• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 1994

Several different classes of antidepressants(ADs) with newer drugs becoming available have been used for the phamacological management of a broad spectrum of mental disorders, among which depressive disorder is most commonly indicated. Successful clinical use of ADs requires a complete understanding of the psychopharmacological properties of ADs and on accurate knowledge of patients, characteristics based on clinical experience and theoretical framework. This paper aims at providing some practical information on the clinical use of ADs to assist clinicians in treating patients with major depression. The author describes (1) different classes of ADs and their presumed mechanisms of action, (2) clinical characteristics of ADs focusing on side-effect profiles, (3) some issues arising during the treatment course such as : a) pretreatment tasks, b) choice of ADs, c) therapeutic drug dose and monitoring of drug concentration, d) three stages of treatment and e) strategies in refractory depression and (4) ADs in special patient groups.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 1999

Postpartum depression is one of the most serious problems in maternal health because it affects not only the mother but also her family. Postpartum depression disturbs maternal -infant interaction and attachment. However, most postpartum depression patients ignore this problem and do not seek treatment. Thus this study in conducted to development of a Home-Based Multimedia Tutoring System for postpartum depression management. With this computerized system, mothers in the postpartum periods can check the level of postpartum depression using a personal computer. This system will go through each mother's data and screen those who have abnormal values. In addition this system includes intervention programs -education for nutrition, hygiene care, sleep, postpartum exercise, methods of relaxation, deep breathing, visualization, music therapy and family therapy-to relieve postpartum depression. Using this system, a mother who has a minor level of depression can manage it by herself. Computer language used in this study were html 3.2, OS used was Microsoftware NT Server 4.0, the graphic tool was Adobe Photoshop 4.0, and the Webpage tool was Notepade. The results of this study are show at internet “URL : http : //203.241.225.42/”. Finally, the author suggests that this system could be adequately applied to assessing postpartum depression and as a intervention strategy for mothers during the postpartum period. Further this study contributes to designing an appropriate postpartum depression prevention strategy.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.138-142
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• 2014

Burning mouth syndrome is characterized by intra-oral burning sensation without any organic abnormalities. This syndrome is associated with various etiological factors such as neuropathy, malnutrition, menopause and depression. Several medications have been tried for the treatment. Those are analgesics, hormones, anticonvulsants and antidepressants. However, optimal effective pharmacologic treatment remains still unknown. The purpose of this case study is to report the clinical effectiveness of gabapentin in the treatment of burning mouth syndrome in postmenopausal women with comorbid depression. We report two menopausal women. Antidepressants were effective for improving depressive symptoms, but it had no effects on intra-oral burning sensation. Gabapentin reduced intra-oral burning sensation effectively for all two patients. One patient reported 55% reduction(a decrease from 9 to 4 on VAS), the other patient reported 35% reduction(from 8 to 5) of the intra-oral burning sensation during 16 weeks. The minimal effective daily dose of gabapentin was 300mg. This study suggests that gabapentin might be a useful, effective therapeutic option for treating burning mouth syndrome in postmenopausal women with comorbid depression. Further prospective clinical studies are needed to investigate the effectiveness of gabapentin in patients with burning mouth syndrome.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.169-175
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• 2011

Stress, a risk factor of major depression induces cytokine mediated inflammation and decreased neurogenesis. In patients with major depression, significant increases of pro-inflammatory cytokines have been consistently reported. The pro-inflammatory cytokines can stimulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to release glucocorticoids. In the brain, microglia and play a role of immune activation in response to stress. Increased pro-inflammatory cytokine play a role in restricting neurogenesis in the brain. Although neurogenesis may not be essential for the development of depression, it may be required for clinically effective antidepressant treatment. Hence, stimulation of neurogenesis is regarded as a promising strategy for new antidepressant targets. This review introduces changes in neurotransmitter, cytokine and neurogenesis in major depression and explores the possible relationship between pro-inflammatory cytokines and neurogenesis related to stress in major depression.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.1119-1128
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to collect and analyze clinical studies on acupuncture therapies of Post-stroke depression, and to suggest a method on study about acupuncture therapies. In this thesis, electronic searches were performed. Also, 6 major journals associated with oriental medicine in Korea were searched manually. Through searching, 27 studies were selected and analyzed. There were 24 controlled studies and 3 non-controlled studies. Treatment methods were acupuncture, electronic-acupuncture, eye-acupuncture, abdominal-acupuncture and pharmaco-puncture. The percentages of these treatment method were 59.2%, 29.6%, 3.7%, 3.7% and 3.7%, respectively. Acupuncture points such as GV20, PC6, ST36, SP6, LV3, GV24, GV26, LI14, LI11, H7, ST40, GB20, GB34 and LI15 were used. In comparison of results before and after acupuncture treatment, there were statistically significant improvement in 26 studies. Based on the results from above, the studies on acupuncture for Post-stroke depression needs to be standardized and more appropriate high-quality study models should be introduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.125-132
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• 2019

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to help physical therapists involved in rehabilitation in the direction of clinical intervention in the treatment of stroke patients by understanding how an activity restriction of stroke patients affects depression and the quality of life associated with health. METHODS: This study assessed 404 stroke patients from the Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. The subjects were divided into two categories: activity restriction and non-activity restriction. The variables used in this study were depression diagnosed by a doctor and EQ-5D, which evaluates the quality of life. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the odds ratios associations of activity restriction with depression and the quality of life in stroke patients. RESULTS: The diagnosis of depression with an activity restriction was 11.2%, while 4.8% of those with non-activity restrictions were diagnosed with depression (p<.05), and the EQ-5D index of was .68±.03, .88±.01(p<.05). The odds ratio for depression with an activity restriction was 3.37 (95% CI, 1.49-7.63) compared to the non-activity restriction. A statistically significant difference in the odds ratio was observed for each item in the EQ-5D. CONCLUSION: Activity restriction in stroke patients increases the probability of depression, and reduces the quality of life significantly. The treatment for stroke patients should be approached, taking psychological factors into account. In addition, rehabilitation programs that can be performed systematically and continuously are deemed necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.55-69
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• 2010

A college student who exhibited several post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was used as a case study in order to investigate the therapeutic effects of sandplay therapy for PTSD sufferers. In total, 27 sessions of the sandplay treatment program were used to conduct psychological tests before and after the sessions. Any changes in the manner of expressions on the sand box during the treatment, and the results of pre and post psychological tests on aspects of depression, anxiety and interrelationships were analyzed. Overall results showed that the subject exhibited progressive behavioral improvement and signs of recovery. Psychological tests revealed reduced levels of depression and anxiety, and improved interrelationship scores. In conclusion, sandplay therapy does exhibit positive benefits as an effective treatment modality for PTSD in adolescents and young adults.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.371-383
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to review the research trends in the treatment of tai chi on depression. Methods: We searched articles in Pubmed and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) July 2009~June 2019. Selected studies were evaluated by the Jadad scale. Results: Fifteen controlled clinical trials were selected. The GDS (Geriatric Depression Scale) and SDS (Self-rating Depression Scale) were most frequently used as diagnostic criteria. The GDS was also the most commonly used outcome measurement. From the Jadad scale of 15 articles, the quality of the studies was low, overall. Conclusions: According to this study, it seems that tai chi treatment for depressive disorder is an effective and safe intervention. Thus, based on this study, more clinical research on diverse forms of treatments for depressive disorder should be performed in Korean medicine in the near future.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.55-68
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of Guibi-tang that are used for postpartum depression. Methods: We searched on five databases [Korean studies Information Service (KISS), Oriental medicine advanced searching integrated system (OASIS), The Cochrane Library, PubMed, and China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI)] with keywords for Postpartum depression (English, Korean, and Chinese) and evaluated the risk of bias. Meta-analysis was performed on the selected studies. Results: 8 potentially relevant articles were retrieved for further evaluation. There was evidence that Guibi-tang compared with Western medicine was significantly higher rate in total effect rate (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04, 1.39, p=0.01). Also, the combined therapeutic effects of Guibi-tang and Psychological intervention compared with Psychological intervention were statistically significant in total effect rate (RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05, 1.24, p=0.002). And they showed improvement on scores of HAMD (Hamilton depression scale, HAMD) and SF-36 (36-Item short form health survey, SF-36). Conclusion: Guibi-tang appears to be more effective compared to Western medicine in the treatment of postpartum depression. The combination Guibi-tang and Psychological intervention was more effective than psychological intervention alone treated for postpartum depression. However, since unclear risk of bias, the result of this study should be considered carefully. Further clinical trials should be carried out in order to academical clinical progress regarding treatment of Postpartum Depression.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2017

Objectives: To analyze whether a concept similar to Korean 'Hwabyung' exists in China. We investigated the status of clinical studies conducted in China for relevant diseases and trends of the traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) treatment adopted in clinical studies. Methods: To explore the concept of a condition similar to Korean Hwabyung in China, we searched for the existence of concept and pattern that were parallel or similar to those of Hwabyung in TCM text-books and diagnostic guidelines. We searched and analyzed clinical studies of TCM treatment for depression syndrome similar to Hwabyung from CNKI using terms 'depression' and 'qi stagnation transforming into fire'. Using extracted data, characteristics of clinical research, herbal medicine, and acupuncture treatment used in the clinical research and their effects were systematically reviewed. Results: Symptoms of 'qi stagnation transforming into fire' were most similar to those of Hwabyung. Nine articles were selected from a total 258 articles. Most of them used DSM-IV or CCMD-3 for depression diagnosis. They applied 'diagnostic and efficacy guidelines for TCM diseases and syndromes' for pattern diagnosis of 'qi stagnation transforming into fire'. Danzhixiaoyao-san and Jiaweixiaoyao-san were found to be effective when they were used alone or in combination with antidepressants. Acupuncture treatment also showed remarkable effect on LR3, HT7, LI4, PC6, GV20 when it was used alone or in combination with antidepressants. However, careful interpretation is required because a small number of studies are included.Conclusions: 'Qi stagnation transforming into fire' seemed to have symptoms similar to Hwabyung. However, further research is needed to determine its diseases and pattern types compared to Hwabyung. According to included studies of 'depression with Qi stagnation transforming into fire', herbal medicine and acupuncture treatment tended to be effective in relieving depressive symptoms. However, more discussion is required for future application of herbal medicine and acupuncture for treating Hwabyung.