UNICEF's Change for Good Initiative

Working as a staff psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, Dr. Jasung Kim’s holistic and transpersonal approach to psychiatry includes using bibliotherapy, visualization techniques, and guided meditation. Outside of Dr. Jasung Kim’s professional life, he charitably supports the efforts of UNICEF.

Operating worldwide in 170 countries, UNICEF strives to protect the rights of children on a global scale. As a non-profit organization, much of UNICEF’s hard work depends on donations from the public. One of the organization’s initiatives is the Change for Good initiative, which allows people to donate unused foreign currency after a trip abroad.

Created in 1987, Change for Good is UNICEF’s longest-running partnership. Currently, 12 international airlines partner with UNICEF to make donations easier. In the United States, UNICEF has partnered with American Airlines so passengers on select international flights can easily donate any foreign currency they have left over in-flight. Alternately, you can mail UNICEF your donation directly to UNICEF USA, ATTN: Change for Good Program, 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038.

To learn more about UNICEF’S Change for Good initiative, or to explore other ways to help, visit the organization online at www.unicef.org. For UNICEF’s United States-specific site, visit www.unicefusa.org.                            

Traditional Korean Kimchi

Dr. Jasung Kim is a staff psychiatrist at Lincoln Regional Center in Nebraska, where he incorporates biopsychosociospiritual dimensions into his psychiatry practice. A native of Korea, Dr. Jasung Kim enjoys Korean book discussions and cooking Korean dishes in his free time.

Traditional food from Korea is known as Hansik. Hansik, which translates as Korean food, is characterized by the heavy use of fermented foods, rice, and vegetables. In addition, Hansik typically contains less meat than dishes originating in many other cultures. Common Korean cuisines include seasoned ribs known as galbi, barbecued beef known as bulgogi, a full meal known as hanjeongsik, and Kimchi.

Along with rice, Kimchi is a common Banchan, or side dish, in Korean cuisine. A fermented and salted dish, Kimchi is usually made with cabbage and radishes along with seasonings such as chili powder, ginger, garlic, and scallions. However, different vegetables and seasonings including spinach, tomatoes, celery, and cilantro can be used to prepare the dish. In traditional preparation techniques, kimchi is stored and fermented underground.

What Is Bibliotherapy and How Does it Work?

As a staff psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center, Dr. Jasung Kim tends to patients in an in-patient setting. Dr. Jasung Kim uses the principles of transpersonal psychiatry in his practice and conducts bibliotherapy sessions with his patients.

Q: What is bibliotherapy?

A: As the name implies, bibliotherapy is book therapy. This technique uses books to help individuals work through various problems in a way that is similar to art or music therapy.

Q: What is a bibliotherapy session like?

A: Whether individually or as part of a group, bibliotherapy typically entails a read-aloud session. The facilitator selects books for their relevant themes and leads participants through a guided discussion after reading. In some cases, writing and self-expression exercises are part of bibliotherapy.

Q: How does bibliotherapy work?

A: Bibliotherapy relies on the principle of universalization, or the understanding that some emotions and experiences are shared universally. Books can help people realize that they are not alone in the specific problems they face. By selecting relevant books, a mental health professional can help encourage therapeutic responses to a familiar theme.                            

Four Types of Bipolar Disorder

As a staff psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center in Nebraska, Dr. Jasung Kim treats patients with a variety of mental illnesses. Experienced in incorporating transpersonal psychiatry into his practice, Dr. Jasung Kim has achieved good results with patients on the bipolar spectrum.

The spectrum of bipolar disorders spans four distinct but related illnesses. Each includes symptoms of both depression and mania, though the degree and balance of each varies with the disease type.

Bipolar I disorder, the most severe on the spectrum, features intense manic and depressive episodes. Manic episodes, which may last seven days or more, are often so severe that patients must be hospitalized immediately. These manic episodes can alternate with depressive episodes that last a minimum of 14 days, and some such episodes may also include symptoms of mania.

Bipolar II disorder presents with similar though less severe patterns. Depressive episodes alternate with hypomania, which causes heightened energy and mood but does not include the extreme energy levels and racing thought patterns that can make mania feel uncontrolled.

Cyclothymic disorder also features periods of hypomanic or depressive symptoms, though these periods do not occur with the duration or severity of Bipolar I or II disorder. Because symptoms of Cyclothymic disorder thus do not meet the criteria for Bipolar I or II, the condition requires its own category.

In some situations, a patient's symptoms do not match any of the three aforementioned categories. These patients' conditions fall into a category known as other specified or unspecified bipolar or related disorders, which incorporates those conditions characterized by simultaneous heightened and depressed mood symptoms. It also includes rapid-cycling conditions, which include four or more episodes of extreme mood swings over the course of 12 months.                            

Categories of Schizophrenia Symptoms

As a staff psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center in Nebraska, Dr. Jasung Kim builds on more than two decades of experience treating patients with mental illness. Many of Dr. Jasung Kim’s patients have presented with symptoms of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia symptoms fall into three categories. The first incorporates what mental health professionals call positive symptoms, defined as new and unusual experiences. Characteristic positive symptoms include hallucinations, which are sensory experiences that others do not share. An hallucination may be a sight that others do not see or a voice that no one else hears, in contrast to delusions, which are deeply held beliefs that persist, despite the fact that they are not logical.

Individuals with schizophrenia may also experience negative symptoms, which are those experiences that cease to happen with the onset of the disease. A person may, for example, begin to struggle with basic self-care tasks or withdraw from social interaction. It is also common for the individual to present with a flat affect, defined as a loss of emotional feeling.

The third category includes cognitive symptoms, or thinking problems, such as having a hard time organizing one’s thoughts or keeping track of different things at the same time.                            

UNICEF's Voices of Youth

Dr. Jasung Kim is currently incorporating spirituality into his psychiatry practice through bibliotherapy, guided meditation, and visualization techniques. Outside of his work at Lincoln Regional Center in Nebraska, Dr. Jasung Kim supports UNICEF.

The international charitable organization UNICEF seeks to defend the rights of children around the world. The nonprofit was founded in 1946 to provide nondiscriminatory aid to children after the devastation of World War II.

Today, UNICEF encourages young people to stay involved in world issues through its blog, Voices of Youth. This website provides a platform for young adults around the world to blog about issues that are important to them, provoke discussion, and encourage participation in initiatives and aid efforts.

Voices of Youth covers heavy political topics such as the current refugee crisis and environmental efforts. The blog also features more personal subjects like how to overcome underachievement.

Everyone is welcome to blog. Additionally, internships are available for young people who wish to pursue blogging as more than just a hobby. Read the thoughts of people from around the world at voicesofyouth.org.                            

Ways to Support Doctors Without Borders

Dr. Jasung Kim serves as a psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center in Nebraska. Outside of his work as an inpatient specialist, Dr. Jasung Kim supports several international charities, including Doctors Without Borders.

Doctors Without Borders (also known as Médicins Sans Frontières, or MSF) is a nongovernmental relief organization dedicated to providing medical assistance to those affected by natural disasters, wars, disease outbreaks, neglect, and other crises around the world. A group of French doctors who were determined to assist those affected by war, regardless of the political climate, founded the organization in 1971. Since then, MSF has expanded to assist over 80 countries. In 1999, it received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its work.

The humanitarian organization welcomes assistance in many forms. Volunteers who cannot assist patients and doctors on-site or in the office with administrative or logistical support are encouraged to donate stock, royalties, money, and other supplies. A new initiative calls on volunteers who are unable to donate funds to engage their communities directly through conversations on the street at people’s homes.

The funds raised allow Doctors Without Borders to operate internationally wherever it chooses. That way, the organization does not have to accept government funding that could compromise its ethics.                            

Benefits of Zen and Mindfulness Meditation on Mental Faculties

Dr. Jasung Kim has served as a psychiatrist in South Korea and the United States for more than three decades. In addition to treating patients with a wide range of conditions, Dr. Jasung Kim has received special training in psychoanalysis, and completed a Schizophrenia and Neuro-imaging fellowship at Yale University. During his spare time, Dr. Kim enjoys singing and reading, and practices Zen meditation.

Regular meditation has been found to offer a host of benefits, from better sleep to relief from physical pain, and there are many mental advantages to the practice as well. Zen meditation requires the practitioner sit quietly with their eyes open, focusing on breathing rather than on shutting down thinking altogether. A 2008 study on Zen meditation compared brain scans of individuals who had been meditating for more than three years, and newcomers to the practice. The results suggested meditation may enhance the brain’s ability to block distraction.

The ancient Buddhist practice of mindfulness meditation, which encourages practitioners to remain present in the moment, noticing and accepting feelings as they appear, has also proven mentally beneficial, and can help individuals with anxiety or depression.

MRI scans of people practicing mindfulness meditation have shown a reduction in the size of the amygdala - the part of the brain that prompts the “fight or flight” response. This shrinkage allows the part of the brain used in awareness, concentration and decision-making to expand. In effect, meditation seems to enable humans to react more thoughtfully to stressful situations.                            

Humanitarian Efforts of Doctors Without Borders

A psychiatrist with more than 30 years of medical experience, Dr. Jasung Kim served as an army and child psychiatrist and on the staff of a mental facility in South Korea before relocating to the US in 1995. Dr. Jasung Kim currently works as a staff psychiatrist at Nebraska’s Lincoln Regional Center, and is a supporter of Doctors Without Borders.

Established in 1971, the Doctors Without Borders program organizes volunteer medical professionals around the world, providing emergency medical attention to people in need. The organization also strives to improve or correct the following humanitarian issues in the countries they service:

- Armed Conflict. Volunteer doctors assist individuals in war-torn nations such as Syria and Libya, who are suffering from mental illnesses caused by trauma, including sexual violence.

- Natural Disasters. Supply warehouses around the world enable Doctors Without Borders workers to respond swiftly to unexpected disasters, such as tsunamis, typhoons, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

- Neglected People. In countries like Cambodia, impoverished people are suffering from HIV, tuberculosis, and malnutrition. Doctors work to control infections and ensure that the population has access to medication.

- Refugees and Internationally Displaced People (IDPs). Around the world, close to 60 million people have been forced to leave their homes due to persecution of their nationality or religion. Doctors Without Borders supplies psychological care and nutritional aid to these victims.