Western doctors are more likely to diagnose it as a kind of stress or depression. The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" currently lists "hwabyeong" among its culture-bound illnesses. Outside of Korea, informally "hwabyeong" may be mistaken as a reference to a psychological profile marked by a short temper, or explosive, generally bellicose behavior. To the contrary, "hwabyeong" is a traditional psychological term used to refer to a condition characterized by passive suffering, is roughly comparable to depression, and is typically associated with older women. It is important that when diagnosing Hwabyeong, the culture of the patient is well understood. Since Hwabyeong can often be misdiagnosed as depression, the symptoms and culture need to be clearly and thoroughly looked into. Once Hwabyeong has been diagnosed, past treatments need to be reviewed. The treatments for the patient can then be a combination of pharmacological, and therapy-based interventions.

The treatment methods used to combat hwabyung include psychotherapy, drug treatment, family therapy, and community approaches. To be more successful psychiatrists might need to incorporate the teachings from traditional and religious healing methods or the use of han-puri, which is the sentiment of resolving, loosening, unraveling and appeasing negative emotions with positive ones. One example of hann-puri would be a mother who has suffered from poverty, less education, a violent husband, or a harsh mother-in-law, can be solved many years later by the success of her son for which she had endured hardships and sacrifices.

Hwabyeong or Hwabyung is a Korean somatization disorder, a mental illness which arises when people are unable to confront their anger as a result of conditions which they perceive to be unfair.

Hwabyung is a colloquial and somewhat inaccurate name, as it refers to the etiology of the disorder rather than its symptoms or apparent characteristics. Hwabyung is known as a culture-bound syndrome. The word hwabyung is composed of "hwa" (the Sino-Korean word for "fire" which can also contextually mean "anger") and "byung" (the Sino-Korean word for "syndrome" or "illness"). In South Korea, it may also be called "ulhwabyeong" (), literally "depression anger illness". In one survey, 4.1% of the general population in a rural area in Korea were reported as having hwabyung. Another survey shows that about 35% of Korean workers are affected by this condition at some time.