• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2003

Many people suffer from chronic insomnia. Inappropriate sleep causes attention difficulties, decreased work efficiency, and increased traffic accidents and disasters. Evaluating the precise causes of insomnia prior to treatment is very important, because chronic insomnia can be a secondary symptom of other medical, psychiatric, and sleep disorders. Medication and behavior therapy are not exclusive of each other, and both treatments are beneficial to some patients, but currently many physicians and patients tend to be dependent only on medication. While long-term medication causes various degrees of dependency, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms, behavior therapy has a stable effect over a long period. Behavior therapy is one of the most important treatment modalities for chronic insomnia. It shortens sleep latency, and decreases frequency of awakening during sleep. The rationale and practice of currently used behavior therapy and light therapy will be reviewed in this study.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.391-396
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• 1998

Foreign bodies in genitourinary tract are common and almost of them are within the bladder. These foreign bodies were inserted or applied for autoerotic, psychiatric, therapeutic, or no definite reasons by the patient. Foreign bodies(a thermometer and a piece of cloth) in the bladder were inserted as a mean of masturbation in two cases, and a cooper wire in the posterior urethra was introduced by iatrogenic causes in one case. In one case, four magnets were inserted into the bladder for the purpose of forceful penile erection. Clinical history, symptom, radiologic study, and endoscopic examination were required to diagnose foreign body. They were easily removed by endoscopic manipulation or open surgical procedure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.84-86
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• 2016

Globus pharyngeus or globus sensation is the painless sensation of a lump in the throat and may be described as a foreign body sensation, a tightening or choking feeling. It is often associated with persistent clearing of the throat, chronic cough, hoarseness, and catarrh. Its etiology remains unclear ; however, laryngopharyngeal reflux may play a role in a subset of patients. Psychogenic problems have often been thought to cause or trigger the globus sensation. Personality studies have found higher levels of alexithymia, neuroticism, and psychological distress (including anxiety, low mood, and somatic concerns) and lower levels of extraversion in patients presenting with globus. Globus patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux exhibited weaker psychological symptoms than non- laryngopharyngeal reflux globus patients, and globus patients who did not respond to proton pump inhibitor had significantly higher anxiety scores. In cases with negative clinical investigations and consistent globus symptom, other treatment strategies, including speech therapy, antidepressants, and cognitive-behavioral therapy, should be considered.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 1995

The author compared indices of thyroid function in 76 patients with panic attack and 80 control subjects. And SCL-90-R was performed to evaluate the relationship between the psychiatric symptoms and thyroid indices in the patients with panic attack The results were as follows: 1). No siginificant differences in T3, T4 or TSH were found between the two groups. But T3 level was significantly lower in male panic patients than male controls(p<0.005). 2) The T3 level was significantly lower in male panic patients who had higher depression socre than average in SCL-90-R(p<0.025). 3) The TSH level was significantly lower in patients with higher anxiety(p<0.001) and phobia(p<0.05) score and in female panic patients(p<0.001) with higher anxiety and phobia score than average in SCL-90-R. 4) The phobic symptom(p<0.001) was siginificantly higher and the T3 level(p<0.005) was lower in the male than the female patients with panic attack.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.86-89
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• 2014

Functional dysphonia (FD) is a voice disorder in the absence of structural or neurologic laryngeal pathology. FD is not a single disease but a disease entity. Therefore several voice disorders, which have completely different pathogenesis, are included in this category. The first step of treatment of FD is differentiating patient's voice symptoms from other organic voice disorders and other functional voice problems. Several different treatment modalities are included in the managements of FD. Voice therapy is in charge of the main role in treatment of FD. Medical treatment is also necessary when patient has general problems which would affect voice production. Vocal folds mucosal lesions can cause FD even the lesion is minor. In this case proper surgical intervention helps to improve the symptom of FD. Psychiatric consultation should be considered when the patient has psychological problems.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.208-216
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• 2016

Objectives : According to the recent Korean National Police Agency report, rape victims were 17.1%, but sexual molestation victims were more than the rape victims by 78.0%. Despite many international reports about the occurrence of severe psychiatric symptoms in sexual molestation victims, there is no domestic research. Therefore in this study, we investigated psychiatric symptoms of sexual molestation victims, and we also compared it with psychiatric symptoms in rape victims. Methods : 58 women who visited Busan Smile Center within 3months after sexual violence were the study subjects. Questionnaire about sociodemographic and sexual violence related characteristics were retrospectively investigated. Of the psychiatric symptoms, Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory(BAI) for severity of depression and anxiety, and Impact of Event Scale-Revised(IES-R) to check the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) symptoms were used. Results : Of 58 sexual violence victims, sexual molestation victims were 36(62.1%) and rape victims were 22(37.9%). In sexual molestation victims, 80.6% had more than moderate severity of depression, 83.3% had more than moderate severity of anxiety, and 94.4% had significant scores at PTSD screening test. Compared with rape victims' psychiatric symptoms(each 95.5%, 95.5%, 95.5%) there were no significant difference. Conclusions : The majority of sexual molestation victims were also accompanied by depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms as rape victims. There results suggest that appropriate assessment and early treatment for psychiatric symptom must be made in the early stage of injury in sexual molestation victims.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2013

Objectives There is a controversy regarding the construct validity of anxiety and depression. Some believe that these two symptoms are basically the same construct, that is, both measure what is called 'general distress' or two phenomena are distinct experiences which often coexist. To further understand relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms, we investigated the factor structure of a combined anxiety and depression scale among psychiatric outpatients. Methods Data of Zung's Self-Rating Depression and Anxiety Scales were gathered from 401 newly visiting psychiatric outpatients at a university-affiliated hospital. We performed a component analysis on the 40 items from two scales. Results Exploratory factor analysis revealed a seven factor structure explaining 56% of total variance. Overall finding indicated that depression and anxiety scales consisted of four symptom domains : mainly depressive symptoms, mainly anxiety symptoms, common somatic symptoms, and others. Conclusions Our results suggest that the construct of self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms are more complex than previously thought, i.e., either one or two factor theories. These findings also support that anxiety and depression can be better modeled by dimensional approach. Clinicians may be alert for the fact that both depression and anxiety scales measure distinct and also common aspects. Further researches on other scales especially, interview based instruments are needed.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.705-715
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• 2001

This study examined 19 papers published from 1977 to 2000 based on the objective frame evaluation. This purpose of this study was to examine the trend of Hwabyung research and to serve as a guide for the future 'Hwabyung' study. The results of studies were as follow. In the design of research, clinical studies are definitely dominant. As for the fields of research, the concept of Hwabyung was studied more frequently than the others. As for the authorship. psychiatrists prevailed but nursing professionals are on the increase. Research subject in clinical and survey study, patient was definitely dominant and the place of study was almost always a hospital (75%), data collection was higher on interview (58.3%). Hwabyung was considered unique culture bounded syndrome related to Korean culture. Frequent etiologic factor of Hwabyung were a husband's extra-marital affair, conflicts between houses wives and mothers-in-laws, and financial loss and suffering. From the incidence of Hwabyung, a greater number of patients with Hwabyung were middle aged women in the low economic and educational classes, and these were connected with the culture and the family system. The symptoms of Hwabyung included psychological and physical symptom, neurological disorder and disease behavior. Defense mechanisms and coping strategies for Hwabyung were somatization, suppression, orality, withdrawal, isolation, regression, help-seeking, complaining, and wreaking anger. Treatment of Hwabyung were medication, effort by herself, communication with families, consultation with psychologist, acupuncture, negative therapy, moxa, and Qi-kong. Psychiatric therapy, behavior therapy, nursing intervention on multi-interdisciplinary approach and psychiatric nursing approach were recommended for the nursing care of a Hwabyung patient.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.362-369
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• 2019

Background: Chronic nonspecific symptoms attributed to indoor nonindustrial work environments are common and may cause disability, but the medical nature of this disability is unclear. The aim was to medically characterize the disability manifested by chronic, recurrent symptoms and restrictions to work participation attributed to low-level indoor pollutants at workplace and whether the condition shares features with idiopathic environmental intolerance. Methods: We investigated 12 patients with indoor aire-related work disability. The examinations included somatic, psychological, and psychiatric evaluations as well as investigations of the autonomic nervous system, cortisol measurements, lung function, and allergy tests. We evaluated well-being, health, disability, insomnia, pain, anxiety, depression, and burnout via questionnaires. Results: The mean symptom history was 10.5 years; for disabling symptoms, 2.7 years. Eleven patients reported reactions triggered mainly by indoor molds, one by fragrances only. Ten reported sensitivity to odorous chemicals, and three, electric devices. Nearly all had co-occurrent somatic and psychiatric diagnoses and signs of pain, insomnia, burnout, and/or elevated sympathetic responses. Avoiding certain environments had led to restrictions in several life areas. On self-assessment scales, disability showed higher severity and anxiety showed lower severity than in physician assessments. Conclusion: No medical cause was found to explain the disability. Findings support that the condition is a form of idiopathic environmental intolerance and belongs to functional somatic syndromes. Instead of endless avoidance, rehabilitation approaches of functional somatic syndromes are applicable.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.102-130
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• 2022

Objectives: The persistence and unpredictability of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and new measures to prevent direct medical intervention (e.g., social distancing and quarantine) have induced various psychological symptoms and disorders that require self-treatment approaches and integrative treatment interventions. To address these issues, the Korean Medicine Mental Health (KMMH) center developed a field manual by reviewing previous literature and preexisting manuals. Methods: The working group of the KMMH center conducted a keyword search in PubMed in June 2021 using "COVID-19" and "SARS-CoV-2". Review articles were examined using the following filters: "review," "systematic review," and "meta-analysis." We conducted a narrative review of the retrieved articles and extracted content relevant to previous manuals. We then created a treatment algorithm and recommendations by referring to the results of the review. Results: During the initial assessment, subjective symptom severity was measured using a numerical rating scale, and patients were classified as low- or moderate-high risk. Moderate-high-risk patients should be classified as having either a psychiatric emergency or significant psychiatric condition. The developed manual presents appropriate psychological support for each group based on the following dominant symptoms: tension, anxiety-dominant, anger-dominant, depression-dominant, and somatization. Conclusions: We identified the characteristics of mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and developed a clinical mental health support manual in the field of Korean medicine. When symptoms meet the diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder, doctors of Korean medicine can treat the patients according to the manual for the corresponding disorder.