Pay Attention, Accept Feelings

Morita therapy, patients are asked to pay attention to and accept their feelings, without attempting to change them.

There are four stages of the therapy

Phase 1: - A phase of complete rest; For around a week, the patient lies in bed, free of all distractions. She isn’t allowed to consume media, receive visitors or even speak, and her only human contact is a small amount of supervision by a psychotherapist. During this stage, the patient simply observes her emotions as they come and go.

Phase 2: - The patient begins to integrate repetitive activities into her daily routine. These include writing in a diary, taking walks and doing a number of breathing exercises.

Phase 3: - These activities become more physical and creative, incorporating tasks like wood cutting and painting. This series of activities produces a new set of emotions in the patient; she begins to feel joy, equanimity and engagement.

Phase 4: - After completing these three stages, the patient is ready for stage four: reentering the world with a newfound sense of calm and purpose.