Effectiveness of mind-body medicine for Hwa-Byung (a Korean cultural diagnosis of suppressed anger): A systematic review of interventional studies
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OBJECTIVE: This systematic review analysed the effectiveness of mind-body modalities (MBMs) in Hwa-byung (HB). METHODS: Ten electronic databases were searched. Intervention studies using MBMs for individuals with HB, published up to July 2023, were included. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane RoB and ROBINS-I tools. Meta-analysis of continuous variables was presented as mean differences (MDs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Nine studies including five randomized controlled clinical trials, were included. The MBM types were meditation, relaxation, biofield therapy, art therapy, and forest-based MBM, and comprehensive HB programs. Most studies used an MBM group, with 5-6 sessions delivered during an average of 4-5 weeks. As a result of the meta-analysis, art therapy showed a statistically significantly better effect on improving the Hwa-Byung Scale (HB-S) score compared to the waitlist control (MD = -7.74; 95% CI = -9.81 to -5.66). In the before-and-after comparison, MBMs were frequently reported to have significant benefits for improving the HB-S total score (7/7, 100%), depressive mood (4/5, 80%), and state anxiety (6/8, 75%). Some methodological flaws were identified in the included studies, including the reliability of diagnosis, non-implementation of assessor blinding, and inappropriate control groups. CONCLUSIONS: This review identified potentially promising MBMs that were not previously recommended in the current HB clinical practice guidelines. In the future, high-quality clinical studies that include the use of standardized HB diagnostic criteria, homogeneous interventions, appropriate control groups, standard assessment tools such as the HB-S, and assessor blinding are needed.
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Mind-body interventions support emotional regulation and overall mental and physical well-being.
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From User Experience and Clinical Utility of a Smartphone-Based Application for Hwa-Byung Treatment: a protocol for a single-arm prospective pilot study. (2026) · cites this paper as [5]
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- Authors
- Kwon, C.-Y., & Lee, B.
- Affiliations
- Dong-Eui University (KR)
- Kyung Hee University (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Kwon, Chan-Young
- Venue
- Complementary Therapies in Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-03
- Volume
- 80
- Pages
- 103016
- ISSN
- 0965-2299 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4390629491
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 0.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Complementary Therapies in Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Health and Welfare (HI23C1403)
- Korea Health Industry Development Institute
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies
- Keywords
- Hwa-byung, anger suppression, mind-body medicine, art therapy, meditation, relaxation training, biofield energy healing, depressive mood, state anxiety, complementary interventions
- MeSH terms
- Anger, Anxiety, Humans, Reproducibility of Results, Mind-Body Therapies, Republic of Korea
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