“Comfort women” are survivors of sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, who endured extensive trauma including massive rape and physical torture. While previous studies have been focused on the trauma of the survivors themselves, the effects of the trauma on the offspring has never been evaluated before. In this article, we reviewed the first study on the offspring of former “comfort women” and aimed to detect the evidence of transgenerational transmission of trauma. In-depth psychiatric interviews and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Axis I Disorders were conducted with six offspring of former “comfort women.” Among the six participants, five suffered from at least one psychiatric disorder including major depressive disorder, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder, insomnia disorder, somatic symptom disorder, and alcohol use disorder. Participants showed similar shame and hyperarousal symptoms as their mothers regarding stimuli related to the “comfort woman” issue. Increased irritability, problems with aggression control, negative worldview, and low self-esteem were evident in the children of mothers with posttraumatic stress disorder. Finding evidence of transgenerational transmission of trauma in offspring of “comfort women” is important. Future studies should include more samples and adopt a more objective method.
Adjustment Disorders ; Aggression ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Humans ; Methods ; Military Personnel ; Mothers ; Panic Disorder ; Rape ; Shame ; Slavery ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Survivors ; Torture ; World War II

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to determine the barriers influencing the sexual conversation. METHODS: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 200 midwives were selected through convenience sampling method from private and public clinics in Mashhad, North East of Iran. A self-structured questionnaire was used to collect the study data. RESULTS: The mean age of subjects was 39.58 ± 8.12 years with 13.49 ± 7.59 years of work experience. A number of cultural conditions act as an inhibitory force for the midwives to address sexual issues with menopausal women. Menopausal women visit a doctor at the acute stage when emotional and physical problems make sexual discussion difficult for the midwives (86.5%). Other related causes for not having proper sexual conversation were insufficient knowledge (51.4%), inadequate education provided via public media through health providers (83.5%), midwives or their patient's shame (51.5%), and attempt to get help from traditional healers, friends, relatives and supplicants instead of midwifery staff (78.5%). Also, we found that sexual workshops, communication workshops, and work experiences had a significant influence in changing the views of midwives. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural barriers prevent the patients and providers from communicating effectively with each other, thus highlighting the need for sexual and communication workshops for the health care providers.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Education ; Female ; Friends ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Iran ; Menopause ; Methods ; Midwifery ; Sexual Behavior ; Sexuality ; Shame

OBJECTIVES: Current study was conducted between September 2014 and January 2015 in Gaziantep proviency Şehitkamil town Şirinevler district. Purpose of the study is to measure changes experienced, point of view on menopause, and life style of women who are older than 40, living in said district, and within post-menopause and how these factors effected their feelings of guilt and shame. METHODS: Out of universe consisting of 800 women, 500 participants have joined the study. Data collected by personal information form, Guilt-Shame scales, and World Health Organization quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) scales. SPSS 18 was used to conduct statistical analysis. RESULTS: Analysis indicated that 78.6% of the participants was not literate, 37.8% of the participants were was subjected to domestic violence. Fifty-five percent of the participants were found to see menopause as a predicament, 45.4% as a disease, and 56% as infertility. Results of scales are as follows; guilt factor 48.95 ± 0.37, shame factor 44.89 ± 0.27, body 10.64 ± 0.42, mental 10.96 ± 0.39, social 11.12 ± 0.49, environment 10.84 ± 0.37. CONCLUSIONS: No significant correlation found between Guilt: body, mental, social, and environmental area (P < 0.05). It was found that there is a significant correlation between the thought that menopause is not a bad thing and the perceived guilt (P < 0.001). Results of analyses indicate that information about menopause significantly correlates between perceived guilt (P < 0.05). Current study found that as perceived shame and guild increases, the life quality of the sample decreases and the average life quality of the sample is below average.
Domestic Violence ; Female ; Guilt* ; Humans ; Infertility ; Life Style ; Menopause* ; Postmenopause ; Quality of Life* ; Shame* ; Weights and Measures ; Women's Health ; World Health Organization

Until the 1950s, Ascaris was regarded as an essential part of life which controls every aspect of human physiology among Koreans. Therefore, Ascaris should not be removed from human body. Efforts from medical professionals and the Korean government officials who wished to push forward the parasite control program, had to constantly contest with this perception of Ascaris among ordinary Koreans. In 1966, the 'Parasitic Disease Prevention Act' was promulgated and 'the Korean Association for Parasite Eradication (KAPE)' established in Korea. From the 1970s, Korea mobilized 15 million people each year to achieve the eradication goal. Such mass mobilization could not be possible without public awareness on necessity of parasite eradication. Until the early 1960s, however, Korean people were not sympathetic to the needs of eradication of parasites, especially that of Ascaris. Then, what changed the social perception towards Ascaris during the 1960s? What contributing factors allowed the mass mobilization and public involvement for that campaign? Employing newspaper articles and periodicals, this paper analyzes how social perception on Ascariasis changed during the 1960s, when the 'Parasitic Disease Prevention Act' was established. During the 1960s, Ascariasis became a shameful disease for Koreans. A series of events made Ascariasis more visible and shameful to Koreans. First event happened with Korean miners who were dispatched to Germany in 1963. When the miners turned out to have been infected with intestinal parasites, they were prohibited from work at the mines by the authorities in Germany and quarantined for several weeks. This humiliating experience of Korean expatriate people having bodies swarmed with parasites became a national shame to Koreans. The parasite infected bodies of Korean workers were revealed to the World through German newspapers. Second event happened when a child died of intestinal obstruction due to Ascariasis. The doctor retrieved 1,063 Ascaris from the bowel of the 9 year-old girl, and the photo of the 1,063 worms was published in several newspapers. It was a shocking visualization of Ascariasis in Korean society. Through these visualizations of Ascariasis, the Korean society began to perceive Ascariasis as a shame of the nation as well as that of an individual.
Ascariasis* ; Ascaris ; Child ; Communicable Disease Control ; Female ; Germany ; Human Body ; Humans ; Intestinal Obstruction ; Korea* ; Miners ; Occupational Groups ; Parasites ; Periodicals ; Physiology ; Shame* ; Shock ; Social Perception

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the factors associated with HPV (Human Papillomavirus) related stigma, shame and intent to have HPV test among adult women. METHODS: Data were collected from December 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010, and participants were 324 women who visited an obstetric gynecologic clinic. They anticipated testing positive for HPV. Then HPV related stigma, shame, intent to have HPV testing and HPV knowledge were measured. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test and multivariate adjusted logistic regression were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The levels of stigma and shame were higher than average. Intent to have HPV test was high and HPV knowledge was low. Women who answered that HPV is not sexually transmitted had lower HPV stigma than did women who answered they didn't know (OR=0.20, 95%CI 0.06-0.68). Women with lower stigma showed lower intent to have HPV test than women with higher stigma (OR=0.46, 95%CI 0.26-0.82). CONCLUSION: Basic HPV information should be fully understood for women especially prior to HPV test. Normalizing HPV stigma is necessary for women who perceive HPV as sexually transmitted and women intending to have HPV test.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Papillomaviridae/*isolation & purification ; Papillomavirus Infections/prevention & control/*psychology/virology ; Questionnaires ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral/prevention & control/psychology ; *Shame ; *Social Stigma ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: Kleptomania is a disabling disorder, which results in intense personal shame, as well as familial, social, and legal problems. Despite its serious results, kleptomania remains poorly understood by the general public, clinicians, and the patients themselves. This study aimed to review the clinical characteristics, comorbidity, neurobiology, and treatment options of patients with kleptomania. METHODS: Domestic and international databases were searched using the keywords of "kleptomania" and "shoplifting". The search included articles published until May, 2010. RESULTS: The searches identified 252 articles. After excluding those which were overlapping in content or outside the scope of this study, a total of 65 articles remained for inclusion in this review. In general, the onset of kleptomania occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood, and the disorder is more common among women. Lifetime psychiatric comorbidity is frequent. Patients with kleptomania experience a significant decline in social and occupational functioning. Evidence suggests that kleptomania responds well to both pharmacological and psychosocial interventions. CONCLUSION: There is a need for mental health professionals to recognize and treat patients with kleptomania. More research into the etiology and treatment of this disorder, including studies involving double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, is required.
Adolescent ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders ; Mental Health ; Neurobiology ; Shame

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate shame-related adjectives in the Korean language and to explore the factor structure of these adjectives. METHODS: Shame-related words were extracted from an adjectives checklist, the Korean Dictionary, the Korean Synonym Dictionary, and various shame scales developed by Western investigators. A questionnaire (the Korean Shame Scale: KSS) was constructed from 62 selected adjectives, and administered to 210 college students and 204 adults. The subjects also completed the Beck Depression Inventory, the Brief-Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, the Revised Cheek & Buss Shyness Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. RESULTS: A principal component analysis of the KSS data revealed a four factor structure: mortification, modesty, shyness, and embarrassment. All except the modesty factor showed significant correlations with depression, fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance and distress, and shyness. The college student group reported experiencing a shame-related distressful emotion more frequently than the adult group. CONCLUSION: Shame was found to be a complex psychological construct composed of quite different emotions. These emotions not only included painful feelings and uncomfortable self-consciousness, but were also related to personality traits and interpersonal attitudes.
Adult ; Checklist ; Cheek ; Depression ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Principal Component Analysis ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Research Personnel ; Shame ; Shyness ; Social Desirability ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate shame-related adjectives in the Korean language and to explore the factor structure of these adjectives. METHODS: Shame-related words were extracted from an adjectives checklist, the Korean Dictionary, the Korean Synonym Dictionary, and various shame scales developed by Western investigators. A questionnaire (the Korean Shame Scale: KSS) was constructed from 62 selected adjectives, and administered to 210 college students and 204 adults. The subjects also completed the Beck Depression Inventory, the Brief-Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, the Revised Cheek & Buss Shyness Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. RESULTS: A principal component analysis of the KSS data revealed a four factor structure: mortification, modesty, shyness, and embarrassment. All except the modesty factor showed significant correlations with depression, fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance and distress, and shyness. The college student group reported experiencing a shame-related distressful emotion more frequently than the adult group. CONCLUSION: Shame was found to be a complex psychological construct composed of quite different emotions. These emotions not only included painful feelings and uncomfortable self-consciousness, but were also related to personality traits and interpersonal attitudes.
Adult ; Checklist ; Cheek ; Depression ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Principal Component Analysis ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Research Personnel ; Shame ; Shyness ; Social Desirability ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting body image among undergraduate students. METHOD: The research design for this study was a descriptive survey design using a convenience sampling. Data collection was done using self-report questionnaires with 319 undergraduate students located in 3 cities, Seoul, Gangneung and Seosan. Pearson correlation coefficients and hierarchical multiple regression with the SPSS Win 12.0 Program were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: In the hierarchical multiple regression analysis, gender, height, weight and college major were controlled. Body surveillance and body shame significantly predicted 72.3% of appearance orientation. Sociocultural attitudes toward appearance and self-esteem significantly predicted 33.5% of appearance evaluation. Self-esteem and body surveillance significantly predicted 15.9% of health orientation. Self-esteem significantly predicted 23.3% of health evaluation. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study provide a comprehensive understanding of body image and related factors in undergraduate students in Korea. However, further study with a larger random sample and more a detailed research design is necessary.
Body Image ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Korea ; Orientation ; Questionnaires ; Research Design ; Shame

Patients with vulval symptoms are met frequently in gynaecological practice. The complaint is often long-standing and distressing and frequently induces a feeling of despair in both patient and doctor. The diagnosis and management of vulval dermatoses require such a multidisciplinary approach and the importance of this has been amply demonstrated by the evolution of combined clinics. Vulval disease in many societies can be the subject of unnecessary and exaggerated shame and embarrassment, hence their frequency and importance have been underestimated.
Female ; Genitalia ; Humans ; Shame ; Skin ; Skin Diseases