JP

Organization

Research Division

Disaster Medical Science Division
Disaster Psychiatry Lab
Associate Professor
Ph.D.(Medicine)
Research Subject(s)
I am engaged in the following research subjects.
1) Mental health and psychosocial support for evacuees after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident
2) Return support project of psychiatric inpatients mandatorily evacuated after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident
3) Mental health and psychosocial support under the emergencies by CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, high-yield explosives)
4) Research on the establishment and management of brain bank for basic research on stress vulnerability during CBRNE disaster including COVID-19
Key Words
disaster psychiatry / general psychiatry / mental health / biological psychiatry
Website
Research Activities

Taking advantage of my experience in conducting epidemiological surveys and support for the mental health of evacuees after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, I will continue health surveys and support activities for victims of GEJE in Miyagi Prefecture. Furthermore, I will conduct a higher quality analysis by comparing it with the same survey in Fukushima Prefecture, including the effects of the nuclear accident. In collaboration with Fukushima Medical University, we are also conducting a return support project of psychiatric inpatients mandatorily evacuated after the nuclear accident.

Japan is currently facing an urgent and serious health crisis due to the worldwide spread of COVID19. Such an emergency situation is similar to the unstable situation after the nuclear accident in the sense that it cannot be detected by all five senses and cannot forecast be terminated. We are also considering mental health and psychosocial support, which are crucial under these situations.　Additionally, in collaboration with the department of psychiatry, I am also working on the basic biological research to elucidate the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, mood disorder, and schizophrenia using postmortem brain.

Selected Works

Takebayashi, Y., Kunii, Y.et al.(2020).Characteristics of Disaster-Related Suicide in Fukushima Prefecture After the Nuclear Accident.Crisis, doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000679. 

kunii, Y.et al.(2019).Differential protein expression of DARPP-32 versus Calcineurin in the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Sci Rep,9(1),14877,doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-51456-7.

kunii, Y.et al.(2016).Severe Psychological Distress of Evacuees in Evacuation Zone Caused by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident: The Fukushima Health Management Survey. PLoS One,11(7),e0158821,doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158821. 

kunii, Y.et al.(2015).CHRNA7 and CHRFAM7A mRNAs: Co-Localized and Their Expression Levels Altered in the Postmortem Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Major Psychiatric Disorders. Am J Psychiatry,172(11),1122-30, doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.14080978.

Matsumoto, J.,kunii, Y.et al.(2014).Mental disorders that exacerbated due to the Fukushima disaster, a complex radioactive contamination disaster. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci,68(3),182-7.

Selected Memberships
  • The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology
  • Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry
  • Japanese Society of schizophrenia research
  • Japanese Society for social psychiatry
  • Society for Neuroscience
Selected Awards
  • Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry Young Investigator Program Encouragement Awards
  • Academic Award, The Japanese Society of Schizophrenia Research
  • Taiwanese Society of Schizophrenia Research Travel Award