• Mood & Emotion
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2011

Purpose : Anxiety disorder and depressive disorder are often comorbid with each other, and the comorbidity is associated with poorer psychiatric outcome, resistance to treatment, increased risk for suicide, greater chance for recurrence. We aimed to investigate the comorbidity of anxiety disorder in Korea. Method : Subjects were total of 867 depressed patients recruited CRESCEND-K multicenter trial. We used SCID (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM - IV) to find comorbidity of anxiety disorders in depressed patient. Results : Of 867 patients, total 8.2% had anxiety disorder. Proportion of anxiety disorder Not Otherwise Specified was 3.5%, panic disorder was 1.7%, generalized anxiety disorder was 1.1%, post traumatic stress disorder was 0.9%, obsessive compulsive disorder was 0.6%, social phobia was 0.4%. Conclusion : In this study, anxiety disorder in depression were measured at a low comorbidity rate in compare to previous studies. Selection bias, use of antidepressants at registration, severity of depression symptoms, and point of SICD administration seems to have affected these results. It is probable that comorbidity evaluation would be more precise if shorter, structured interviews such as M. I.N.I.-Plus were used during first clinical interview for depression diagnosis.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.93-98
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• 2021

Electroencephalography (EEG) measures neural activation due to various cognitive processes. EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs) are widely used in studies investigating psychopathology and neural substrates of psychiatric diseases in children and adolescents. The present study aimed to review recent ERP studies in child and adolescent psychiatry. ERPs are non-invasive methods for studying synaptic functions in the brain. ERP might be a candidate biomarker in child-adolescent psychiatry, considering its ability to reflect cognitive and behavioral functions in humans. For the EEG study of psychiatric diseases in children and adolescents, several ERP components have been used, such as mismatch negativity, P300, error-related negativity (ERN), and reward positivity (RewP). Regarding executive functions and inhibition in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), P300 latency, and ERN were significantly different in patients with ADHD compared to those in the healthy population. ERN showed meaningful changes in patients with anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Patients with depression showed significantly attenuated RewP compared to the healthy population, which was related to the symptoms of anhedonia.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate anti-depressive effects of exercise on child and adolescent and its association with brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Methods: Twenty nine middle school boys (age $13.3{\pm}0.7$) were divided into two groups, 15 boys for control group and 14 in the experimental group. The control group participated in a regular exercise program, 3 times a week for 15 weeks. During the same period, the experimental group participated in an aerobic exercise program specifically designed to enhance anti-depressive effect of exercise. Serum BDNF level and its performance of each group on the Beck Depression Index (BDI), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), Aggression Questionnaire (AK-Q), and Stroop task were compared before and after the exercise program. Results: Scores of BDI, CDI, SCARED, and AK-Q were significantly lower in both groups after the exercise programs compared to those before the programs. The Stroop task performances were significantly improved after the programs. However, there were no significant differences between two exercise programs, except SCARED separation anxiety, AK-Q physical, and verbal aggression scores. Also, no association was found between serum BDNF level and anti-depressive effects of exercise. Conclusion: Our preliminary results suggest a possible effect of exercise on depression, anxiety, aggression, and cognition of child and adolescents.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.164-172
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• 2016

Objectives: This study attempted to evaluate the usefulness and direction of development of post-traumatic assessment and interventions based on the opinions of psychiatrics and disaster and trauma-related experts using the Delphi survey technique. Methods: In-depth individual interviews served as the pre-survey and were followed by Delphi primary and secondary surveys. Specialists in child and adolescent mental health, psychological support professionals specialized in disasters and related practitioners with experience of disasters in Korea completed a set of questionnaires and participated in focus group interviews and in-depth individual interviews on post-traumatic assessment and intervention. Results: We found that the following issues have a significant impact on the interventions after disasters: the proper time of the initial interview in the event of a disaster, assessment notices, aged assessment services, mandatory enforcement measures, scale screening and treatment intervention elements, symptoms degree classification, intervention standardization, the use of a levelled program, care unit environment, and operation plan. Conclusion: This study proposed effective mental health intervention measures and has implications for the development of evaluation treatment protocols after disasters.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2015

So far, most research studying the causality of autism has focused on neurobiological or psychological aspects. However, most studies have dealt with only proximal causality of autism, and there is little research on its ultimate causality. 'Evolutionary perspective', which has received attention recently in various academic fields, suggests several theories regarding the ultimate causality of autism. We reviewed different theories on the evolution of autism, and discussed both the merits and the limitations of the theories.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.142-148
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• 2017

Objectives The ratio of second to fourth digit length (2D : 4D) could be a potential epigenetic marker of sexual dimorphism reflecting prenatal testosterone exposure. Testosterone is known to affect the development of the brain through an epigenetic mechanism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of exposure to fetal testosterone on the metabolic syndrome based on 2D : 4D of schizophrenia patients and the relationship with the age of onset of schizophrenia. Methods A total of 214 schizophrenia patients participated in this study. The participant's physical and blood tests were performed according to the American National Cholesterol Education Program's Third Amendment of the Metabolic Syndrome Diagnostic Criteria, and the 2D : 4D was measured by the method designed by McFadden. Data were statistically analyzed by t-test, Pearson's correlation analysis and multiple regression model analysis. Results 2D : 4D was significantly higher in female than male in both hands, and there was a statistically significant negative correlation between 2D : 4D and the age of onset of schizophrenia in male. However, 2D : 4D did not show statistically significant correlation with metabolic factors. Conclusions Fetal testosterone suggests the possibility of affecting the age of onset of schizophrenia through the epigenetic mechanism, but there is no clear relationship with metabolic factors.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.28-41
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• 2007

Virtual reality technology is now being used in neuropsychological assessment and real-world applications of many psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, child psychiatric disorders, dementia, and substance related disorders. These applications are growing rapidly due to recent evolution in both hardware and software of virtual reality. In this paper, we review these current applications and discuss the future work of clinical, ethical, and technological aspects needed to refine and expand these applications to psychiatry.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2017

Objective : The PTSD Checklist (PCL) is a self-report screen for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that can be scored for both diagnostic assessment and symptom severity measurement. The most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) contains a number of changes to the definition of PTSD, and the aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the PCL for the DSM-5 (PCL-5-K). Methods : The participants were 204 Korean veterans of the Vietnam War who completed the PCL-5-K, the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE), PTSD module of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5, Research Version (SCID5-RV PTSD module), Korean version of Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R-K) and Combat Exposure Scale (CES-K). Results : The PCL-5-K demonstrated good internal consistency (${\alpha}=0.972$) and test-retest reliability (r=0.96); the suggested cut-off score for PTSD diagnosis was ${\geq}37$ with 0.88 sensitivity and 0.96 specificity. The PCL-5-K scale correlated highly with the IES-R-K and CES-K. Factor analysis identified only one factor. Conclusion : Among elderly Korean veterans of the Vietnam War, the PCL-5-K demonstrated similar psychometric qualities to those of both the original PCL and subsequent versions. It is expected that the PCL-5-K will be a useful PTSD screening tool.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.147-158
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• 1995

This paper describes the development of Korean version of two widely used self-report measure of alexithymia-Schalling-Sifneos Personality Scale (SSPS) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS), and present the preliminary results of their reliability and validity tested to an Korean college student sample(N=206). TAS showed moderate to acceptable internal consistancy with 0.26 of mean item-total correlation and 0.754 of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, while those parameters for SSPS turned out inconsistent. However, results of test-retest reliability for both scale were excellent. Factor analysis revealed tow factors for TAS and three factors for SSPS ; the four-factor structure of TAS was quite congruent with previously known alexithymaia construct, while, again, SSPS showed intermixed factor structure. TAS scores correlated fairly well with somatization scores enough to get concurrent validity while SSPS scores did not. Overall, Korean version of TAS demonstrated well matched findings in terms of internal consistency and factorial validity with original and Spanish version of TAS. The results suggest that Korean version of TAS could be a useful and reliable tool for the measurement in Korean population.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2008

The 5-HTT gene is a candidate gene for influencing the clinical response to antidepressant treatment. The purpose of this gene study was to determine the relationship between serotonin transporter gene polymorphism at the SLC6A4 and the response to citalopram in a Korean population with major depressive disorder (MDD). Citalopram was administered for 8 weeks to the 80 patients who completed this study. The severity of depression was assessed with the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating scale, and the 5-HTTLPR genotypes in the patients were determined using the polymerase chain reaction. Our result did not showed significant differences in, allele, and carrier distribution between the normal group and MDD patients. This study suggest that polymorphism of the 5HTT gene was not associated with citalopram response to MDD in the Korean population.