to stress activitiesin each district, based on a division of the entire nationinto seven blocks (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto/Koshin-etsu, Tokai/Hokuriku, Kansai, Chugoku/Shikoku,Kyushu). Thereafter, the Japan Alcoholism TreatmentResearch Group met once a year in one of the seven


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blocks on a rotational basis. At the 13th convention ofthe Japan Alcoholism Treatment Research Group (Kuma-moto Assembly), it was agreed that the name of the orga-nization would be changed from the next fiscal year to theJapanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems. A numberof circumstances account for this change, including thefollowing: (1) the number of participants in the ResearchGroup increased yearly, and as the Group grew into alarge body it became difficult to manage without estab-lishing an organization; (2) the subjects of the Group wid-ened to include all addictive behaviours in general, notjust alcohol-related problems; and (3) organizing theGroup into the Society made it easier for members to par-ticipate. Although the Group was replaced by the Society,its objectives were adopted by the Society without modi-fication. In the following year, 1992, the first scientificmeeting of the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Prob-lems was held in Sapporo (14th meeting). An outline ofthe Society is given in Table 1.

MEMBERSHIP

Criteria for membership

The rules of the Society stipulate that society membersshall have the qualifications and shall be approved by theBoard of Directors (Table 2). Regular members consist of

directors, auditors, trustees and general members. Mem-bers include not only physicians but also nurses, hygien-ists, social workers and psychotherapists. Members canbe of any profession so long as they endorse the objectivesof the Society.

Dues

Members must pay annual dues in the amounts stipu-lated in the provisions of the bylaws. The amounts are¥10,000 for directors and auditors, ¥5000 for trustees,¥2000 for general members and ¥30,000 for supportingmembers. Members who fail to pay dues for 2 years ormore, who impair the honour of the Society, or who com-mit acts in violation of the Society’s objectives will beexpelled from membership. Members who wish to resignmay do so if they notify the Society’s AdministrationOffice and pay their dues for the current fiscal year.

Benefits of membership

Membership benefits are as stipulated below.

1

Members are entitled to receive the Society’s journaland newsletter (described below).

2

Members can take part in general meetings, in scien-tific meetings and in other activities carried out by theSociety.

3

Members can present papers at scientific meetings.

Table 1

Outline of the Society.

Title of Society The Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems

Society’s office Office of the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related ProblemsNational Alcoholism Center Kurihama Hospital5-3-1 Nobi, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 239–0841, JapanTel: 81 46 848 1550, ext. 362Fax: 81 46 849 7743

E-mail [email protected] In preparationList of current officers

President Katsuya Maruyama, Director, National Alcoholism Center Kurihama HospitalVice president Yoshihiro Kosugi, Director, Kosugi ClinicSecretary Susumu Higuchi, Deputy Director, National Alcoholism Center Kurihama Hospital

Table 2

Criteria for membership.

Membership criteria Description

Regular members Persons who are concerned about alcohol-related problems and who endorse the objectives of the SocietySupporting members Individuals or organizations that endorse the objectives of the Society and support its activitiesHonorary members Members who have contributed to development of the Society over a number of years, who have been

recommended by the Board of Directors, and who have been approved by the Board of Trustees and the GeneralMeeting


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SIZE OF MEMBERSHIP AND PUBLICITY OF MEMBERSHIP LIST

Size of current membership

As of 20 August 2003, the number of members totalled543 with 34 directors, two auditors, 110 trustees, 388regular members and nine honorary members. Severaldirectors (mainly physicians) are from each of the sevenblocks. In addition, two members are selected as repre-sentatives of each of the following four professions: nurse,public health nurse, social worker and clinical psycholo-gist. The trustees are essentially the same in makeup asthe directors.

Publicity of membership list

To protect privacy, the membership list is not publicized.

OVERALL AIM OF THE SOCIETY

The overall aim of the Society is to contribute to the res-olution of alcohol-related problems in Japan by promot-ing research and mutual exchanges among physicianswho work to ameliorate alcohol-related problems, amongco-medical staff and among various other professionalsand by strengthening affiliations with other relatedsocieties.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SOCIETY AND ITS WORK SINCE ITS INCEPTION

With the founding of the Society in 1992, the bylawswere formulated and the Administrative Office was estab-lished at the National Alcoholism Center Kurihama Hos-pital. In the days of the Japan Alcoholism TreatmentResearch Group, members were limited to representativesfrom the seven blocks and affiliated physicians. Therewere no regular members and participants at scientificmeetings, held once annually, were treated as membersfor that day only. With the founding of the Society, qual-ifications were established for directors, auditors, trusteesand regular members; dues became collectible annuallyand the Society could be administered on a stable basis.Members are not limited to physicians alone, but includea wider range of professionals, not only those involved inclinical treatment of alcohol and drug dependency butalso government-related personnel, educators, membersof citizen’s groups or self-help groups, alcoholic beveragemakers and others. Initially, there were approximately300 members, but the number has gradually increased

and now exceeds 500. After the Society was founded, the

Journal of the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems

was published together with a Society newsletter, and thefunctions of the Society as such were augmented. TheSociety now also engages in social activities. If a majoralcohol-related problem arises within the country, forinstance, the Society submits petitions to various govern-ment and/or related organizations.

PRESENT AND RECENT ACTIVITIES

Structure and meetings

As mentioned previously, the Society is distinguished forits decentralized organization and administration byregion and by profession. Research groups of eachregional block and professional groups are subordinatefunctions of the Society, as depicted in Fig. 1. In conjunc-tion with the Society, regional block research groupsengage in their own independent activities. Levels of suchactivities are quite diverse, but at least scientific meetingsare held once annually in virtually all the blocks. Profes-sional groups are nation-wide gatherings of people in thesame profession, irrespective of block, at which activitiesspecific to the profession are pursued. Currently, scientificmeetings of nurses and of social workers are being heldonce annually. The majority of members, excluding med-ical doctors, belong to both regional block and profes-sional groups.

Scientific meetings (annual meetings) of the Societyare held once annually in each of the seven blocks byrotation. Immediately after the Society was founded the14th annual meeting was held in Sapporo, supervised bythe Hokkaido District. The 15th and subsequent meet-ings were held by the Hokuriku District (Kanazawa), bythe Chugoku/Shikoku District (Okayama), by the Kanto/Koshin-etsu District (Kofu), the Kansai District (Kyoto),the Kyushu District (Fukuoka), Tohoku District(Yamagata), Kanto/Koshin-etsu District (Yokohama),Chugoku/Shikoku District (Yamaguchi), Hokkaido Dis-trict (Sapporo), Kansai District (Osaka) and Kyushu Dis-trict (Miyazaki). The 26th general meeting will be heldnext year, supervised by the Tokai/Hokuriku District, inNagoya.

Each year, the meeting is held for a 2-day period over aweekend in May or June The Society is not a science-orientated body for presentation of new research find-ings. The main programme of the meeting is therefore aset of symposia in which members participate and discussclinical and/or social problems arising from dependencyon alcohol or drugs. Concurrently, educational coursesfor novices are also provided. On the second day of themeeting, special lectures are given, primarily on clinical


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or social-related subjects. Perhaps because they are clin-ical- and education-orientated in content, the annualmeeting of the Society is attended each year by largenumbers of single-day members, totalling anywhere from800 to 1000 participants, far exceeding the number ofregular members. This is the largest number of partici-pants among all of the societies in Japan concerned withalcohol and drugs.

Journals

Since 1999 a single issue of the Society’s professionaljournal,

The Journal of the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems

, has been published each year. Its con-tent includes symposia, educational lectures and speciallectures given over the previous year at the annual meet-ing. Because approximately 10 symposia and educationallectures are held at the same time at the annual meetingit is not possible to attend all of these programmes, eventhough they take up many interesting topics. The

Journal

is intended to make up for this deficiency by presentingthe contents of all lectures held, including discussions.However, the

Journal

is published only once annually andin order to cover the gap between its publications, theSociety has begun from this year to issue a newslettertwice yearly. Nevertheless, as will be discussed below, theSociety is planning to increase the frequency of

Journal

publications and to publish, based on a peer-review sys-tem, papers submitted to the Society.

Public education

Given the conditions of the Society discussed earlier, i.e.(1) there are no qualifications for becoming a memberand (2) the scientific meetings are not science-orientated

and present educational lectures, the annual meetingserves as a forum for public education. Public lectures arealso provided as a distinct programme or as satellite sym-posia of the annual meeting of the Society and other sci-entific meetings. For example, a public lecture was givenunder the theme, ‘Present-day Alcohol-Related Problemsand Prevention Thereof ’, sponsored by the Society’sAdministrative Office, at the 12th World Congress of Psy-chiatry held in Yokohama in August 2002. During thislecture, a ‘Message of Life’ exhibition was held concur-rently at the exhibition hall. On display were roughly 20panels of life-sized human figures replicating victims ofsudden, large-volume, alcohol consumption, or ofalcohol-related traffic accidents, brutal crimes or bully-ing. Also displayed were photographs, shoes and otherarticles left by the victims.

PUBLIC INFLUENCE

As mentioned previously, whenever a major alcohol-related problem arises in Japan the Society, in cooperationwith other organizations, publishes declarations andsubmits petitions to government and other relatedorganizations.

Consider a recent example. On 26 January 2001, agrave accident occurred at Shinokubo Station on theYamanote-line in Tokyo. After drinking sake on the sta-tion platform, a man became dizzy and fell onto the rail-road tracks. Two other men jumped down onto the tracksto save him from an oncoming train, but all three werekilled. Thereafter the Society, together with the JapanAlcohol Problem Liaison Conference (12 organizations asmembers) and the Japan Housewives’ Association sub-mitted a petition to the government and to the railway

Figure 1

Structure of the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems

Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems

Regionalblockgroups

Hokkaido Tohoku KansaiTokai/Hokuriku

Kanto/Koshin-etsu

Chugoku/Shikoku

Kyushu

Professionalgroups

Nurses

Public health nurses

Social workers

Clinical psychologists


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company (East Japan Railway Company, or JR East) call-ing for a prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages atcommuter line train stations. In response, JR East decidedon 16 February of the same year to voluntarily refrainfrom selling alcoholic beverages on Yamanote-line sta-tion platforms and on the station platforms of two trainlines that run within the Yamanote-line loop. After 2years of self-restraint, however, sale of alcoholic bever-ages reportedly resumed on 15 February 2003. Accord-ingly, the same three organizations submitted a petitionin February 2003, again calling for prohibition of the saleof alcoholic beverages at commuter line train stations.The effect of this petition has not yet appeared, but a cam-paign to gain more signatures from Japanese citizens isunder way, and results are expected to be forthcoming atan early date.

SOURCES OF INCOME

The main income source is dues from members, theamounts of which have already been indicated. In addi-tion, funds are obtained from advertisements placed inthe

Journal

and from sale of the

Journal

to non-members.

SUCCESSFUL POINTS, DIFFICULTIES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Successful points

As mentioned previously, what distinguishes the Societyis the fact that it is unlike a regular science-orientatedacademic body. There are no

de facto

qualificationsrequired of members, and the Society is open to numer-ous professions. For this reason, the Society’s scientificmeetings are readily accessible and attract many partici-pants. In Japan, treatment of alcohol and/or drug depen-dency has customarily come under the province ofpsychiatric therapy. Yet until recently, even many special-ists in psychiatry thought that alcohol dependency couldnot be treated, or that it was a personality problem ratherthan an illness. The Society has been working to spreadproper understanding of alcohol dependency among awide range of people active in psychiatric therapy, and ithas contributed much toward overcoming prejudicesabout the disorder.

Difficulties and future directions

Recently, a committee was established within the Societyto identify problems faced by the Society and to investi-gate the proper orientation of future advancement by theSociety. Two points are being considered: increasing the

number of members and bolstering the Society’s activi-ties. Although the committee has not yet compiled areport, in view of the content of its discussions, the fol-lowing topics are of special importance in relation toproblems and their countermeasures.

Scope of diseases covered by the Society

Aside from alcohol or drug dependency there are numer-ous diseases that can be classified as addictions, includingeating disorders and pathological gambling. For sometime now, it has been argued strongly that the scope ofdiseases covered by the Society should be expanded toinclude all addictions in general, including those justcited. The advantage of such expansion is that it wouldmost probably bring about an increase in members of theSociety. On the other hand, some argue that rather thanexpand its scope of disease, the Society should focus onlyon alcohol and drugs, the major sources of addiction, andexplore them in greater depth. For example, in addition toalcohol dependency, treatment of harmful use of alcohol(ICD-10) and of alcohol abuse (DSM-IV), which have notbeen treated actively in the past, should be considered bythe Society and guidelines or manuals on such treatmentshould also be prepared. The Society is still debatingwhich option to pursue, but opinions predominately sup-port the latter.

Expansion of membership

The majority of the Society’s medical-related membersare active in the field of psychiatric therapy. Nevertheless,as is well known, to ensure that treatment of alcoholismis implemented properly, cooperation with other fields ofmedicine, notably internal medicine, is imperative. Notonly in Japan but elsewhere, alcoholics and harmfulusers usually go first to internal medicine clinics for treat-ment. Thus, in order to make it possible to discover suchpeople early and quickly direct them to proper treatment,there must be cooperation between the fields of internalmedicine and psychiatry. Given this situation, the Societyis striving to expand its members to include those inrelated fields of medicine, including internal medicine.What is more, there are many potential members in non-medical professions involved in the treatment of alcohol-related problems or in preventative education such asthose in occupational therapy, in schools or educationand in the government. Such people are being encour-aged to participate in the Society and become members.

Journal

At present, the

Journal

is published once annually, butthis is clearly a low publication rate. Increasing the


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publication frequency to four or six times per year is beingconsidered, as is the presentation of papers through pub-lic appeals based on a peer-review system.

Society approval system

A proposal for introducing an approval system by theSociety is being studied for the purpose of elevating thelevel of medical treatment for alcohol and drug relatedproblems. The subject of approval currently under con-

sideration is the skills involved in early problem detectionand in introduction of therapy.

Response to social problems associated with drugs and alcohol

Another subject of investigation is establishment of acommittee within the Society and creation of a systemthat will make it possible to quickly release declarationsand petitions in response to the social problems referredto above, and to provide specialized support as necessary.

the japanese society of alcohol-related problems

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