• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.52
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• pp.143-170
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• 2003

This study investigated the effectiveness of the assessment of psychosocial treatment outcome in symptomatology and social functioning as rated by the depressed client's significant other in explaining the client's symptomatology and social adjustment at 6 and 12 month follow-up period after the 16-week psychosocial treatment was terminated. The data were drawn from the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program of the U.S. Significant others of depressed clients have rarely participated in the assessment of treatment outcome, although they are major participants of the clients' daily life and have meaningful opportunities to observe the clients' functioning in different social situations. Thus, this study aimed to examine the explanatory power of the significant others' outcome assessment in depressive symptomatology and social functioning for the long-term outcome in symptomatology and social adjustment. The outcome measures used by the significant others were actual performance, expected performance, gap between actual and expected performance, and symptomatology drawn from the Katz Adjustment Scale-Relatives Form. Three major findings were: (1) in general, the posttreatment assessment by the significant other demonstrated stronger explanatory power of the follow-up status than the assessment rated at pretreatment in all of the four outcome domains; (2) the significant other's assessment of actual and expected performance at both pre- and posttreatment demonstrated significant explanatory power of the follow-up status in symptomatology and social/leisure and work adjustment; and (3) the significant other's assessment of social functioning at pretreatment improved the explanatory power over and above the explanation by symptomatology in the follow-up status of social/leisure and work adjustment; however, at posttreatment, symptomatology improved the explanation over and above social functioning more frequently in predicting both symptomatology and social/leisure and work adjustment. These findings suggest the effectiveness of the measures of symptomatology and actual and expected performance as assessed by significant others. The results imply that mental health professionals and researchers need to involve the depressed client's significant other in the treatment and make good use of their contribution in treatment planning and further intervention in the follow-up period to prevent relapse.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of the study is to find the factors affecting a social phenomena of the elderly and suggest a basic data for efficiency of a senior policy and type of the life in Korea. Methods : We refereed to sources from the Korean Statistical Information, the National Pension Service, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. We also surveyed and analysed the depression and death anxiety among the elderly in 2014. Results : First, most of them were low educated people and family composing a couple. An annual income were average. Second, medical costs were increasing constantly in proportion to the increase of aging population. Third, they had high depression index resulting from negative thinking of the future and themselves. Fourth, the death anxiety level of them were more than moderate and that was about the death of themselves and the process of the death. Conclusion : It is needed to help physical, mental, and social health and improve the quality of the life in the elderly through social program established a variety of special fields like occupational therapy and family support program belonging to the government.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2006

Thyroid disease is highly Prevalent, and many Physicians encounter the Patients with thyroid disease on many occasions. However, many doctors may make an erroneous diagnosis because of its variable clinical manifestation. Thyroid tumor is the most common disease which is detected in more than 30% of general population. Recently, the incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing to be a leading position in female cancer. Therefore, clinical physicians should be familiar with thyroid disease due to its high prevalence and heterogeneous clinical features.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2001

It is known that the personality is the crucial factor in the treatment outcome of depression. The authors tried to identify the results of such studies and various components which determine the treatment outcome of depression. Nearly 60 papers published between the year 1990 and 2000 about the treatment of depression and personality were reviewed. Among them about 30 papers were selected to compare the research methods, results and discussions. The arguments and critics of the papers were discussed. In the many debates, the authors admitted the fact that premorbid personality trait influences the treatment outcome of depression negatively regardless of treatment method. Subtyping of depression is feasible along the presence of good or bad predictors of treatment outcome for depression. Differentiation of depression and personality seems to have no problem, however test of personality state before the development of psychiatric disorder such as depression is not amenable. For example, cluster A personality trait is often misunderstood as depression in clinical setting. In some cases cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in the treatment of depression accompanying personality disorder. The authors insist that the analysis of personality in the dimensional aspect rather than in the categorical aspect gives more information in the research of personality influencing the treatment outcome of depression. In addition, the reason why we understand the relationship between depression and personality were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2001

Whenever a clinician manages the patients with depression, he may meet various problems that make it difficult to treat them. Even though he has good skills and knowledge about depression, some barriers will be appear during his practice. In general, the difficulties in treating depression are treatment-resistance, adverse effects of antidepressants, pregnancy in female patients, comorbid medical conditions, poor compliance, drug-drug interactions, and so on, which are related with pharmacological treatments. Here, only the two of them, the treatment-resistant depression and difficult problems concerned with pregnancy, were discussed. Some level of treatment resistance is the norm rather than the exception. As the treatment failure stems from inadequate treatment, it is important that the clinician should prescribe medications with sufficient doseage and adequate duration. And to overcome the treatment resistant depression the polypharmacy is necessary, in that case, the side effects and toxicities should be explored and managed immediately. So the clinician have to learn more about the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic mechanisms of each drugs used in treatment of depression. When the risk of the fetus by the exposure is higher than the risk of untreated maternal psychiatric disorder, psychotropic medications should be used during pregnancy. Women who are maintained on psychotropics and become pregnant, as well as women with the new onset of psychiatric symptoms during pregnancy, should be carefully reassessed. However, data concerning the potential risk of long-term behavioral changes following prenatal exposure to psychotropics is rare, so further longitudinal follow-up studies are needed.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2000

Even the pharmacotherapy is more effective than placebo for the treatment of depression, the outcome of pharmacoltherapy remains unsatisfactory for many patients. Apart from side effects, there are two major limitations of antidepressant therapy. One is the delayed onset of improvement and another is partial response. In order to address these clinical dilemmas, many psychiatrists more commonly employ add-on therapy. In past, the practice of using multiple drugs to enhance treatment response was called polypharamcy, and was disparaged as poor clinical practice. However, with improved understanding of how drugs affects the central nervous system and increased communication in journals and on computer networks about the relative merits of specific combinations, the scientific basis for the combining drugs is being defined. Indeed, the use of multiple medications as a stratege to enhance response has become both acceptable and widespread now a days. It is now referred to more positively as add-on therapy, co-medication, combination therapy, or drug augmentation. Thus, as the methods of practical strategies for treatment of depression, switching classes antidepressant drugs, combination therapy, augmentation strategies and brief treatment algorithm will be presented with items of considerations. However, when combination of drugs being tried, knowledges about the action of mechanism, pharamcokinetics, and pharmacodynamics are essential to cope with the possible adversive reactions and to get the appropriate responses for the treatment of depressive symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.37-40
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• 2016

Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a major public health problem. It is estimated that about 30% of patients with major depressive disorder do not show substantial clinical improvement to somatic or psychosocial treatment. Most of studies for TRD have focused on the subjects already known as TRD. Patients with unipolar depressive episodes that do not respond satisfactorily to numerous sequential treatment regimens were included in the TRD studies. Such post hoc experimental design can be regarded only as consequences of having TRD, rather than as causal risk factors for it. Although informative, data derived from such studies often do not allow a distinction to be made between cause and effect. So, we should shift paradigm toward examining the risk for developing TRD in untreated depressed patients. To deal with this problem, untreated depressed patients should be enrolled in the study to identify biological markers for treatment resistance. The peripheral or central biological markers should be explored before starting treatment. Subsequent systematic administration of treatments with appropriate monitoring in the subjects can determine the risk for developing treatment resistance in untreated individuals. Such information could give a cue to improve the initial diagnosis and provide more effective treatment for TRD.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.109-119
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• 1996

Hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women has recently been a hot issue in medical fields. The author reviewed the physiology of menopause and discussed the physiological mechanism and biological management of vascular flushing and menopausal depression. The above symptoms are hard to distinguish from those of psychiatric disorders.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.226-233
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• 2006

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders. Some characteristics of depression in Korea were elucidated. The tendency to express depressive feeling through somatic complaints is more prominent in Korea than in Western countries. Careful studies on depressive symptoms suggest that guilt and suicidal idea are apparent among Korean depressive patients as well as among Western subjects. But most depressive patients in Korea are reluctant to express suicidal idea, which is hidden under the somatic complaints. We should remember the possibility of research artifacts or cultural bias with regard to the evaluation of depressive symptoms of a country in comparison with other countries. Non-pharmacological treatment of depression includes dynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, self-care treatment, etc. Some kinds of Korean culture relevant psychotherapies are introduced: Tea therapy, Imago therapy, Tao psychotherapy, and combined approach. Interest in the aged people is growing recently, and the research about the factors which affect the depressive disorders in older patients and treatment strategy for them is ongoing.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.118-122
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• 1997

We experienced a case of 51-year-old female patient who showed symptoms of persecutory delusion, auditory hallucination and hallucinatory behavior, severe insomnia, psychomotor retardation and social withdrawal, along with some clinical signs of the deficiency of various hormones those gradually progressed after massive postpartum vaginal bleeding 13 years ago. She was admitted to a psychiatric ward under the impression of psychotic depression. However careful history taking and evaluation of clinical feature gave rise to the possibility of underlying medical condition. Laboratory work-up revealed panhypopituitarism, hypoglycemia and hyponatremia. After replacement of thyroid hormone and cortisol for 1 week, her clinical symptoms including psychiatric symptoms were improved. Taken together, these findings were compatible with the diagnosis of Sheehan's syndrome. On reporting this case, we would like to emphasize again the importance of differential diagnosis of medical problems causing psychiatric symptoms those are easily neglected in the clinical approach toward psychiatric patients.