Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cmxc]

So a recent piece in the JoongAng Daily English version tries to explain common mental illnesses categorized within Korean culture.

The two examples given include Hwa-byung (Anger Illness) and postpartum depression. I have heard many Koreans describe these conditions to me.

The article got me thinking. If you look at the DSM V manual of mental disorders, I would say something like close to 100% of Korean females would quality as bipolar. However, for Koreans, they consider such behavior to be just normal.

So bottom line, is what is considered 'normal' for Koreans what would be considered clinical mental illness back in the West? What does that say about Korea? What does that say about the West?

Korea-specific maladies explained
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2988964&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist2

[atwood]

[wanderkind]

[Yaya]

I think the anger disease really isn't a disease but just untreated anger management. Because of Confucianism, you're not supposed to talk back to superiors or elders, and this causes a lot of pent-up resentment and rage. Expats and gyopos are more open about their complaining but well, just because Koreans don't complain about stuff we do doesn't mean they don't suffer.

The Korean sense of machismo is also another factor. Many Korean men who move to the U.S. feel a huge loss of power (yeah, pathetic, isn't it?) compared to Korea, and well, I'm thinking that has something to do with the incidence of urban rage by ethnic Koreans in the U.S. as evidenced by high rates of domestic abuse and such.

As for women, well, they put up with a lot and perhaps they vent through the few channels that they can. The mental health sector in Korea has a lot of potential if Koreans ever decide to take mental illness seriously.

[yodanole]

There is a cultural component in the response to any condition of illness. This is particularly true in mental illness. Mentally ill people in cultures that believe in demons see demons. Mentally ill people in cultures that don't believe in demons don't see demons.

There are also culturally established methods of informing your social group that you're becoming overstressed. Have an overbearing mother-in-law? Ghost possession. Can't scavenge enough goats to pay off the parents of that new bride? The spirit world can be your friend.

[joelove]

Another one is "shin-byung" (divine illness) affecting Korean women. Don't suppose it is common.

Some info here for anyone curious:

http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us12/2012/07/20/shin-byung-korean-women/

[DosEquisXX]

Thought for sure that this thread was going to be about fan death.

[jvalmer]

The 3 week after birth thing confounds me... I wonder what those Korean women who give birth in North America think? Are they shocked?

[Steelrails]

DSM-V. I'm no psychologist, but something tells me that 50 years from now we'll either point at it as the thing that let big brother constantly dope us, or an embarrassing example of psychiatry run amok.

http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/14/dsm-5-could-mean-40-of-college-students-are-alcoholics/

[chrisinkorea2011]

I think by far the worst "mental illnesses" that koreans suffer are 공주병 and 왕자병 (princess disease, prince disease) of which the only cure is a swift dose of reality. Unfortunately most use the anti-cure of "denial" as protection against it.

[Mr. BlackCat]

This is going to get me into a lot of trouble, but I'm going to say it anyway because I think it's relevant.

I have someone in my family who has been diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and in my years here in Korea I see a lot of similarities with the general public here, and the Koreans I've interacted with.

General symptoms:
-Expects to be recognized as superior and special, without superior accomplishments

-Expects constant attention, admiration and positive reinforcement from others

-Envies others and believes others envy him/her

-Is preoccupied with thoughts and fantasies of great success, enormous attractiveness, power, intelligence

-Lacks the ability to empathize with the feelings or desires of others

-Is arrogant in attitudes and behavior

-Has expectations of special treatment that are unrealistic

Other symptoms in addition to the ones defined by DSM-IV-TR include: Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends, has trouble keeping healthy relationships with others, easily hurt or rejected, appears unemotional, and exaggerating special achievements and talents, setting unrealistic goals for himself/herself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder

Now, I'm not saying all Koreans are mentally ill of course. Usually this personality disorder is a result of trauma and is developed over time as a defence mechanism. It is often passed from parent to child not through DNA but through beahvioural learning. As the article states:

"In children, inflated self-views and grandiose feelings, which are characteristics of narcissism, are part of the normal self-development. Children typically cannot understand the difference between their actual and their ideal self, which causes an unrealistic perception of the self. After about age 8, views of the self, both positive and negative, begin to develop based on comparisons of peers, and become more realistic. Two factors that cause self-view to remain unrealistic are dysfunctional interactions with parents that can be either excessive attention or a lack thereof."

(emphasis mine)

I also believe Confucian culture, or at least the Korean variant of it, plays a role as well. It stresses the group, and anyone outside that group is a 'non-person', which has, in my opinion, led to a lessened sense of empathy and regard for others. The 'group' (aka family) has become smaller and smaller as Korea modernized to the point where it has become essentially the individual and almost everyone else is a 'non-person' now. But even if it remained as a group phenomenon, I would still classify it as narcissistic personality disorder.

I want to stress that I'm not calling every Korean a sociopath or mentally ill. I'm not using the term "narcissist" in a colloquial manner to complain about the locals. I'm talking about a real personality disorder that I've had to live with for most of my life and how I notice many of those symptoms on a wide scale here. There may be good reason for it, I'm just talking about my personal experiences. I'm not talking about taking selfies or making these statements willy nilly. At the same time, I'm not a trained professional. I'm just talking about my own experiences and impressions.

Some examples of what I mean:

-You work with someone for years and seem to be friendly. You leave that place of employment but see this person a few months later in a restaurant. They act like they don't even know you.
(I know people are going to just say I'm a loser and those people never liked me, but I'm not even talking about just Koreans and foreigners. I've seen it happen to Koreans, too).

-Making grand claims like they're going to have immigration stop you at the airport, or have you arrested in your home country (thinking they are more powerful than they really are).

-Never accepting any responsibility for mistakes or problems.

-Standing in the way, budding in lines, not looking where they are going. We're all a-holes once in a while or make mistakes, but it is just the rule here.

-Passive aggressive comments meant to remind others of their inferiority and/or the speaker's superiority. ("Can you translate this...oh yes, you don't speak Korean...") Yet overly exaggerated compliments at random times (the speaker is always planning and believes he needs you on his side for something coming up. It also reminds the speaker of how good he is, but the compliment is so unauthentic because the speaker is just throwing out words he thinks will please you. Again, it's a lack of empathy and understanding what the listener actually wants to hear. It's not about you, it's about him, calling you handsome isn't about making you feel better, it's about making him feel better about himself. He's probably also fishing for compliments back, but if they're not satisfactory he will take personal offence).

-Remembering events differently than what actually took place in order to glorify themselves or absolve themselves from any mistakes. Then changing that story without even flinching a few minutes later. People with this disorder actually do create alternative histories in their mind by obsessively re-living it with 'tweaks', or they actually experience the situation differently. They're not liars per se, they really believe what they are saying because they experienced it differently.

-We all think when we break the rules we're justified, but when others it's irresponsible and selfish. But someone with NPD doesn't believe the rules apply to them at all because they are special, but sees every other person breaking a rule as a personal slight because it decreases their specialness.

-The sore loser and bad winner mentality. Yes, there are individuals and groups back home who fall into this category, but I'm talking nation wide. No other nation shuts down FIFA's site or sends thousands of death threats to a 15 year old figure skater. I know someone in particular will try to bring up football hooligans, but again that's a relatively small group. It takes a lot more people to shut down a website than it does to start a brawl. A brawl may be worse, but I'm pointing out to how wide spread this attitude is.

I could go on, but I wanted to give a few examples so people don't think I just say some lady take 100 selfies or an ajoshi bump into me and scream "narcissist!"

And again, I don't think every Korean person is mentally ill. I'm talking about society at large and what this society values. It also doesn't absolve my home society of any ills. I'm just talking about Korea. We also can't say, "well a lady budded in line in Vancouver one time and therefore it's the exact same thing!" There are many problems in all of our home countries, but this is about Korea and what I've perceived here through my experiences here and personally. Take it for what it's worth.

[Who's Your Daddy?]

[nuthatch]

The title of this thread is"Culture-based illness" so I did not think of the question as necessarily mental/psycho illness.

I immediately thought of physical illness, stomach cancer...the fuss and cultural pride around the food, and in particular, red pepper paste and kimchi...and the following scholarly article:

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/11/3175.asp