• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 1995

Borderline personality disorder in adolescents present with suicide attempts or gestures, and they are characterized by the same patterns of splitting, devaluation, manipulation, need-gratifying object relations, impulsivity, and ego deficits that are finds in borderline adults, Symptomatolgy are depression, anxiety, identity crisis, and occasionally antisocial behavior in borderline personality disorder in adolescents. These findings should be differentiated to normal stormy adolescents. Theses borderline personality disorder in adolescents are known about the instability of object relations, labile affect, splitting, and psychotic episode in severe stress. According to thses finding, schizophrenia, mood disorder, schizoptypal personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder could be differentiated. Etiology is complex including psychodynamic, genetic, familial factor. Treatments are individual psychotherapy, group therapy, and pharmacotherapy. The continuity or discontinuity of borderline states from childhoon to adult life is controversy.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.297-302
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• 2008

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the ability of facial affect perception is associated with schizotypal personality traits in healthy normal controls. Methods : 241 normal subjects were recruited in this study. The age range of all subjects was from 19 to 63 years. The schizotypal personality questionnaire(SPQ) and facial affect identification test(FAIT), which were developed and standardized in Korea, were applied. Subjects from high 1 standard deviation(H group, N=40) and low 1 standard deviation(L group, N=26) on SPQ score were compared. Results : We found that the H group showed significantly reduced ability on the correctness of sadness and neutral compared with the L group. But, no significant association between SPQ and intensity or reaction point was observed in all subjects. Conclusion : This study suggests the individuals with high schizotypal personality trait have impairments on the facial affect identification. Also, these findings may provide the reasonable explanation of social cognition deficit of schizotypal personality disorder.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.227-234
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• 1999

An association of low total cholesterol in blood with psychiatric diseases and suicidal behavior has been suggested. As part of an attempt to further explore this relationship, we examine first, whether serum cholesterol levels in psychiatric patients with suicidal attempt would be lower than in non-suicidal psychiatric inpatients or normal controls, second, whether such significant difference of cholesterol levels would be present when the diagnostic groups are analyzed separately, third, whether low cholesterol level would be associated with a history of serious suicidal attempts, and finally, whether low cholesterol level in suicide attempters is a state or a trait marker. We determined the serum cholesterol levels in 231 patients admitted to an emergency room following an suicidal attempt, in the same numbers of age-, sex- and diagnosis- matched non-suicidal psychiatric controls, and in the same numbers of age-, sex matched normal controls. The seriousness of an attempt was divided into 5 grades according to the degree of the resulting medical injury. Total cholesterol levels in suicide attempters were significantly lower compared with both psychiatric and normal controls, when sex, age, and nutritional status (i.e., body mass index) were controlled for. This significant relationship was observed in major depressive disorders and personality disorders, but not in schizophrenia and bipolar type I disorders. The severity of suicide by a lowering of blood cholesterol was related to the magnitude of the cholesterol reduction. After treatment of their psychiatric ailments, the cholesterol levels in suicide attempters were significantly increased. This result suggests that low cholesterol level in psychiatric patients might be a potential biological marker of suicide risk. It is hypothesized that low cholesterol levels is associated with the suicide by modifying the serotonin metabolism, the production of interleukin-2 and melatonin metabolism in psychiatric patients.