• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.98-102
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• 2000

The author treated a case with combined male erectile disorder and hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Treatment consisted of concurrent psychotherapy, sex therapy, and self-hypnosis lasting 9 months. I suggest that psychotherapy is essential for the treatment of sexual desire disorder especially complicated with deep-seated psychological conflicts, in addition, it is necessary to apply various strategies flexibly in according to the patients' need. I have experienced that self-hypnosis is tremendously useful in the enhancing sexual fantasy and for the arousal of psychological pleasure as well as the maintenance of erection in the phase of sexual excitement.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.82-88
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• 1997

Background : Patients with command hallucinations are commonly assumed to be at high risk for dangerous behavior. However the issue of whether command hallucinations hold any clinical relevance in schizophrenic patients has not been established. Method : The author analyzed the clinical and research records of schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations who participated in outpatient research follow-up for 9 months after discharge. Patients with auditory hallucinations were classified as experiencing or not experiencing command hallucinations based on clinical psychiatric assessment. Results : Of 63 patients with auditory hallucinations, 29(46%) reported the command hallucinations and these hallucinations often were violent in content(44.8%). Patients with command hallucinations were not significantly different from patients without command hallucinations on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and clinical or prognostic course variables, but patients with command hallucinations had significantly more short hospitalizations(less than one month) than patients without command hallucinations. 3 of the patients with command hallucinations who committed suicide during the follow up periods were died. Conclusion : Command hallucinations may be frequent, and in most cases they have minimal influence on the outcome of schizophrenia, but if the patients with command hallucinations have a history of suicide attempts before admission, the possibility of suicide attempts by command hallucinations should be considered.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 1997

For the purpose of examining the relationship between perceived stress, vulnerability variables, and somatization tendency, the self-report questionnaires of perceived stress, styles of stress coping(passive and active copings), self-perception, gender, and somatization tendency were administered to university entrants(n=2,024). The results were as follows: 1) Perceived stress, styles of stress coping(passive and active copings), self-perception, and gender accounted for 15.56% of the total variance in somatization tendency. As a result of comparing the relative contributions of all predictor variables to somatization tendency, the highest was perceived stress, and the next in order were passive coping style, self-perception, and gender, whereas direct effect of active coping style was not significant. 2) The two-way and three-way interaction effects of perceived stress X vulnerability variables were not significant. 3) The two-way and three-way interaction effects of gender X psychosocial variables were not significant. To conclude, perceived stress and vulnerability variables independently contribute to somatization tendency in university entrants, and furthermore it is suggested that vulnerability variables as well as perceived stress must be considered to account for somatization tendency.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.129-134
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• 1997

The meddle years start when persons achieve maturity and end when they realize they are old, and we commonly call ages between thirty-live and sixty five the middle years. Thinking of life as a play, the middle years lead up to and away from the climax of the plot. In the early part of middle age, the man is the main support of his family, and is out to establish himself in his career. He is in a race toward success, and may acquire a sponsor who picks him out as a protege. In the middle part of middle age, the man is ready to come into his own and may break with his sponsor. Most persons are now at the height of their potential, know their areas of competence, and have the satisfaction of feeling in control in them. They need no longer prove themselves from day to day, for they are credited with past accomplishments. Some are caught in "promotion or success depression", and some continue to change jobs creating difficulties is readjustment. The more satisfactory changes usually occur within a career rather than through shifiting careers. In e later part of the middle age the man worries about his physical health, and experiences depression in facing the retirement. Woman frequently change the course of their lives some time between the ages of thirty-five and forty, and may resume their education or careers. Tee quarters of women are passing through "involutional melancholia".

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 2008

Delirium is not developed naturally and is not an endogenous disease. However, delirium has occurred in some specific populations, such as the elderly or medically compromised patients. These become limitations on the systematic study of the epidemiology of delirium. Many epidemiologic studies of delirium have been focused on the elderly due to the fact there are relatively few in the general population. In addition, assessment tools with various sensitivity and specificity have been used. Advanced age, male, poorer cognitive and functional status, and alcohol abuse are well known risk factors of delirium. the epidemiological data will be reviewed in the elderly, patients with dementia, hip fractures, patients hospitalized in intensive care units, terminal cancer and patients with stroke.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2010

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a chronic motor and vocal tic disorder of childhood onset. Abnornmalities in basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits may play an important role in the pathophysiology underlying the involuntary tics. It is often complicated by comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Transcranial magnetic stimulation(TMS) is a neurophysiologic technique with research ap-plication. As there is good evidence that this technique can modify cortical activity, repetitive TMS is also used for treatment to change the cortical excitability and therefore affect underlying interconnected cortical-sub-cortical loop. We reviewed the neurophysiologic parameters and the clinical applicability of TMS and rTMS.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.20-27
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• 2016

Headache is one of the most common physical symptoms which almost everyone experience at least once during a life. Headache is often associated with disability, but rarely with secondary headache which could result in a serious life-threatening illness, i.e. brain tumor. However, in most cases, headache is a benign illness which comprises a primary headache, i.e. migraine or tension-type headache. The accurate diagnosis of headache is critical for clinicians and it begins with history taking and physical examination since there are no diagnostic tests for primary headaches. Nowadays, there are a wide variety of pharmacological treatments according to each headache disorder. The specific purposes of this review are introducing history of classification of headache disorder and presenting diagnostic process of headache disorder. Then, we discuss the effective pharmacological treatment strategies of each headache disorder.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

The behavioural patterns of individuals in the same species are very diverse. The phenomenon in which different behavioural phenotypes are maintained in the same species for long time can be explained by niche specialization or frequency dependent selection, but it has not been proven yet. Especially, the high prevalence of mental illnesses as extreme behaviour patterns is one of the challenges of evolutionary psychology. From an evolutionary point of view, several frameworks for studying various patterns of behaviours or psychopathologies may be proposed. In this paper, I briefly explain animal models, personality factor models, DSM-IV multiaxial models, FSD models, and RDoC models, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages, focusing on the evolutionary approach to behavioural variation among individuals.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2023

Objectives : Biofeedback is a useful non-pharmacological treatment for panic disorder (PD), but no studies have identified physiological markers related to the treatment response. This study investigated predictors of the treatment response for biofeedback in patients with PD. Methods : A retrospective study based on the electronic medical records of 372 adult patients with PD was performed. Patients received biofeedback treatment at least once, and physiological markers including heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin conductance, skin temperature, and electromyography were collected before the treatment began. The patients were classified as responders or non-responders based on the change in Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) score. Results : The response rate to biofeedback treatment was 30.4%. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that a higher CGI-S score at baseline and fewer benzodiazepine prescriptions were associated with a better response to biofeedback treatment. According to subgroup analyses, the baseline CGI-S score, dose of benzodiazepines, and skin conductance are candidate predictors of the response to biofeedback treatment in men, while only baseline disease severity was associated with the treatment response in women. Conclusions : The present results suggest that skin conductance may be target marker and predictor for biofeedback in male patients with PD.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.26-41
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• 1999

The perceived stress response inventory(PSRI) was developed to measure 4 types of current stress responses : emotional, somatic, cognitive, and behavioral responses. 242 patients with psychiatric disorders(71 patients with anxiety disorders, 73 patients with depressive disorders, 47 patients with somatoform disorders, 51 patients with psychosomatic disorders) and 215 healthy subjects completed the questionnaire including the PSRI. Global assessment of recent stress(GARS) scale, perceived stress questionnaire(PSQ) and symptom checklist-90-revised(SCL-90-R) were also administered at the same time. Factor analysis for each of 4 types of stress responses yielded 8 factors : negative emotional responses, general somatic symptoms, specific somatic symptoms, lowered cognitive function and general negative thinking, self-depreciative thinking, impulsive-aggressive thinking, passive-responsive and careless behavior, and impulsive-aggressive behavior. Both test-restest reliability(r= .83 -.93) and internal consistency(Cronbach's alpha : .79 -.96 for each of 8 subscales and .98 for total items of the scale) were all at statistically significant levels. Total scores of the PSRI significantly correlated with total scores of GARS scale, PSQ, and global indicies of SCL-90-R, respectively. The patient group had significantly higher scores than healthy subjects in each of all the subscales except impulsive-aggressive behavior subscale. These results suggest that the PSRI is a reliable and valid tool stable over time which may be effectively used for the research in stress-related field including psychosomatic medicine.