Recovery of Percent Vital Capacity by Breathing Training in Patients With Panic Disorder and Impaired Diaphragmatic Breathing.

Slow diaphragmatic breathing is one of the therapeutic methods used in behavioral therapy for panic disorder. In practice, we have noticed that some of these patients could not perform diaphragmatic breathing and their percent vital capacity was initially reduced but could be recovered through breathing training. We conducted a comparative study with healthy controls to investigate the relationship between diaphragmatic breathing ability and percent vital capacity in patients with panic disorder.

Effects of a mental health training program for manufacturing company managers.

We practiced interventional approaches for the promotion of occupational mental health in a manufacturing company with approximately 2,000 workers, between 2005 and 2007. We investigated the long-term effects of our mental health training program--including Active Listening (AL) training for managers--on perceived job stressors, stress reactions and social supports of workers, and mental sick leave. We conducted the mental health training program with AL training for all managers in order to improve their communication skills and support for workers.

Development of a work improvement checklist for occupational mental health focused on requests from workers.

Objectives: To develop tools offering definite orientation for managers and employees to support their work improvement through occupational mental health. This research was a part of the Mental Health Improvement & Reinforcement Study (MIR study), conducted from October 2004 to March 2006.

Methods: We developed a trial version named the Kaizen Check List (KCL) by referring to problem solving methods for quality management.