Korean Mental Health -- Hwa-Byung: Angry Korean disorder

朝鮮人の精神衛生 ― Hwa-Byung:ファッピョン　火病
※ 怒りの感情により発する朝鮮民族固有の文化依存症候群

興味深い論文：

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4232959/

「この論文の目的は朝鮮人と朝鮮人移民に特徴的な文化的症候群：火病（Hwa-Byung）についてのレビューを与える事にある。火病は一般にDSM（Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders：アメリカ精神医学会作成の「精神疾患診断統計マニュアル」）で定義される他の精神疾患とは異なる特徴的な症状をもつ。火病は頻繁な怒りや不安障害、大うつ病性障害などの症状を同時に引き起こす。精神的対立や姻戚らとの衝突による精神的および社会的ストレスなども火病のリスクファクターに含まれる。

これまで火病症候群は主に医療モデルを基にして研究されてきた。

我々は以前の研究をベースに火病の新しい生態学上のモデルを提示する。将来の研究の方向性や我々の生態学モデルの限界についても述べる。最後に特に米国における韓国人女性に対する治療法について議論する。」

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4232959/

Korean Mental Health -- Hwa-Byung: Angry Korean disorder 

Interesting:

"The purpose of this paper is to review Hwa-Byung, a cultural syndrome specific to Koreans and Korean immigrants. Hwa-Byung is a unique diagnosis and differs from other DSM disorders. However, Hwa-Byung has frequent comorbidity with other DSM disorders such as anger disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder. There are several risk factors for Hwa-Byung including psychosocial stress caused by marital conflicts and conflicts with their in-laws. Previous interventions of the Hwa-Byung syndrome were based primarily on the medical model. Therefore, based on previous research, we present a new ecological model of Hwa-Byung. We also recommend some areas of future research as well as present some limitations of our ecological model. Finally, we discuss some treatment issues, particularly for Korean women in the United States."

Importance of Studying Hwa-Byung

"Korean immigration to the United States has sharply increased over time. The national figure is approximately 1.7 million people, making Koreans one of the largest Asian groups in the US (Census Bureau, 2010). The rapid growth of the Korean population in the United States underscores the need to consider their mental health needs and the sociocultural factors that engender them. In spite of the growing mental health needs among this community, Koreans in America (both American-born and immigrants), tend to underutilize mental health services, and particularly those individuals with Hwa-Byung (Kim, Lee, Chu., & Cho, 1989). There are several reasons why Koreans in America who suffer from Hwa-Byung may not utilize mental health services for their benefit. Although Hwa-Byung patients are aware that their illness has psychogenic origins, these patients are unlikely to seek treatment by a psychiatrist or psychologist (Park, Kim, Kang, & Kim, 2001). Hwa-Byung patients are more attuned to their physical symptoms (which are socially acceptable), rather than their psychological symptoms (which are not). Thus, when they suffer from psychological distress, they are more likely to seek help from traditional medicine (herbal medicine) doctors, Chinese medicine doctors (e.g., acupuncturist), and shamans (Park et al, 2001) or rely on various drugs that manage their physical symptoms (Rhi, 2004). Koreans and Korean Americans also attempt to deal with their problems by relying on informal support from their family or close friends rather than seeking professional help from mental health services. Talking to mental health professionals about psychological problems may be viewed by Korean or Korean Americans as bringing disgrace to the family (Park et al., 2001). This cultural belief may lead Koreans or Korean Americans to seek mental health services as their last resort. Lastly, Koreans or Korean Americans underutilize mental health services because they are socialized to internalize stress and repress feelings. In addition, they may be socialized to believe that psychological problems are the result of a character flaw with negative mental associations and a lack of willpower which are shameful; therefore they must resolve the problems on their own (Lee, 1997)."

Keywords: Hwa-Byung, Korean women, ecological model of Hwa-Byung, treatment issues