Hwabyung (화병,火病), literally "fire illness", is a mental disorder which is said to be peculiar to Koreans. The illness manifests as one or more of a wide range of physical symptoms, in response to an emotional disturbance, perhaps brought about by stress, such as might result from troublesome interpersonal relationships or life crises.

Sufferers might report such symptoms as; a heavy feeling in the chest, perceived abdominal mass (previously thought to define the illness, but now believed to be untypical), sleeplessness, hot flushes, cold flushes and blurred vision.

Sufferers might also demonstrate typical neurotic symptoms such as anxiety states, depression and obsessive-compulsiveness, as well as anorexia, expressions of hatred, shame, demands for apologies and compensation, paranoia or fearfulness, destructive impulsiveness, absent mindedness and irritability.

Western doctors are likely to diagnose it as stress reaction and depression.

It is thought that Hwabyung might serve to provide sufferers with a way to conceptualize and resolve emotional distress through somatization.

It is called Ul-hwa-byeong(鬱火病) in South Korea. It was registered in the psychiatry department society in the United States as one of the Culture-bound syndromes in 1996.

External links

• Examining Anger in 'Culture-Bound' Syndromes (the page in "Psychiatric Times" that explained Hwabyung)
• Health and Health Care Of Korean-American Elders
• Korean Women's Causal Perceptions of Hwabyung
• Hwabyung: the construction of a Korean popular illness among Korean elderly immigrant women in the United States

화병 | Hwa-byung | 火病