• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.25-37
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• 2021

Objectives: Depression is a mood disorder showing low energy, loss of interest, anhedonia, and anxiety. It affects a patients' daily life. This disease is considered a social problem because the patient may commit suicide in extreme cases. JSB is composed of 12 Korean medicinal herbs. It has been prescribed to patients with depression. The objective of this study is to investigate anti-depressive effects of JSB on restraint stress-induced depression in a mouse model. Methods: Depression was induced by restraint stress. Mice were orally administered JSB at 10, 20, or 40 mg/kg for 14 days. Forced swimming test (FST) and open field test (OFT) were performed. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA level was measured by real time-PCR. Plasma levels of corticosterone and serotonin were measured by ELISA. Blood levels of AST and ALS were measured using a biochemical analyzer. Results: JSB treatment significantly reduced the immobility time in FST. BDNF mRNA level was increased by JSB treatment in the hippocampi of mice. Although the expression of TNF-α was also increased by JSB, such increase was not statistically significant. The increase of corticosterone level in plasma induced by restraint stress was significantly down-regulated by JSB. JSB reduced blood level of AST, but not ALT. Conclusions: JSB has a potential to manage depression, setting a foundation for clinical application of Korean medicine with safety.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.125-137
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• 2001

We investigated the self-concept, subjective depression, and state-trait anxiety of the school boys with learning disabilities(abbr. LD, n=86) and compared them with normal boys(n=52) using Piers-Harris Self-Concept Inventory, Child Depression Inventory(abbr. CDI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(abbr. STAI). With regard to Piers-Harris Self-Concept Inventory total scores, there was no significant difference between two groups, but normal boys showed higher scores in intellectual and school status, physical appearance, and happiness-satisfaction subscales than patients with LD. The male patients with LD showed significantly higher ratings in CDI total scores, and CDI subscales - ineffectiveness, anhedonia, negative self-esteem than normal children. The patients with LD reported significantly higher state anxiety, but not trait anxiety. Correlation analyses revealed that self-concept decreased over time, and depression-anxiety increased across grades in the patients with LD, but not in normal children. Especially, negative mood, anhedonia, negative self-esteem subscales of CDI, and state-trait anxiety showed significant positive correlation with grades. In both groups, CDI scores were inversely correlated with Piers-Harris Self-Concept and positively with State-Trait anxiety. In conclusion, self-concept problems which were related with school achievement and self-esteem were more abundant in the patients with LD than normal children, self-image problem, depression and anxiety increased across grades. According to regression analysis, age, behavior subscale, intellectual-school status, anxiety, popularity, happiness-satisfaction, CDI-ineffectiveness, interpersonal problem, negative self-esteem, and state anxiety could explain the self-concept in the patients with LD, not in normal children. So, the self-concept of the patients with LD were found to be related to the school achievement and stress when comparing with peers. In conclusion, elementary school boys with LD showed lower self-concept, higher depression and anxiety, and these differences increased across grades. Since the patients with LD have concomitant depression and anxiety disorders, it is important that comorbidity with emotional problems should be explored and managed properly.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 2021

Objectives : The characteristics of depressive symptoms in patients with cancer is different from those in control group. However, few research has focused on the association between depressive symptoms in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to compare the network structure of depressive symptoms between patients with cancer and normal control. Methods : This study was based on cohort data from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2016-2018. The Patient health Quetionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess depressive symptoms in 599 patients with cancer and 599 age-sex matched controls. We estimated network structure of depressive symptom using Isingfit model. Results : There was no significant difference of each PHQ-9 item score. There were strong associations between symptoms were concentration problem-psychomotor activity, anhedonia-depressed mood, and depressed mood-suicidal ideation in both groups. Strength centrality of worthlessness was significantly higher in patients with cancer. Conclusions : These results suggest that worthless is associated with other depressive symptoms more tightly in patients with cancer. Worthless can serve as important treatment targets for intervention of depression in patients with cancer.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.812-820
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• 2022

Depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized by depressed mood, anhedonia, fatigue, and altered cognitive function, leading to a decline in daily functioning. In addition, depression is a serious and common mental illness not only in an individual's life but also in society, so it must be actively treated. Autophagy is involved in the pathophysiological mechanism of mental illness. According to a recent study, it is known that autophagy-induced apoptosis affects neuroplasticity and causes depression and that antidepressants regulate autophagy. Autophagy is a catabolic process that degradation and removes unnecessary organelles or proteins through a lysosome. And, it is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis. Autophagy is activated in stress conditions, and depression is a stress-related disease. Stress causes damage to cellular homeostasis. Recently, although the role of autophagy mechanisms in neurons has been investigated, the autophagy of depression has not been fully studied. This review highlights the new evidence for the involvement of autophagy in the pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment of depression. To highlight the evidence, we present results from clinical and preclinical studies showing that autophagy is associated with depression. Understanding the relevance of autophagy to depression and the limitations of research suggest that autophagy regulation may provide a new direction for antidepressant development.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.124-143
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• 2000

Objectives：The primary purpose of this study is to understand the psychopathology of the victims of school violence in terms of early psychosis. By doing this, the early detection of psychosis among the victims is possible, and early detection may lead to early intervention. Methods：Two-thousand and nine-hundred seventy two students from 16 middle schools in Seoul were asked to fill out questionnaire comprised of popularity and intellectual and school status of Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Inventory, Symptom Check List-90-Revised, and Ostracism Scale. The subjects whose scores upon Ostracism Scale were higher than average by two standard deviation were labeled as ‘Repelled and Isolated group', and subjects whose scores on popularity were significantly lower than average and whose scores on psychoticism of SCL-90-R were higher than average were defined as 'tentative early psychosis group'. Odds ratios were calculated from the numbers of subjects with and without high psychoticism scores and high ostracism scores. On the subjects of 'tentative early psychotic group', we examined every clinical characteristic and conducted correlation analysis and regression analysis in order to find out the risk factors and to construct theoretical model that explains the psychoticism scores. Results：The results were as follows：1) Total 157(5.3%) subjects were rated significantly higher on ostracism scale, and among them, 47 subjects(29.9%) were rated significantly higher than average on psychoticism scale, while only 50 subjects among 2,135 students who were rated within normal range showed significantly higher score on psychoticism scale. Odds ratio for psychotic group of isolated group were 17.82 and it was statistically significant. 2) Forty-seven subjects(31 boys, 16 girls) who were rated as they were unpopular and rejected from peers had significantly higher psychoticism scores. They were not significantly different from simply high psychoticism subjects in anxiety, social anhedonia scale, magical thinking, obsessivecompulsive symptoms, phobic anxiety, psychoticism, somatization, but showed higher ostracism scores and paranoid tendencies. Among school violence victims, who rated themselves unpopular and showed higher psychoticism scores, the psychoticism scores were mainly explained by anxiety, depression, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, paranoid tendency, somatization scales($r^2=0.93$). Conclusion：Thus, it can be concluded that the subjects with higher ostracism score have the substantially high risk for psychosis development. By these results, we propose that school violence victims with anxiety, depression, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, paranoid tendency, somatization should be tested individually considering school adjustment, attentional deficit, concept formation problems.