Received: October 31, 2015 Revised: December 5, 2015 Accepted: December 25, 2015
Abstract
In this article, comparisons between North Korean adolescent defectors and South Korean adolescents in psychological themes and stories expressed in sandplay therapy about their family and self/others have been made in order to provide basic data to psychotherapeutically intervention for the North Korean adolescent defectors' psychological and social adjustment in South Korean culture. The 15 adolescents were allocated in
each group. The North Korean adolescent defectors started to live in South Korea since less than 5 years ago and they all had already experienced parents' absence when they still lived in North Korea and murderous threats when they were defecting North Korea through foreign countries. Total 4 sandplay sessions were individually given to each subject. As a result, North Korean defector adolescents less frequently made vegetative/animal scenes, human/animal scenes and more frequently made destroyed than South Korean adolescents in overall atmosphere. South Korean adolescents more frequently made paired relationship, family, self-protective/self-assertive relationship, cooperative/ constructive relationship in terms of structuring of relationships in shape of human or animals. In use of sand, North Korean defector adolescents tended to touch sand in the beginning of sessions and South Korean adolescents touched sand more during the sessions and the beginning of session. North Korean defector adolescents more frequently made very empty sandtray and South
Korean adolescents in terms of use of tray.