J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2015 Nov;54(4):360-364. 10.4306/jknpa.2015.54.4.360.

Task and Preparation of Psychiatric Field for Korean Reunification

• Kim SJ

• KMID: 2149319
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4306/jknpa.2015.54.4.360

Abstract

For improving mental health of the future unified Korea, proper preparation would be necessary in the fields of clinical, social, and cultural psychiatry. Clinically, a diagnostic and treatment system for mental illness should be re-established after Korean unification. There should also be specific preparation for suicides, trauma- or stress-related disorders, somatizations, substance abuse, and childhood psychiatric problems which are expected to rapidly increase in North Korean areas after the unification. In the field of social psychiatry, de-stigmatization and de-institutionalization of those with mental illness would be important after the unification. Education of mental health professionals in North Korean areas would also be crucial. Culturally, it would be necessary to expect the psychological change of both South and North Koreans.

Keyword

North Korea; Psychiatry; Unification

MeSH Terms

Community Psychiatry
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Education
Ethnopsychology
Korea
Mental Health
Substance-Related Disorders
Suicide

Reference

1. Kim SJ, Park YS, Lee H, Park SM. Current situation of psychiatry in North Korean : from the viewpoint of North Korean medical doctors. Korean J Psychosom Med. 2012; 20:32–39.

2. Choi TS. Manual for family medicine. Pyeongyang: Gwahakbekgwasajoen Publisher;2004.

3. Kim BC, Yoo SE. A Panel study for North Korean defectors. Seoul: Korea Hana Foundation;2010.

4. Bauer M, Priebe S, Häring B, Adamczak K. Long-term mental sequelae of political imprisonment in East Germany. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1993; 181:257–262.

5. OECD. OECD health data 2011: statistics and indicators for 34 countries. Paris: OECD Publishing;2011.

6. World Health Organization. Preventing suicide: a global imperative. Geneva: World Health Organization;2014.

7. Park YS, Park SM, Jun JY, Kim SJ. Psychiatry in former socialist countries: implications for North Korean psychiatry. Psychiatry Investig. 2014; 11:363–370.

8. Kim HH, Lee YJ, Kim HK, Kim JE, Kim SJ, Bae SM, et al. Prevalence and correlates of psychiatric symptoms in North Korean defectors. Psychiatry Investig. 2011; 8:179–185.

9. Kim SJ, Kim HH, Kim JE, Cho SJ, Lee YJ. Relationship between physical illness and depression in North Korean defectors. Korean J Psychosom Med. 2011; 19:20–27.

10. Kohrt BA, Hruschka DJ, Kohrt HE, Panebianco NL, Tsagaankhuu G. Distribution of distress in post-socialist Mongolia: a cultural epidemiology of yadargaa. Soc Sci Med. 2004; 58:471–485.

11. Fry J. Medicine in three societies: a comparison of medical care in the USSR, USA and UK. Aylesbury: MTP;1969.

12. Friedman JR. The "social case": illness, psychiatry, and deinstitutionalization in postsocialist Romania. Med Anthropol Q. 2009; 23:375–396.

13. Park MK, Kim BR, Song YH, Jang YS, Jeong EM. 2013 attitude survey for unification. Institute for peace and unification studies. Seoul: Seoul National University;2013.

14. Myers BR. The cleanest race: how North Koreans see themselves and why it matters. Brooklyn: Melville House;2011.