What is "hwabyeong"

Hwabyeong or Hwabyung is a Korean somatization disorder, a mental illness which arises when people are unable to confront their anger as a result of conditions, which they perceive to be unfair. Hwabyung is loosely used as the name of the disease, as it is actually more of a name regarding the cause. Hwabyung is known as a culture-bound syndrome. The word hwabyung is composed of "hwa" meaning "fire", "angry", and "byung" meaning "syndrome" or "illness". In South Korea, it is also called ulhwabyeong , "depression anger illness". In a survey, 4.1% of the general population in a rural area in Korea were reported as having hwabyung. Another survey shows that about 35% of Korean employees begin to suffer from this disease at some point.