[7] The causes may not only be related to cultural differences and language barriers, but also the economic difficulties, since once non-Japanese people become unemployed like the patient in case 3, re-employment can be somewhat difficult because of the Japanese government restricting the hiring of non-Japanese workers to professional or technical fields. Among the 591 total patients who visited our department for the first time in 2010, 55.2% of them were unemployed. Unemployment seems to be a major cause of psychosomatic disorders.

Regarding family life, there are cultural differences in child-rearing practices that might bring conflict between mixed nationality couples.[8] Moreover, lack of PD98059 support from relatives and friends who live outside of Japan or the community is a serious problem, and non-Japanese people tend to feel isolated. If couples maintain a good relationship, OSI-744 solubility dmso this factor has limited influence. However, a lack of support during the break-up of relationships or suffering of conflicts has a serious

effect on a patient’s psychological damage as seen in cases 4 and 5. It is essential to take measures against language barriers. Language barriers, cultural differences, and low health literacy hamper effective communication between patients and health care professionals, and communication errors are related Methane monooxygenase to the safety and quality of health care.[9] For example, adverse events occur when patients with limited English proficiency visit English-speaking doctors in the United States. While the patients in our study were able to consult an English-speaking doctor, Japanese medical

doctors are not generally competent at speaking English. Although medical interpreters in English and other languages have already been introduced to several hospitals in Japan, their number is insufficient. Interpreters in the field of transcultural PSM should particularly be promoted, because explaining psychological symptoms requires details that can be more difficult to explain than physical symptoms. Such detailed information is necessary in order for doctors to make an appropriate diagnosis.[10] In addition, a more comprehensive social support system for non-Japanese people should be introduced by the Japanese government because measures that are being taken to combat the declining birthrate and aging of Japanese society, such as inviting foreign workers to work in Japan, will result in an inevitable increase in expatriates. There were 1,354 PSM doctors in Japan as of 2011. A limitation of our study was that these cases were extracted in our hospitals only, therefore further studies are needed to investigate the present activities for non-Japanese patients by PSM doctors all over Japan. The authors state they have no conflicts of interest to declare.