The mechanism of psychotherapy is explained by the recent developments in neuroscience and neuroimaging. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of psychotherapy and to discuss the future of psychotherapy improvement with the help of advances of the neurobiological findings in psychotherapy. For this study, we investigated a wide range of materials. We searched for various researches on psychotherapy, brain, and neurobiology. In addition to the conventional psychodynamic psychotherapy, we investigated research findings on cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Moreover, based on the actual experiences of treating patients, we speculated the neurobiological mechanisms of the process and results of psychotherapy. With the development of neuroscience, we are now able to understand the personal consciousness, unconsciousness and developmental process. Also subdividing the disease is made possible. Personalized treatment has become available, and we are able to predict the prognosis of patients. Our memories are composed by implicit memory and explicit memory. By psychotherapy, we can consciously remember explicit memory, and it becomes easier to explore implicit memory through free association. Through psychotherapy, we will also be able to learn the effect of acquired environment and experience. Psychotherapy is able to correct human behaviors by modifying the memories. Through the regulation of emotions, it becomes possible to modify the memories and correct the behaviors. In this process, doctor-patient relationship is the main factor which cause positive treatment effects. Furthermore imagination therapy or unconscious, non-verbal stimuli could bring about positive treatment effects. Now psychotherapy could be explained and studied by neuroscientific researches. In this sense, we could provide the direction of future advances in neuroscience by the neurobiological understanding of psychotherapy.

This article aimed to describe typical event-related potentials (ERP) components of emotional processing in patients with anxiety disorder and highly anxious individuals. ERP components associated with emotional processing could be broadly divided into three components with short, middle and long, respectively. Many studies show that patients with anxiety disorders are characterized by different emotional bias to specific stimuli and more sensitive to emotional stimuli than normal individuals. In addition, these emotional biases were stronger and quicker in patients with anxiety disorder than normal individuals. Some studies reported that anxious people show abnormality at the initial stage (e.g. P1) of emotional processing. However, other studies reported the abnormality at the late stage (e.g. LPP) or wholeness of emotional processing in anxious individuals. We summarized the updated finding of possible ERP components of emotional processing in patients with anxiety disorder and highly anxious individuals. The significance and clinical implication were discussed.

The primary purpose of this review is to present an overview of relationship between human spontaneous eyeblinking and internal cognitive processes. The second purpose is to address the neural substrates of human eyeblinking based on recent studies focusing on the central dopaminergic system and to explore the significance of spontaneous eyeblinks in neuropsychiatric disorders. We reviewed recent and previous studies on eyeblink patterns under various cognitive tasks. We also reviewed neural substrates of eyeblinking, particularly based on the central dopaminergic system. This paper suggests that spontaneous eyeblinks are highly correlated with various cognitive processes and the activity of central dopaminergic system. Various neuropsychiatric disorders are related to the alteration of the occurrence of eyeblinking. Spontaneous eyeblinking is the unique human behavior that occurs regularly without conscious effort. It is known that the rate of eyeblinking is modulated by internal cognitive processes and dopamine-related neuropsychiatric disorders. Further research is required to how the temporal dynamics of spontaneous eyeblinking is correlated with the disease activity and progression.

LDAEP와 세로토닌 기능 간의 직접적인 관계의 초기 증거들은 동물 실험으로부터 도출되었고 이후 세로토닌성 장애에 기반한 질병들의 임상 실험을 통하여 간접적인 뒷받침이 이루어 져왔다. 현재까지 LDAEP와 세로토닌 사이의 연관성을 확인해주는 증거는, 우선 세로토닌 시스템 내에서 유전적 polymorphism을 연구하는 것을 통해, 그리고 직접적으로 약물을 투여 하는 방식으로 확보되었다. LDAEP가 연관된 대부분의 연구는 모노아민 시스템에 초점을 맞춰왔으나 LDAEP에 대한 다른 신경전달 시스템의 효과는 거의 알려진 바가 없다. 향후 세로토닌 외에도 도파민, 노르에피네프린, 아세틸콜린 등 다른 신경전달물질과의 연관성에 대한 연구가 필요하다. In vivo 중추 세로토닌 기능의 유효한 비침습적 표지자로서 LDAEP를 확정짓기 전에, 단기적 조절뿐 아니라 장기적 세로토닌성 조절이 포함된 더 많은 연구가 필요하다. 현재까지의 증거로 보면 LDAEP의 가장 유망한 활용은 초기 항우울 치료반응과 관련된 생물학적 지료서의 활용이다. 최근의 연구들은 LDAEP의 노르아드레날린성 그리고 세로토닌성 항우울제 반응에 대한 민감도를 확인했으며 이러한 긍정적인 기초 결과들을 재현하기 위하여 더 많은 연구들이 필요하다.

Objectives : QT interval prolongation and dispersion known as indicators of an increased risk for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death have been reported to be prolonged in patients with anorexia nervosa. The aims of this study were to compare conduction abnormalities in Korean patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, and to examine its relation with clinical and laboratory factors. Methods : We retrospectively examined 45 women with anorexia nervosa and 75 women with bulimia nervosa who were assessed by 12-lead electrocardiogram at baseline. QT interval and corrected QT interval, QT dispersion of the difference between the longest and shortest QT intervals, and abnormal U wave were measured for conduction abnormalities. Results : QT interval was significantly longer in patients with anorexia nervosa compared with those with bulimia nervosa. There were no differences in QTc (Corrected QT), QTd (QT dispersion) and abnormal U wave between patients with anorexia nervosa and those with bulimia nervosa. QTd was significantly correlated with the lowest ever lifetime body mass index ($kg/m^2$) as well as the serum amylase level in patients with anorexia nervosa. Conclusions : These results suggest some conduction abnormalities reported in patients with anorexia nervosa are also found in patients with bulimia nervosa. It appears that severity of weight loss and purging behavior could affect the cardiac arrhythmia in patients with eating disorders. Appropriate attention should be paid to cardiac involvement in patients with eating disorders.

Objectives : This study was designed to investigate the usability of IVA + Plus (Continuous Performance Test) and Neuro-Guide [Quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) normative database] as an auxiliary diagnostic tools for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods : The scores of IVA + Plus and resting EEG were obtained from 34 elementary school-aged children. Also, the Korean ADHD Rating Scale (K-ARS) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children version IV (DISC-IV) was done for the parent of them. From the result of the DISC-IV, we divided them into three groups, ADHD Not Otherwise Specified (NOS), and Normal Control (NC). Using NeuroGuide, the z-scores of relative power for delta (1-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), and beta (12-25 Hz) were calculated. Then the correlation and variance analysis were done to investigate the differences between three groups. Results : The scores of IVA + Plus were negatively correlated with the K-ARS. IVA + Plus have successfully discriminated the ADHD from NC and NOS. The z-scores of relative power of delta and theta were positively correlated with the K-ARS. The z-scores of relative power of alpha and beta were negatively correlated with the K-ARS. Conclusions : The IVA + Plus and NeuroGuide QEEG test are expected to be used as the valuable tools for diagnosing ADHD accurately.

Objectives : Autobiographical memory (ABM) is a special type of episodic memory, containing events that have occurred in a personal life. Overgeneral tendency of ABM refers to the retrieval of memory with only general and categorical descriptions rather than specific events. ABM specificity in depression and posttraumatic stress disorder is a robust finding with relation to cognitive vulnerability, affect regulation, problem-solving ability. It is also implicated in bipolar disorder with frequent relapses. In this study, we investigated whether ABM specificity was related to manic or euthymic mood states in patients with bipolar disorder. Methods : Forty bipolar patients with manic and euthymic episodes and 25 healthy controls participated in this study. Prompted by 5 positively and 5 negatively valenced emotional cue words, each participant was instructed to recall positive or negative memories and describe them in detail. The One-way ANOVA was used to compare ABM scores and post-hoc analyses were done. Results : Comapred to the healthy persons, the bipolar patients reported significantly more general than specific negative memories in both manic and euthymic episodes (p = 0.003). However, there was no significant difference between manic and euthymic patients (p = 0.074). Conclusions : These results suggest that overgeneral tendency of negative ABM may be a trait abnormality in bipolar disorder. Moreover, this phenomenon might be related to underlying cognitive deficits or affect regulation irrespective of the mood state.

Objectives : This study was designed to investigate the association between the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) genetic polymorphism [TaqIB (rs17294542) and TaqID (rs1800498)] and patients with schizophrenia. Methods : TaqIB (rs17294542) and TaqID (rs1800498) polymorphism of the DRD2 gene were typed in 100 patients with schizophrenia and 109 normal controls. Results : There were no statistical differences in genotype and allele distribution of TaqIB (rs17294542) and TaqID (rs1800498) genetic polymorphism between patients with schizophrenia and normal controls. Conclusions : These results suggest that the TaqIB (rs17294542) and TaqID (rs1800498) polymorphisms of the DRD2 gene may not be associated with schizophrenia in the Korean population.

Objectives : Much is still unknown about the neurophysiological mechanisms or dynamics of the sleep onset process. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is a new tool for the analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) that may give us additional information about electrophysiological changes. The purpose of this study is to analyze long-range correlations of electroencephalographic signals by DFA and their changes in the sleep onset process. Methods : Thirty channel EEG was recorded in 61 healthy subjects (male:female=34:27, age=$27.2{\pm}3.0$ years). The scaling exponents, alpha, were calculated by DFA and compared between four kinds of 30s sleep-wakefulness states such as wakefulness, transition period, early sleep, and late sleep (stage 1). These four states were selected by the distribution of alpha and theta waves in O1 and O2 electrodes. Results : The scaling exponents, alpha, were significantly different in the four states during sleep onset periods, and also varied with the thirty leads. The interaction between the sleep states and the leads was significant. The means (${\pm}$ standard deviation) of alphas for the states were 0.94 (${\pm}0.12$), 0.98 (${\pm}0.12$), 1.10 (${\pm}0.10$), 1.07 (${\pm}0.07$) in the wakefulness, transitional period, early sleep and late sleep state respectively. The mean alpha of anterior fifteen leads was greater than that of posterior fifteen leads, and the two regions showed the different pattern of changes of the alpha during the sleep onset periods. Conclusions : The characteristic findings in the sleep onset period were the increasing pattern of scaling exponent of DFA, and the pattern was slightly but significantly different between fronto-temporal and parieto-occipital regions. It suggests that the long-range correlations of EEG have a tendency of increasing from wakefulness to early sleep, but anterior and posterior brain regions have different dynamical process. DFA, one of the nonlinear analytical methods for time series, may be a useful tool for the investigation of the sleep onset period.