Mental health services and R&D in South Korea

Abstract

World Health Organization has asserted that mental illness is the greatest overriding burden of disease in the majority of developed countries, and that the socioeconomic burden of mental disease will exceed that of cancer and cardiovascular disorders in the future. The life-time prevalence rate for mental disorders in Korea is reported at 27.6 %, which means three out of 10 adults experience mental disorders more than once throughout their lifetime. Korea’s suicide rate has remained the highest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations for 10 consecutive years, with 29.1 people out of every 100,000 having committed suicide. Nevertheless, a comprehensive study on the mental health services and the Research and Development (R&D) status in Korea is hard to find. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the mental health services and the R&D status in Korea, and examines their shortcomings and future direction. The paper discusses the mental health service system, budget and human resources, followed by the mental health R&D system and budget. And, by a comparison with other OECD countries, the areas for improvement are discussed and based on that, a future direction is suggested. This paper proposes three measures to realize mid and long-term mental health promotion services and to realize improvements in mental health R&D at the national level: first, establish a national mental health system; second, forecast demand for mental health; and third, secure and develop mental health professionals.

Overview of Stigma against Psychiatric Illnesses and Advancements of Anti-Stigma Activities in Six Asian Societies

“…Korea is the fifth largest economy in Asia, and its population was estimated to be 50.8 million [108]. The lifetime prevalence rate for psychiatric illnesses in Korea was 27.6%, and the suicide rate has remained high, with 29.1 people out of every 100,000 have committed suicide [109]. In Korea, demographic factors including education, age, gender and marital status play an important role in influencing stigma and mental health service utilization.…”

Mental health nurses: conceptions about professional qualification in a Psychosocial Care Center

“…There, some professionals have little contact with this knowledge during the undergraduate course, but they do not consider it sufficient to work in the mental health units (10) . In South Korea, there are also few nurses with a specialization in mental health, and most of them still work in psychiatric hospitals (13) . In Ghana, the lack of possibility for training in mental health, as well as investments in the area, directly influences the high turnover rate of professionals, which makes the accomplishment of quality therapeutic actions even more difficult, since it does not enable creation of a bond (14) .…”

A Scientometric Study on Depression among University Students in East Asia: Research and System Insufficiencies?

“…The study's result also highlighted the greater contribution of academic institutes (44%) than the central government (37%) in funding provision. Despite the expansion of investment into mental health research and development of central government in Korea, there was a huge disproportion in directing the investment, with only 10% of the budget [63] is spent on studies of mental health policies, services, and humanities and social sciences issues, etc., while another 90% was spent on basic research, therapy, and diagnosis studies. As the depressive level and healthcare usage are significantly affected by multiple social-cultural-economic aspects [25,[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71], such disproportionate distribution of investment might result in insufficient depression prevention and treatment among particular populations, such as university students.…”