• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.124-131
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• 2013

South Korea is changing into a multi-cultural society, due to an increase in international marriage, foreign workers and transcultural immigration. In addition, the number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea has increased and now, there are approximately 25000. Therefore, this review have focused on a research that pertains to adaptation and mental health concerns of their children. Children who have immigrated themselves or whose parents have immigrated, might experience language barriers, difficulties in school adjustment, identity confusion and mental health problems. However, their academic performance and developmental status are known to be variable and be affected by socioeconomic status and their parents' educational level. Studies that evaluated the psychological problems of North Korean adolescent refugees' indicated the need for interests in both emotional and behavioral problems. The risk factors of North Korean adolescent refugees' mental health are suggested to be past traumatic experiences, long duration of defection and short period of adaptation. When mental health professionals provide assessment and treatment, they should consider the pre- and post-migration experiences & cultural background that affect the illness behaviors and attitudes toward mental illnesses. Lastly, the majority of children with multi-cultural background are still under an adolescent period and we should follow up with long-term perspectives.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.203-208
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• 2014

Objectives : Art and culture education might play a good role in children's emotions ; however, few studies to verify this have been conducted. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of an art and culture education program on behavior and social skills in children aged 7-10 years. Methods : Fifteen children (mean age $7.31{\pm}0.95$ years) were recruited from a community center and participated in an art and culture education program. The participants received a once a week program for 17 sessions, and we compared scores on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS) before and after intervention. Results : The participants' subscale scores of CBCL-aggressive behavior, social immaturity, internalizing behavior, externalizing behavior, total behavior problems and social skill scores on the SSIS-RS showed improvement (p<.05) after 15-weeks of the art and culture education program. Conclusion : These results suggest a positive effect of an art and culture education program on the reduction of externalizing and internalizing behaviors and improvement of social skills in children. Further prospective, controlled studies in large samples are needed in order to confirm our findings.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.80-85
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• 2013

Objectives Research suggests that content of delusion and hallucination in schizophrenia is influenced by culture and social environment. However, few studies investigated chronological change of delusions and hallucinations within a society. To investigate changes in delusions and hallucinations of schizophrenia according to time, we compared contents of symptoms between inpatients with schizophrenia at two different time frames. Methods All admissions to a psychiatric unit of Hanyang University Guri Hospital with discharge diagnoses of schizophrenia at two different five-year time frames (1996-2000 and 2006-2010) were reviewed. Using a checklist, adapted from the Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms, we investigated delusions and hallucinations of 247 patients (104 in the 1990s and 143 in the 2000s). Results Delusions and hallucinations of patients did not differ at two time frames. In women, however, auditory and somato-tactile hallucinations were significantly more frequent in the 1990s (p < 0.05). Conclusions Our findings support the literature emphasizing that content and frequency of hallucination may differ according to cultural environment. We speculate that attitude toward sex and defensiveness toward disclosure of symptoms may have contributed to interval difference.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2011

Objective : Social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been characterized by a marked sense of anxiety provoked by exposure to one or more social situations. It has been well-known that the cultural characteristics of a society strongly affect the expression of SAD symptoms. The current study attempted to explore clinical and cultural characteristics of social anxiety symptoms in the Korean nonclinical population. Methods : 801 volunteers who participated in the national social anxiety screening day, which was held by Korean academy of anxiety disorders, were invited to complete the self-report version of Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS-SR). A total of 691 participants completed the LSAS-SR and other information related to this study. Results : Social anxiety symptoms were reported by a great percentage of subjects, as displayed by the relatively high mean LSAS scores (44.58 ; SD=25.60). There were no significant differences in total LSAS score according to sex, education, or marital status. The three most fearful or avoided situations for participants, as measured by the percentage of subjects who had a score of more than 3 on each LSAS item were as follows: item 6 (acting, performing, or giving a talk in front of an audience ; 29.67% for fear and 22.72% for avoidance), item 16 (speaking up in a meeting ; 25.62% for fear and 21.56% for avoidance), and item 15 (being the center of attention; 13.89% for fear and 9.70% for avoidance). Conclusion : The Korean participants in this study demonstrated a high level of SAD symptoms. Our subjects reported that they were more likely to be fearful or avoid passive situations such as being the center of attention as compared with results from a study of western society which indicated that western people were more likely to be fearful or avoid active situations. These findings emphasize the importance of considering a patient's cultural background when evaluating SAD symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.66-73
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• 2013

Sexual behavior is crucial in life, yet comparatively little is known about the mechanisms in the sexual response in humans. A lot of theories and models have been developed to explain about the process of the sexual response in humans. The first model of sexual function was described by Masters and Johnson, defined the four-phase model (phases of excitation, plateau, orgasm and resolution). Helen Kaplan proposed a slightly different model of human sexual response by adding the conception of the desire phase. Some years later, a new model of circular sexual response pattern was described by Whipple and Brash-McGreer, who acknowledged the cyclic nature of women's sexual response. Basson presented an alternative model of women's normative sexual function, which featured a responsive form of desire in women's sexual response. Bancroft developed a new theoretical model, the Dual Control Model, which postulates sexual response and arousal is ultimately determined by the balance between the sexual activation or excitation system and the sexual inhibition system. The Sexual Tipping Point is a model created by Perelman, suggesting that a sexual response is determined by a balance between excitatory or inhibitory factors that may be psychological, organic, psychosocial, or cultural. A comprehensive understanding of sexual response and function is of paramount importance for the psychiatrist to study sex, offer counseling to the patient on sex, and practice sex therapy. In this literature, models of sexual response would be reviewed to understand the knowledge of the sexual functioning in humans.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.88-99
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• 2019

Objectives: With increasing concerns for the rapidly growing minority population in South Korea, this literature review addressed a range of mental health risks among multiethnic youths (MY) in South Korea by 1) comparing mental health outcomes with those of native-born youths and 2) identifying multiple layers of relevant environmental factors, from family and school relationships to culture. Methods: We reviewed 54 studies that fulfilled specific inclusion criteria. Results: Multiple common risk/protective factors, including family separation, family relationship quality, parental socioeconomic and mental health status, social relationships at school, and cultural acceptance, were noted. Conclusion: In general, empirical evidence indicates that minority youths have relatively heightened risks for emotional and behavioral problems. Future studies must elucidate the complex interplay between multiple risk and protective factors and the long-term adaptation and mental health service utilization of MY.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2018

Objectives: Problem behaviors pose a great obstacle to daily functioning in children with neurodevelopmental deficits and are an important target for treatment. In this study, we translated the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI)-01 into Korean language and tested its psychometric properties. Methods: We attained the approval of the BPI author and performed standard translation-back translation. Then, professional caregivers examined appropriateness according to cultural and situational contexts in order to make necessary modifications of the Korean version of the BPI. Results: The BPI-01, Korea-Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised (K-SIB-R), and Child Behavior Checklist were completed for 98 autistic spectrum disorder or intellectual development disorder participants (mean age=28.3, standard deviation=7.3, range=10.1-51.7). The inter-rater reliability of the BPI-01 was found to be high (r=0.992-1.000). As for the results for concurrent validity for subscale items of BPI-01 and scales of SIB, correlations between SIB and BPI-01 subscales were statistically significant (r=0.357-0.672). Discussion: The Korean version of the BPI-01 showed good psychometric properties with high reliability and sufficient convergent validity. Further examination of the validity of BPI-01 should be carried out with inclusion of younger aged children and a closer look at less frequently occurring symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.3-14
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• 2003

In this review article, the meanings of the somatization phenomena were reviewed and discussed in terms of cultural psychiatric view point. The somatization is an universal psychopathology. But frequency, pattern of symptoms and it's cultural factors in the conversion of emotional distress to the somatization are much different from culture to culture. Conventional impression and monotonous interpretation that somatization is prevalent in the non-Western or traditional society and it is due to poor differentiation of the psyche is seriously criticized. Cultural metaphors of expressing emotional pain, traditional disease concepts, conventional way of adopting a given culture and society, and medical delivery system and milieu could be regarded as important cultural factors of the somatization. Cultural meanings of somatization in Korea were summarized and discussed. Finally, clinical guide line for transcultural practice were summarized.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.107-138
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• 2013

The purpose of this article is to awaken our colleagues to the culture and mind issues that have been forgotten or neglected by contemporary psychiatry under the prevalence of materialistic orientation. Cultural psychiatry too, though it has been contributed a great deal to widen the mental vision of psychiatry, has revealed several limitations in its approach. In the course of one sided search for culture specific factors in relation to mental health, conventional cultural psychiatry has neglected an effort to explore the common root underlying the different cultures and the common foundation of human mind. Cross sectional comparisons of the cultures alone have inevitably prevented the global considerations to culutre and mind in historical aspects and the dynamic interactions between mind and culture more in depth. The author suggested that the total view of mind and total approach of analytical psychology of C.G. Jung might be capable to replenish those limitations. Author explained the ways of C.G. Jung's observations and experiences of non-western culture and his concepts of culture and mind. The author demonstrated Jung's view of culture with the example of Filial Piety, Hyo, the Confucian moral norm which can be regarded as components of the collective consciousness though connected with archetypal patterns of behavior of intimacy between parent and child. In regard to the coexistence of multi-religious cultures in Korea the author made a proposal of 'culture spectrum' model for understanding value orientations of person in religious cultures. He identified in case of the Korean 4 types of cultural spectrums: Person with predominantly the Buddhist culture; with the Confucian; with the Shamanist; and with the Christian culture. The author also made an attempt to depict the dynamic interactions of different religious cultures in historical perspectives of Korea. Concepts of mind from the Eastern thoughts were reviewed in comparison with Jung's view of mind. The Dao of Lao Zi, One Mind by Wonhyo, the Korean Zen master from the 7th century, the Diagram of the Heaven's Decree by Toegye, a renowned Neo-Confucianist of Korea from the 16th century and his theory of Li-Ki, were explored and came to conclusion that they represent certainly the symbol of the Self in term of C.G. Jung. The goal of healing is 'the becoming whole person'. Becoming whole person means bringing the person as an individual to live not only within the specific culture but also to live in the world beyond the culture which is deeply rooted in the primordial foundation of human mind.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2015

Objective : The objective of this study was to examine the mental health status and its correlates of the marriage-migrant women in Seoul, Korea. Methods : One hundred and seventy marriage-migrant women and one hundred and sixteen married Korean women were recruited from community to complete Symptom Check List-90-Revision (SCL-90-R). Marriage-migrant women were also asked for their socio-demographic factors, acculturative stress, family-relationship stress, and social support. The scores on the SCL-90-R were compared between marriage-migrant women and married Korean women, and the correlates of marriage-migrant women's mental health were investigated. Results : Compared to married Korean women, marriage-migrant women showed lower levels of mental health problems including somatization, obsession-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. Longer length of residence in Korea, lower family income, social support, higher acculturation stress, and family relationship stress were all associated with mental health problems of marriage-migrant women Results : Our results suggest that mental health of marriage-migrant women is not necessarily bad, and several factors may affect their mental health. However, further studies are required in a larger representative sample to confirm the study findings.