{"id":414189,"date":"2026-01-17T00:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/414189\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T00:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:04:10","slug":"japan-trials-anime-therapy-using-animated-characters-for-mental-health-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/414189\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan trials \u2018anime therapy\u2019 using animated characters for mental health support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>YOKOHAMA, Jan 16 \u2014 A Japanese research team has launched a trial of \u201canime therapy,\u201d a method in which animated characters provide counselling to young people facing social challenges, Jiji Press reported.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative marks Japan\u2019s first use of animation in a therapeutic setting, according to the team led by Mio Ishii, associate professor at Yokohama City University.<\/p>\n<p>Anime therapy is a method devised by Panto Francesco, an Italian psychiatrist and licensed Japanese doctor who has a passion for anime.<\/p>\n<p>The approach aims to support individuals in need through fictional works, such as Japanese anime.<\/p>\n<p>Japanese anime characters, often depicted with detailed histories, are considered effective counselling tools due to their high capacity for empathy and emotional relatability, according to the team.<\/p>\n<p>In the trial, lasting from October last year to June this year, \u201ccharacter counselling\u201d is being conducted with some 20 people aged 18 to 29 who claim to have mild psychological disorders. \u2014 Bernama-Jiji Press<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YOKOHAMA, Jan 16 \u2014 A Japanese research team has launched a trial of \u201canime therapy,\u201d a method in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[174156,49,48,174161,84,174160,393,394,174158,174159,174157],"class_list":["post-414189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-anime-therapy-trial","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-character-counselling","tag-health","tag-japanese-anime-characters","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-mio-ishii","tag-panto-francesco","tag-yokohama-city-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}