• Anxiety and mood
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2020

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the cognitive performance of major depressive disorder (MDD) in military service/conscription personnel who visited the psychiatric clinic for a medical certificate to consider the situation from the perspective of Korea's unique compulsory military system. We used the Korean Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (K-WAIS-IV) as the test for verifying the suitable level of cognitive functioning for military service and as the embedded measure with reflecting suboptimal effort. Methods : The study was conducted on 56 (28 males, age 19-34) in/out-patients admitted to the psychiatry department and diagnosed with MDD (DSM-IV). All participants completed a structured clinical interview (MINI-Plus), as well as self-report questionnaires related to demographics and severity of clinical symptoms. K-WAIS-IV was administered to each subject to assess cognitive characteristics. Results : Military group showed significantly lower processing speed index (PSI) score including subtests of symbol search (SS) and coding (CD) score, compared to the control group. There was no other significant differences in the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), Working Memory Index (WMI) scores including sub-tests comprised of the above indices, and Reliable Digit Span (RDS), Enhanced-RDS-Revised (E-RDS-R) between the study and control groups. Conclusion : This study was the first effort to verify the characteristics of Korea's military group with MDD and suggest the applicability of PSI and processing speed of K-WAIS-IV as an embedded performance index to test sub-optimal effort or low motivation beyond the purpose of testing cognitive deficits.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.450-461
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• 2022

A randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical study was used to determine the cognitive functions related to working memory (WM) and antioxidant properties of fermented Laminaria japonica (FLJ) on healthy volunteers. Eighty participants were divided into a placebo group (n = 40) and FLJ group (n = 40) that received FLJ (1.5 g/day) for 6 weeks. Memory-related blood indices (brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF; angiotensin-converting enzyme; human growth hormone, HGH; insulin-like growth factor-1, IGF-1) and antioxidant function-related indices (catalase, CAT; malondialdehyde, MDA; 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine, 8-oxo-dG; thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TBARS) were determined before and after the trial. In addition, standardized cognitive tests were conducted using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Batteries. Furthermore, the Korean Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (K-WAIS)-IV, and the Korean version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-K) were used to assess the pre and post intake changes on WM-related properties. According to the results, FLJ significantly increased the level of CAT, BDNF, HGH, and IGF-1. FLJ reduced the level of TBARS, MDA, and 8-oxo-dG in serum. Furthermore, FLJ improved physical activities related to cognitive functions such as K-WAIS-IV, MoCA-K, Paired Associates Learning, and Spatial Working Memory compared to the placebo group. Our results suggest that FLJ is a potential candidate to develop functional materials reflecting its capability to induce antioxidant mechanisms together with WM-related indices.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.275-282
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• 2023

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the psychiatric comorbidity status of adult patients diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and determine the impact of comorbidities on neuropsychological outcomes in ADHD. Methods: The study participants were 124 adult patients with ADHD. Clinical psychiatric assessments were performed by two board-certified psychiatrists in accordance with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. All participants were assessed using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview Plus version 5.0.0 to evaluate comorbidities. After screening, neuropsychological outcomes were assessed using the Comprehensive Attention Test (CAT) and the Korean version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (K-WAIS-IV). Results: Mood disorders (38.7%) were the most common comorbidity of ADHD, followed by anxiety (18.5%) and substance use disorders (13.7%). The ADHD with comorbidities group showed worse results on the Perceptual Organization Index and Working Memory Index sections of the K-WAIS than the ADHD-alone group (p=0.015 and p=0.024, respectively). In addition, the presence of comorbidities was associated with worse performance on simple visual commission errors in the CAT tests (p=0.024). Conclusion: These findings suggest that psychiatric comorbidities are associated with poor neuropsychological outcomes in adult patients with ADHD, highlighting the need to identify comorbidities in these patients.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2003

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the difference of cognitve function among patients with posttraumatic stress disorder according to severity of symptoms. Methods: The subjects were 90 psychiatric inpatients and outpatients with posttraumatic stress disorer(by DSM-IV criteria) after traffic accident. The severity of symptoms was assessed by MMPI subscales; depression, psychasthenia, schizophrenia. The impairment of cognitive function was assessed by Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale(K-WAIS). Based on scores of the MMPI subscales, the patients were divided into high group(above 70 percentile) and low group(below 30 percentile). We estimated the difference of the K-WAIS score and subtest score in the low group and high group of the MMPI subscales by indedpendent t-test. Results: The scores of high group is significantly higher in the subtests of information, vocabulary, similarity, picture completion, and picture arrangement than the low group for psychasthenia subscale of MMPI. And the score of high group is significantly higher in full scale I.Q., verbal I.Q., performance I.Q., verbal subscales except digit span and simiarity, and performance subscales than low group for schiozphrenia subscale of MMPI. Conclusion: It was found cognitive function was more impaired in the group of PTSD with severe symptom compared to the group of PTSD with mild symptoms. We suggest that psychiatrist should consider various cognitive approaches as well as pharmacotherapy in the management of PTSD.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.101-104
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• 2009

This study investigated compensatory mechanisms in the brain during a verbal working memory task among people with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD). A total of 21 college male students participated in the study: eleven AUD participants and 10 normal controls. Study participants were asked to complete the Korean version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (K-WAIS-III) prior to the fMRI experiment. Verbal 0-back and 2-back tasks were used to assess brain activities of the participants' verbal working memory. Brain scanning was performed on Siemens SONATA 1.5T Scanner while participants were performing the 0-back and 2-back tasks. Within the AUD group, participants with greater dependency to alcohol (based on DSM-IV criteria) in the past 1 year showed lower mean score on the 'Similarities' of the K-WAIS-III (r=-0.63, p<0.05, N=11). The more participants experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the past 1 year, the lower the score they received on the K-WAIS-III 'Picture Arrangement' (r=-0.69, p<0.05, n=11). The fMRI regression results showed that individuals who present greater degree of alcohol dependency symptoms are likely to show greater brain activation in the bilateral middle frontal gyri (BA 9) during the verbal working memory task. The degree of alcohol withdrawal symptoms were associated with increased brain activation in the left superior and middle frontal gyri (BA8), left precentral gyrus (BA 6), and left inferior parietal lobule (BA 40). The study findings showed that the degree of alcohol abuse/dependence and withdrawal symptoms were associated with decreased cognitive function and increased activations in brain regions particularly important for abstract reasoning (BA 9), central executive (BA 9), or spatial storage (BA 40) during a working memory task. Therefore, these results could support previous studies suggesting that the neural system of people with ADD may adopt a brain compensatory mechanism to maintain normal level of cognitive functions.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.171-180
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to determine an effective training method to improve sequela, since traumatic brain injury sequela is a major factor in determining the quality of life. Neurofeedback training was conducted for an adolescent who had experienced traumatic brain injury during his childhood and who had difficulty in cognitive learning and emotional aspects. The assessment of an adolescent was conducted using K-WAIS-IV intelligence test and QEEG brain wave analysis. In the neurofeedback training, T3 alpha wave compensation and T4 alpha wave inhibition training were performed 36 times for 30 minutes three times a week. In addition to the neurofeedback training, respiratory meditation was also made available to the adolescent. As a result, the adolescent showed a stable condition as indicated by taking a good sleep, reducing test anxiety, and satisfaction with final exam results. This study revealed the possibility for hidden physical and psychological problems arising due to childhood brain trauma. It has also recently been discovered that a more diverse set of tools can be found. In addition, these childhood traumatic brain injuries can be improved through brain training and meditation. The study finding is meaningful for its suggestion of a fusion method for developing mind and body therapy in terms of brain science.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.207-215
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• 2005

Objectives:This study was to compare verbal memory ability among patients with schizophrenia, bipolar manic patients and unipolar depressive patients, and to understand their charicteristics of memory process. Methods:All subjects were hospitalized patients and had been interviewed by using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV(SCID). Schizophrenic patients(N=40), bipolar manic patients(N=17), and unipolar depressive patients(N=20) were assessed with K-AVLT for verbal memory and with K-WAIS for verbal IQ. Three groups were compared regarding total immediate recall, delayed recall, delayed recognition, learning curve, memory retention, and retrieval efficiency under controlled verbal IQ. Multiple regression analysis was performed to find which clinical factors have an influence on verbal memory ability. Results:In MANCOVA, differences of verbal memory test scores among the groups were statistically significant(F=1.800, p<.05). In post hoc analysis, Patients with schizophrenia and bipolar mania showed poorer performance in immediate recall, delayed recall, delayed recognition, retrieval efficiency than unipolar depres- sive patients. And schizophrenics performed poorly in delayed recall, delayed recognition, retrieval efficiency than nonpsychotic affective disorder group, but no difference in total immediate recall, delayed recall, delayed recognition, retrieval efficiency between the schizophrenic group and the psychotic affective group. Conclusions:These results partially confirm previous reports of verbal memory ability among major psychiatric disorders. Our results showed that psychotic symptoms were related with verbal memory, and longer duration of illness was related with poorer performance in schizophrenia and unipolar depression.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.143-154
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• 2020

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive and psychological characteristics of patients with military service suitability issues compared to the general psychiatric outpatients. Methods : 108 patients who visited psychiatric clinic center due to military service suitability issues and 80 general psychiatric patients were recruited from the Department of Psychiatry of university hospital. ANCOVA and chi-equare test were used to examine differences between two groups. Furthermore, we utilized paired t-test to compare the scrore within military group depending on when they performed the psychological assessment. Results : There were no significant differences between military group and general outpatient group in WAIS-IV scores. However, military group scored remarkably higher than control group on validity scales, F-r and Fp-r whereas they scored lower on validity scale, K-r. Furthermore, military group showed significantly higher on BDI and MMPI-2-RF, EID, RCd, RC2, RC3, COG, HLP, SFD, NFC, STW, SAVE, SHY, DSF, NEGE-r, INTR-r. As a result of comparison within the military group following the periods of assessment, military group did not show the significant differences on the overall scales of MMPI-2-RF. Conclusions : The present study showed that military group tends to report their psychological distress more exaggeratedly. In addition, they had significantly elevated not only emotional distress such as depression and anxiety but interpersonal problem. The implications and limitations were discussed along with some suggestions for the future studies.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.75-81
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• 2017

Objectives Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and disabling psychiatric disorder. The duration of untreated illness (DUI) has been suggested as one of the predictors of clinical course and outcome in various psychiatric disorders. There is increasing evidence that cognitive dysfunction is associated with the prognosis of OCD. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of DUI on the neurocognitive functions in patients with OCD. Methods Sixty-two patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of OCD from the outpatient clinic were included in this study. We defined the short DUI if the DUI was 2-year or less and the long DUI if it was longer than 2-year. Neurocognitive functions were assessed by visuospatial memory function test and 4 subsets of K-WAIS such as vocabulary, arithmetic, block design and picture arrangement. Differences in neurocognitive functions as well as clinical variables between OCD patients with short DUI and those with long DUI were investigated. Correlation analyses were also performed to determine the correlation between DUI and neurocognitive functions. Results Compared with the short DUI group, the long DUI group performed worse in the block design test, which measures executive function. The long DUI group also had a higher level of compulsive symptom severity than the short DUI group. However, the DUI was not correlated with neurocognitive functions. Conclusions Findings in this preliminary study suggest that the long DUI in patients with OCD is associated with more severe executive dysfunction. Studies with larger samples and longitudinal design are needed to further confirm the prognostic role of the DUI in OCD.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive and psychological characteristics of patients who visited psychiatric outpatient clinic with military service suitability issues. Methods : Since January, 2017 to September, 2018, patients were recruited from the department of psychiatry of university hospital. Participants were diagnosed using DSM-5 criteria by board certified psychiatrists. And each of participants tested with K-WAIS-IV, K-SCL-95 by clinical psychologist. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0. Results : The results indicated 24.6% of the patients have significantly low level of intellectual functioning. and 10.8% of the patients have borderline level of intellectual functioning, and 26.3% of them were below average. The results of psychological characteristics showed patients have cautious and potentially dangerous level of depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, and suicidal idea. And PTSD subscale's mean score was above problematic level. Next, we divided patients into two groups based on question of whether the patient is eligible to serve in the military service or not arises from recruitment process or army training center. But two group didn't differ significantly. And for further analyses, we also divided patients into two groups based on if they got single psychiatric diagnosis or more than one psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusions : The results indicated that group which has coexisting psychiatric disorders were more depressed, had higher level of anger and aggression, and had more serious levels of suicidal ideas than single psychiatric diagnosis group. The implications and limitations were discussed along with some suggestions for the future studies.