ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES : The aim of this study was to identify the characteristic symptoms for diagnosis of Hwabyung (HB), a culture-related anger syndrome in Korea; to construct a rating scale for HB and test its validity and reliability; and propose diagnostic criteria for HB. METHODS : Subjects were male and female Korean patients, who were diagnosed following Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) as having depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders and who reported as having self-labeled HB. A HB Scale was constructed with 22 of the most common symptoms of HB as identified by previous studies. The HB scale's inter-rated reliability was tested with 60 subjects. Its validity was tested by comparison between a HB only group(n=47) and depressive disorder only group (n=44). Logistic regression analysis was conducted to make a predictive model of HB. Based on these results diagnostic criteria for HB was proposed. RESULTS : Inter-rated reliability in each of all the items and the total score of the HB Scale were statistically significant. The HB scale differentiated HB from depressive disorder with statistical significance. In logistic regression analysis, the ability of the HB model to predict symptoms of heat sensation, ukwool/boon (feeling of unfairness), and subjective anger was high with sensitivity of 80.0%, specificity of 88.4%, accuracy of 84.1% and area under ROC of 0.92. Based on these results and information from previous research, diagnostic criteria of HB were formulated. CONCLUSION : The HB Scale was found to be reliable and valid. Consequently, diagnostic criteria of HB were proposed, to include subject anger, "kwool/boon" (Feeling of unfairness), expressed anger, heat sensation, hostility, "haan", pushing-up in the chest, epigastric mass, respiratory stuffiness, palpitation, dry mouth, sighing, racing thoughts, and lamentation.