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The psychiatric researchers would take different approach from other researchers in dealing with the invisible matters. Their understanding of the psychodynamics provides new perspective about issues in the world. For example, when they see an iceberg, they understand the importance of 9/10 portion of iceberg under the water which is invisible to most of people. That is why they are able to provide warnings to ships sailing near visible iceberg that they need to pay great attention to the invisible portion of the iceberg under the water. The psychiatric researchers may take the role of watchdogs who can tell the invisible social phenomenon which may be as important and troublesome. When a troublesome social event occurs, they see not only the personal unconsciousness but also the group psychology which may be unconscious to provide the social measures. It is clear that simply treating the patient in the office is no longer enough, but acknowledging the sequela of social event and supplying the prevention and solution are critical.
The research of psychosocial and cultural psychiatry requires significant endeavors of the researchers' own. It requires tremendous economic and human inputs. When the Sewol ferry disaster occurred in 2014, we realized that there was no efficient organized system for psychiatric disaster in Korea. To respond to the disaster, the Ansan Trauma Center was established and they began to build social disaster prevention systems. In addition to the Sewol ferry disaster, there are many things that cannot be solved without governmental support systems such as North Korea refugees, issues with multicultural families, etc. The higher level of mental health control tower is required in the government system.
Let us go back to the Sewol ferry disaster. As we have witnessed and experienced, it was truly a national suffering. Although it was a tragic incident, the disaster led us to an opportunity for a new research. The Korean mental health professionals devoted themselves voluntarily for the recovery of the disaster related victims and to develop effective and sustainable systematic programs. The research paper in this volume shows that “the mental health support significantly reduced the severity of grief only in those participants who had not received any psychotherapy or psychiatric clinic service before the accident” (1). This finding suggests that the systematic psychiatric intervention is essential for such disasters in the future.
The research findings of domestic events in 1 country may contribute to the global psychiatric world. In the past, the Japanese psychiatrists had found that there is the offensive type of social phobia in Japan. They called it “Taijin kyofusho,” and it may be the culture specific phenomenon in Japan. Later, similar phenomena were reported in other countries and now that is accepted as the world-wide phenomenon which had not been noticed by other researchers rather than Japanese researchers.
The similar change occurred at the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) system. The posttraumatic stress disorder was introduced first in DSM-III at 1980. Before then, the victim of inclusion criteria was confined to the person experiencing near death. However, with further investigation the criteria were expanded for the victims who witnessed or learned the traumatic event occurred to a close family member. So far, the victim watching the traumatic events via TV is not included in the posttraumatic stress disorder. In Korea, the author met many patients who complained the symptoms similar to the posttraumatic stress disorder. They complained that they were repeatedly and involuntarily exposed to the TV scene too frequently and too long. Repeated TV scenes of the Sewol ferry disaster may be the rare case in the world. New findings based on this repeated exposure to TV scenes could potentially have an impact on inclusion criteria of DSM.
For Korean psychiatric researchers, there are unrevealed study objects named North Koreans. In the near future, we may start our study the psychosocial and cultural phenomena of North Korea. Such a phenomenon research opportunity should be matched with corresponding level of research power. That is why Korean psychiatric researchers need to be well prepared. A chance will smile only to those who are prepared.
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