Shoma Morita (January 18, 1874 – April 12, 1938)
Born in 1874 in what is now Kami City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan, he received a strict education from his father, an elementary school teacher, and grew up with a nervous personality. During his student years, he suffered from palpitations and neurasthenia.
While attending Tokyo Imperial University, he received no financial support from his parents, and studied intensely without taking any medication or rest. Surprisingly, his symptoms disappeared, and he passed his exams with excellent grades. From this experience, he gained the insight that “instead of fighting against the symptoms, one should accept them as they are and do what needs to be done.”
After graduating in 1902, while working as a psychiatrist, he established “Morita Therapy,” based on his own experiences, around 1920.
In 1903, he became a professor at the Tokyo Jikeikai Medical College (now Tokyo Jikei University School of Medicine). He taught at the school for approximately 35 years, until a year before his death.
In 1919 (Taisho 8), he opened his home to treat neurotic patients, and this is where the prototype of Morita Therapy began to take shape.
In the early 1920s, he established “Morita Therapy” as a system for treating neuroses. This was a groundbreaking therapy that emphasized breaking the patient’s fixations and excessive attention to symptoms, and promoting their inherent natural healing power.
In 1924, he published his important work, “The Nature and Therapy of Neurosis,” and obtained a doctorate in medicine. In this work, his neurosis theory and treatment methods were systematically compiled.
The theory of Morita Therapy is explained using unique concepts such as “psychological interaction” and “desire for life,” and it differed from Freud’s psychoanalysis. As a psychotherapy originating in Japan, it later attracted worldwide attention.
He dedicated himself to treating neuroses until his death from pneumonia at the age of 64 in 1938.
How to pronounce Shoma Morita’s name
The name of Dr. Shoma Morita is pronounced both “Masatake” and “Shoma.” “Masatake” seems to be the original pronunciation, but he himself acknowledged using “Shoma,” and it appears that using multiple pronunciations like this was common at the time.
Overseas, “Shoma” (Shoma Morita) seems to be the established pronunciation.