• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.313-334
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• 2013

A study aims to assess Korean mental health literacy and analyze the characteristics of vulnerable population. This study presented typical vignettes of schizophrenia, depression and alcoholism to 1,197 adults randomly. All respondents were asked for recognition of mental illness, beliefs about causes, professional help and self-help, stigma for receiving psychiatric treatment for the person described. The results showed that the recognition of mental health problem in a vignette was very poor and that personal causes were seen by public as more important than environmental and bio-genetic causes. When the public were asked about various professional therapies and self-help activities, psychotherapy was favored while other professional help were considered to be less helpful than self-help activities. Among professionals, psychiatrist were viewed as most helpful. We used cluster analysis to compare high mental health literacy group with low mental health literacy group(vulnerable population). Vulnerable population were found to be more aged and to live in county area. We proposed government initiated program for enhancing public mental health literacy.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 2001

The prevalence of insomnia and the degree of impairment due to insomnia is greater than in the of young. The cause for insomnia in the elderly are various factors among the elderly is known to be high including medical, psychiatric, drug issues, circadian rhythm changes, sleep disorders, and psychosocial. So the careful evaluation to find the cause of insomnia is needed for the eldery. Treatment options for insomnia include behavior modification and pharmacotherapy. Outcome data from previous studies indicate that behavioral approaches produce reliable and durable therapeutic benefits, as evidenced by improved sleep efficiency and continuity and enhanced satisfaction with sleep patterns. Treatment methods such as stimulus control and sleep restriction, which target maladaptive sleep habits, are especially beneficial for older insomniacs, whereas relaxation-based interventions aimed at decreasing arousal, produce more limited effects. Cognitive and educational interventions are instrumental in altering age-related dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep. The choice of hypnotics is based on matching the nature of the insomnia to the hypnotic agent. The ideal agent has rapid onset, duration of action that lasts through the night but no residual daytime effects, and no adverse effects. The key for the healthcare professional is finding the appropriate treatment or treatment combination, including behavioral modification and pharmacotherapy. When hypnotics are indicated, the most appropriate short-acting agent should be considered.