Yasunari Ishihara
Certified Psychotherapist, Japan Psychoanalytic Association (日本精神分析学会認定心理療法士)
Certified Clinical Psychologist (臨床心理士)
Licensed Psychologist (公認心理師, national licence, Japan)
I have worked with people of all ages, from primary-school children through to adults. My training is in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, in the Kleinian and object-relations tradition, and my work is centred on exploring the inner world — not on managing symptoms from the outside.
Alongside this practice, I work as a counsellor at a university student support service and at a counselling centre for children and families, and I teach at a vocational college. I belong to IPPO (the Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Osaka), where I also take part in organising training events.
I see clients in Japanese, English and Chinese. My English is not that of a native speaker, and I will sometimes ask you to say something again, or to explain what you mean. I have come to think of this as part of the work rather than an obstacle to it: it means I cannot assume I already understand you.
For many years I have worked with people living in Japan from elsewhere — with the particular strain of living in a language and a culture not your own, and the kind of loneliness that is difficult to explain to anyone who has not felt it.
If something here speaks to you, you are welcome to get in touch.