Abstract

Hwa-Byung is characterized by feelings of anger about unreasonable social violence. It is known that the prevalence of Hwa-Byung is high in middle-aged people. However, recent evidence has shown that the number of younger patients with Hwa-Byung is increasing, showing different disease courses from middle-aged patients. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively analyze young Hwa-Byung patients’ experiences of symptoms and psychological characteristics related to antecedent events. Eight women in their 20s were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires to perform an in-depth study on their experiences related to Hwa-Byung. Interview data were subjected to content analysis. As a result, 5 main categories(‘antecedent events occur due to other’s mistake’, ‘antecedent events repeated without resolution’, ‘emotional symptom’, ‘physical symptom’, and ‘Hwa-Byung symptom has a lot of influence’), 19 generic categories, and 40 sub-categories were identified. Based on results of this study, discussion and implications of this study were presented.