The Morita Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: A Feasibility and Pilot Study
IRAS ID
173077
Contact name
Holly V. R. Sugg
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Exeter
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 30 days
Research summary
Depression and anxiety have a significant impact on people, their friends and relatives and on the economy. Current treatments for depression and anxiety such as medication and cognitive behavioural therapy are effective for some people. However, there are difficulties with such approaches which mean that many people do not find them helpful or do not receive the treatment that they need. Therefore, it is important to continue testing promising new treatments so that we may provide people with alternatives.
Morita therapy is a treatment for various mental health difficulties which is widely practiced in Japan but little known in the UK. Morita therapy teaches that symptoms of depression and anxiety are part of the natural human experience. Therefore, unlike many established western approaches, the aim of Morita therapy is not to control or remove symptoms, but to learn how to live constructively in spite of symptoms.
Although we have evidence largely from case studies in Japan to support the possible effectiveness of Morita therapy, we do not know if Morita therapy is effective and appropriate for people in the UK. Before we can run a large clinical trial to test Morita therapy here, we need to develop and test the therapy in a small trial.
We will do this through mixed methods research at the University of Exeter, lasting just over two years. We are currently developing a suitable protocol for Morita therapy before moving onto a pilot randomised controlled trial of Morita therapy versus treatment as usual. Within this trial, we will recruit 60 participants in order to assess recruitment and retention rates and inform future sample size calculations. We will also interview patients and therapists to find out about the acceptability of Morita therapy. If appropriate, we will use our findings to design a large trial of Morita therapy.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0103
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion