Abstract
South Korea is a collectivist culture informed by Confucian philosophy and filial piety values that influence family and social life. Filial piety is an important value, characterized by respect, obedience, love, and care for one’s elders with a goal of retaining social and familial harmony. Filial piety has also been cited as potentially causative in creating emotional pain and impacting mental health outcomes for South Korean children due to its hierarchical nature, often resulting in an interpersonal injury by a parent toward a child. This is conceptualized as ‘unfinished business’ in Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) where the pain continues into adulthood. An empty-chair dialogue is used to support resolution of this interpersonal injury and has been extensively researched demonstrating efficacy in North American contexts. However, as EFT gains popularity in many collectivist cultures, limited cultural scrutiny of empty-chair work has taken place in these settings. Filial piety may be at odds with the resolution process that requires acknowledgment and expression of this pain and unmet needs from the parent. As EFT gains momentum in South Korea, both the cultural experience of unfinished business and the particular events in the intervention process need to be investigated to support best outcomes for clients.
