[What is the Japanese mental health service lacking for drug dependence rehabilitation?].

Methamphetamine (MAP) has been one of the most popular abused drugs in Japan since 1950s. Nevertheless, although some of the psychiatric hospitals in Japan have treated psychosis caused by MAP, few have committed to rehabilitation for MAP dependence, which most of the individuals with MAP psychosis suffer from. This paper described the actual situation around the rehabilitation for MAP dependence in Japan, and proposed the necessity of establishing the new outpatient programs for the individuals with MAP dependence in Japan, introducing the Matrix Model, the outpatient program which has been served for individuals with MAP dependence since the middle of 1980s in the West Coast area in U.S.A. Additionally, we also introduced the principle and contents of our new outpatient program, the Serigaya Methamphetamine Relapse Prevention Program (SMARPP), which we have tried to conduct in Kanagawa Psychiatric Center Serigaya Hospital, consisting of the three a week groups sessions including relapse prevention program, motivational interviewing attitudes, and urine-monitoring following the Matrix Model. We discussed the future model of rehabilitation systems for drug dependence in Japan, and insisted that the current practices of the modified SMARPP starting in four psychiatric hospitals and one mental health and welfare center will be expected to establish the future outpatient program for MAP dependence in Japan.