Staff and specialities

Professor:  Yuji OZEKI
General psychiatry, psychopharmacology, schizophrenia
Associate Professor:  Kumiko FUJII
Associate Professor:  Atsushi YOSHIMURA
Assistant Professor:  Riku SANADA
Assistant Professor:  Yukiyoshi SUMI
Assistant Professor:  Akio FUJII
Research Associate:  Yuki KAMINISHI

Outline of the department

The basic idea of psychiatric care at this department is to provide services according to medical models, or those based on scientific data. We make extensive use of new diagnostic skills and tools and therapeutic developments, such as various objective rating scales for evaluation, DSM-IV classification of mental disorders, laboratory findings, brain imaging techniques, therapeutic drug monitoring, analysis of chronobiological evaluations, sleep log analysis, phototherapy, modified electro-convulsive therapy, etc. Our recent project of Sleep Disorder Center has been established as introduced in the following section.

Recently, September 2003, we have established Shiga University Sleep Disorder Center and have served clinical investigations for patients who complain about sleep disorders. International Classifications of Sleep Disorders listed about 80 sleep related disorders. Among them our departments provide excellent treatments for sleep-wake and mood disorders using bright light. The Sleep Disorder Center consists of out-patient units and wards for diagnosis and treatment. The doctors are sleep medicine specialists; psychiatrists, otolarygologists, pulmonary physicians, pediatricians, obstetric and gynecologists. Main sleep disorders are insomnia due to psychological and psychiatric stress, insomnia in elderly, narcolepsy, hypersomnia, periodic limb movement disorders, restless legs syndrome, sleep related breathing disorders (sleep apnea syndrome), sleep disorders in children, sleep disorders associated psychiatric or other medical disorders.
The Sleep Disorder Center provides excellent diagnostic tools including PSG(polysomnography), actiwatches, movile body-temperature monitoring system, apnomonitor recording SaO2, puls, respiration. Besides prescription of hypnotic drugs, advice and education for improving individual sleep and lifestyle are proposed for treatments of sleep-wake disorders. For further extensive treatment, bright light therapy, sleep deprivation therapy, cognitive therapy, C-PAP are provided. Anyone who has sleep problems is welcome.

In addition, in-patient services are provided by the psychiatric department, which has 45 beds and functions as a center for those patients referred from mental hospitals in this area, who have complications due to general medical conditions, such as fractures, malignancies, various neurological conditions, pregnancy and child bearing, etc. Of course, for the purpose of postgraduate education, patients, mainly adults with various mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, dementia, neurotic disorders, and severe personality disorders, psychoactive substance use disorders, eating disorders, sleep disorders, and other rare disorders, are admitted to the ward for evaluation and treatment. Of these disorders, our main focus of research interest is on sleep and mood disorders, and eating disorders, thus the group with these disorders comprises about 50% of in-patients. In order to facilitate our clinical research activities, the 1C Ward is organized to function as a research ward as well.

At the out-patient clinic, there are several activities, including continuity treatment for patients with chronic psychosis, clinics specialized for adolescent patients, for sleep disorders, and public services according to the Mental Health Act.
The major research goal of this department is to increase understanding of mental disorders at basic and clinical levels. For this purpose, there are five major separate, yet interrelated research projects on:
1) The pathogenesis as well as clinical (diagnosis and treatment) aspects of sleep and mood disorders.
2) Clinical studies of the metabolism of antipsychotics and antidepressants, emphasizing its transcultural aspect.
3) Pathophysiological study on the animal model of epilepsy. The physiology and pathophysiological role of neuropeptides in sleep.
4) The pathogenesis of schizophrenia, studied by brain imaging techniques and postmortem histopathology. Neuropsychopharmacology of neuroleptics.
5) Basic and clinical studies on chronobiology.