Patients with panic disoder (PD) show recollection of their first panic attack, which resembles a trauma that is perceived as an unexpected frightening and subjectively life-threatening event. Information-processing models suggest that anxiety disorders may be characterized by a memory bias for threat-related information. This paper reviews the previous researches that investigated the implicit and/or explicit biases in patients with panic disorder. Among the 17 studies, which addressed the explicit memory bias in PD patients, 11 (64.7%) were found to be explicit memory bias in PD patients. In regards to the implicit memory bias, 4 out of 9 studies (44.4%) were found to support the memory bias. The result shows that evidence of explicit memory bias in PD patients was supported by a number of previous researches. However, evidence of implicit memory bias seems less robust, thus, needs further research for replication. Also, development of new paradigms and applications of various methods will be needed in further researches on memory bias in PD patients.

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with panic disorder using EQ-5D and EQ-VAS, and to examine the relationship between health-related quality of life and clinical outcomes following treatment. Methods : 29 patients with panic disorder were recruited from the Seoul Metropolitan area and 20 patients were followed up after two months of outpatient treatment. The Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) was used to assess the severity of the panic disorder and the changes in symptoms. HRQoL was assessed with EQ-5D and EQ-VAS at baseline and at two months of treatment. Results : All enrolled panic disorder patients showed significantly impairment of HRQoL in view of the subscales of EQ-5D, EQ-VAS index scores. The severity of PDSS was correlated the HRQoL in the panic patients. After treatment, the EQ-5D, EQ-VAS index scores showed significant improvement. Conclusion : Panic disorder patients suffer from lower HRQoL as well as from symptoms of the disorder. They showed clinical improvement and a restored HRQoL with treatment. These outcomes suggest using the EQ-5D, EQ-VAS such as the HRQoL in the assessment of patients with panic disorder is essential.

Objectives : The current study investigated the personality characteristics of the sexual offender using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test commonly used in clinical medicine. Methods : 30 sexual offenders (30 male) completed the Korean version of the MMPI. 20 of the 30 sexual offenders were patients with paraphilia. The sexual offenders had been admitted to the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry Ministry of Justice, Gongju, for sexual violence. Results : The MMPI scores of the sexual offenders were significantly higher on the psychopathic deviate (Pd), masculinity-feminity (Mf), paranoia (Pa), psychasthenia (Pt), schizophrenia (Sc) than the comparison group. And The MMPI scores of the sexual offenders had higher values for hypochondriasis (Hs), depression (D), hysteria (Hy), hypomania (Ma), social introversion (Si) than the comparison group, but were not significantly higher. Conclusion : Sexual offenders may be antisocial, paranoid, schizoid or psychasthenic. They seem to have psychotic psychopathology rather than neurotic psychopathology. These results suggested that the psychopatholgy of sexual offenders may be different to the control group.

Objective : We investigated whether Posttraumatic stress disorder patients have a higher tendency to exaggerate the extent of their psychological symptoms compared to other psychiatric patients. Methods : Medical records of patients, who had received psychiatric treatment at four university hospitals in Korea between January 2009 and December 2010, were retrospectively reviewed. We compared a group of 37 patients diagnosed with PTSD, and another group of 41 patients diagnosed with neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders according to the ICD-10. To compare the extent of malingering in the two groups, we compared the validity scales of MMPI-2 and Personality Assessment Inventory. We determined the number of participants in both groups feigning their responses by using various cutoff scores of the validity indicators. Results : The PTSD group showed significantly higher scores on the F (p=0.001), F (B)(p=0.000), F (P)(p=0.030), F-K (p=0.003) scale of the MMPI-2 compared to the other group of psychiatric patients. The PTSD group had a significantly higher NIM score (p=0.001) but a lower PIM score (p=0.020) of the PAI compared to the other group of psychiatric patients. Using the cutoff scores, the PTSD group showed a significantly higher number of patients who feigned responses compared to the other group ($Fb{\geq}75$ (p=0.010), $F-K{\geq}1$ (p=0.005), $F-K{\geq}10$ (p=0.011) from the MMPI-2, and $NIM{\geq}80$ (p=0.001) from the PAI). Conclusion : These results suggest that PTSD patients have a tendency to exaggerate their symptom. This group of patients overreported the severity of their condition during standardized personality assessment that included the MMPI-2 or PAI compared to patients diagnosed with other psychiatric disorders. Additional research is required to determine the factors influencing symptom exaggeration in PTSD.

Objective : The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between symptom severity and neurocognitive factors in traumatic head injury patients. In addition, the effect of frontal lobe damage on these parameters was examined. Methods : We selected 18 patients who had brain damage for the moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (MSTBI) group, and 17 patients who met the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) without the finding of brain damage for the comparison group. For the evaluation of neurocognitive function, K-WAIS, Rey-Kim Memory Test, K-FENT, WCST, and MMPI-2 were used. Results : The results of the comparison (using the malingering scale) revealed that the values of PDS and PK, which express the severity of symptoms, and the values of the validity scale F, F (B), and F (P) were significantly higher in the overly-expressed group. F (B) in overly-expressed group and PK, Pt, and Sc in the properly-expressed group had significant correlation with the severity of symptoms. F (B), S, and Stroop error inhibition in PTSD, and PK, Pt, Sc, and MQ in MSTBI had significant correlation with the severity of symptoms. The results of the comparison based on the finding of frontal lobe damage revealed that PDS, EIQ, and MQ ware significantly higher in the group without brain damage. Conclusions : It was revealed that each neurocognitive factor was correlated with the severity of symptoms. There was a decrease in complaints or symptoms reported by the frontal lobe injury group, and this is believed to be due to degenerative change in the personality and emotional functioning of these patients following frontal lobe damage.

Introduction : Suicide in Korea has increased to 31.2 persons per 100,000 population, the world's highest level. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the world, but in Korea, it is 4th leading cause of death. Therefore suicide is a serious problem in Korea. Many suicide prevention strategies have been proposed. Despite efforts to prevent suicides in Korea, a steady increases in the number of suicides has been brought into question the effectiveness of suicide prevention activities in Korea. Methods : Strategy of restricting suicide methods in many countries was reviewed. Systematic approach to restrict suicidal methods in Korea is proposed. Results : Restricting suicide methods is one of the effective suicide prevention strategies employed in the UK and other countries. Since many suicides occur impulsively, suicide attempt lethality is an important factor in determining the rate of deaths in suicidal attempts. Physical restriction of suicide methods is important in preventing suicide, but restriction of cognitive access to information about suicide and suicide method is more important in preventing suicide. In particular hanging is one of the most common methods of suicides in Korea, it is crucial to develop strategies to prevent suicide by hanging cognitively. Also information about suicide should be properly controlled. To do this, suicide news reporting guidelines should be observed, and website makers whose websites provoke thoughts about suicide should be more strictly sanctioned. Conclusion : Restricting suicide methods along with other suicide prevention plans may be the most effective way to prevent suicide in Korea.

Music therapy had been widely used in the area of psychiatry. However recently, participation of psychiatrist has been decreased, due to recent trends of emphasizing biological psychiatry and rapid effectiveness of pharmacotherapy. A 46 years old male PTSD patient was admitted to psychiatric ward. He has suffered from PTSD symptoms, such as intrusive distressing recollection of his past traffic accident, social avoidance, insomnia and depression. Music therapy, which is conducted by a psychiatrist and a music therapist, was applied. This case suggests the positive role of music therapy in treatment of PTSD and emphasizes the importance of participation of psychiatrist, as an organizer during music therapy.