• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 1991

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.65-85
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• 1992

To study the personality characteristics of alcoholic patients, they were screned with the MAST(Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test) and administered with the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) in the Dept. of Neuropsychiatry, Oriental Medical Hospital in Kyung Hee Univ. form March 1991 to June 1991. Patients admitted for alcoholism were examined and analyzed using the above tests and then studied by Sasang Constitutional approach. Results were as follows; 1. In the MAST score, the cases of obvious alcohol dependence was 53.3% and overall mean score was 28.1 point. 2. In the MMPI scale, the mean of the T-scores for 2(D)-4(Pd) profile was high, but it was not statistically significant. 3. The results obtained by multivariate cluster analysis of MMPI T-scores can be divided into 3 subgroups; 1) 9% showed the psychiatric tendency of F-6(Pa)-9(Ma)profile, 2) 44.2% showed no significant profile, 3)46.5% showed the neurotic tendency of 1(Hs)-2(D)-3(Hy)-4(Pd) profile. 4. Since 44.2% showed no significant profile on the MMPI, much more alcoholic patients were caused not by personality factors but by social tolerance, and also by increasing apportunities of drinking in Korean society. 5. When analyzed with Sasang Constituional approach, 1) for the Soyangin (少陽人): 6(Pa) scale was particularly high, 1(Hs) and 3(Hy) scales were low compared to others, 2) for the Taiumin(太陰人): 1(Hs)-2(D)-3(Hy)-4(Pd) neurotic profile was high, the K-scale and 4(Pd)scale were high compared to the Soyangin, 3) for the Soumin(少陰人): 1(Hs)-2(D)-3(Hy)-4(Pd) neurotic profile and 7(Pt) scale were also high.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.34-45
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• 1998

We provide the reader with a brief introduction to the neurobiology of neuropeptides. Several comprehensive reviews of the distribution and neurochemical, neurophysiological, neuropharmacological and behavioral effects of the major neuropeptides have recently appeared. In reviews of the large number of neuropeptides in brain and their occurance in brain regions thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of major psychiatric disorders, investigators have sought to determine whether alternations in neuropeptide systems are associated with schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, alcoholism and neurodegenerative disease. There is no longer any doubt that neuropeptide-containing neurons are altered in several neuropsychiatric disorders. One of the factors that has hindered neuropeptide research to a considerable extent is the lack of pharmacological agents that specifically alter the synaptic availability of neuropeptides. With the exception of naloxone and naltrexone, the opiate-receptor antagonists, there are few available neuropeptide- receptor antagonists. Two independent classes of neuropeptide-receptor antagonists has been expected to be clinically useful. Naltrexone, a potent ${\mu}$-receptor antagonist, has been used successfully to reduce the need for alcohol consumption. And cholecycstokinin antagonists are now in development as a new class of anxiolytics, which would be expected to be free from tolerance and physical dependence and lack of sedation. In this review, we deal with these two kinds of neuropeptide system, the opioid system and cholesystokinins in the brain. The role of opioid systems in the reinforcement after alcohol consumtion and that of cholesystokinins in the pathogenesis of anxiety will be discussed briefly. As we know, the future for neuropeptides in psychiatry remains bright indeed.