is a Japanese medical researcher and a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

. He is currently the director of the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, National Institute of Mental Health, Japan. Ito's research interests include

Assertive Community Treatment Assertive community treatment (ACT) is an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery. ACT teams serve individuals that have been diagnosed with serious and persistent forms of mental illness, predominantly ...

and assistance programs for socially withdrawn individuals, called

hikikomori , also known as acute social withdrawal, is total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement. ''Hikikomori'' refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves. ''Hikikomori'' ha ...

Biography

Ito was born in Tokyo in 1954. He graduated from the faculty of Medicine at the

Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in 1949 from exist ...

with the degree of

Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

in 1980. He was, then, appointed to Assistant (equivalent to Assistant Professorship in North America) of the Department of Psychiatry at the Chiba University Hospital in 1984. He further became an Assistant of the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, Chiba University in 1992. In 1994, he left Chiba University for a division chair of a research division in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, National Institute of Mental Health. In 1998, he completed a doctoral dissertation entitled, "Distribution of EE and Its Relationship to Relapse in Japan," and earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in Psychiatry and Neurology from Chiba University. He was promoted to the director of the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation in 2000. Ito is also a founding co-chair of the Board of Directors of Community Mental Health & Welfare Bonding Organization, an authorized NPO entity aiming to improve wellbeing of persons with mental disabilities.

References

"ITO Junichiro." ''Directory Database of Research and Development Activities.'' Tokyo. Retrieved on 1 Mar. 2009. Available at https://web.archive.org/web/20090825175208/http://read.jst.go.jp/index_e.html. 1954 births Living people Chiba University alumni Chiba University faculty {{japan-med-bio-stub