• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.156-161
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• 1996

Many pregnant women have to receive psychotropic medication during pregnancy and lactation period, despite the proven and assumed risks to the fetus ar neonate. A brief summary of drug metabolism and pharmacodynamics is given. Principles and quidelines of using psychotropic agents during pregancy and lactation period are presented for psychotic disorders, bipolar affective disorders. depression and anxiety disorders, with due consideration for relative benefits and risks of choosing among psychotropic drugs and alternative treatments.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 1995

The application of neuroimaging techniques in psychiatry started in 1970s with the use of CT(computerized tomography). Neuroimaging methods can be categorized as anatomical and functional. Recently, attentions are focused on the functional neuroimaging methods those could give us various important informations. But results regarding to psychotropic medication effect on neuroimaging are not sufficient. Here, the study results of the medication effect with the functional imaging methods are mainly revieued.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 1995

Behavioral models are used very widely to investigate or illuminate aspects of human psychopathology. However, the extent to which it is possible to extrapolate from animals to people, and, therefore, the value of information derived from a behavioral model, will depend to a large extent on the validity of the models. This article outlines some behavioral models of depression and anxiety.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.89-97
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• 2005

Depression is a frequently developed psychiatric symptom after stroke. Poststroke depression(PSD) causes not only psychological distress related to depression but also other disturbances in many areas such as cognitive function, activities of daily living and quality of life. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of accurate detection and appropriate treatment of depression is mandatory in patients with stroke. This review focused on the current knowledge of PSD.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.162-165
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• 1998

The serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SRIs) and the serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors(SSRIs) are considered the first choice agents for pharmacologic treatment of obsessive-compulsive disordr(OCD). However, many patients with OCD experience little or no improvement in their symptoms when treated with SRIs or SSRIs. Patients who have experienced a partial or no response to an SRI/SSRI at 10 to 12 weeks are often considered for augmentation strategies. Nearly every class of psychotropic medications has been tried in an open fashion, though augmentation strategies have been somewhat disappointing.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.33-38
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• 2019

Psychiatric disorder as dysfunctional behavioural syndrome is a paradoxical phenomenon that is difficult to explain evolutionarily because moderate prevalence rate, high heritability and relatively low fitness are shown. Several evolutionary genetic models have been proposed to address this paradox. In this paper, I explain each model by dividing it into selective neutrality, mutation-selection balance, and balancing selection hypothesis, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of them. In addition, the feasibility of niche specialization and frequency dependent selection as the plausible explanation about the central paradox is briefly discussed.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2002

Objectives:Abnormalities in the frontal lobe have been consistently suggested in the pathophysiology of depression. The purpose of this review is to discuss the relationship between the frontal lobe and depression. Methods:Recent researches on the frontal lobe in depression were reviewed and abnormalities in this region were considered within the context of modern functional neuroanatomy. Results:This paper reviewed evidence strongly implicating the frontal lobe as a key brain structure in depression. Conclusion:Taken together, these abnormalities in the function of the frontal lobe implicate interconnected neural circuits in depression and offer suggestions for the themes of future research and treatment. Further research is needed to investigate the association between emotion and the brain in the paradigm of "affective neuroscience".

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.159-163
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• 2012

An appropriate research design for hypotheses and purposes leads to a good quality of research results. In this review article, we summarized the types of research methods and described the characteristics of clinical trials. Research designs are categorized into observational studies and experimental ones, depending on data collecting methods. In an observational study, there are cross-sectional, cohort and case-control studies. Parallel groups design and crossover trial studies are representative designs in a randomized controlled trial study, a kind of experimental study. Clinical researchers should understand the characteristics of clinical research designs including advantages and disadvantages and choose the suitable design according to their study purposes and the nature of collected data or subjects.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 2006

One of the most widely recognized neurophysiologic endophenotypes for schizophrenia is deficient gating or inhibition of the P50 component of the auditory event-related potential(ERP). A deficit in P50 sensory gating refers to a dysfunction in the mechanism responsible for modulating the brain's sensitivity of filtering out irrelevant or background stimuli, perhaps as a result of dysfunction in inhibitory neural circuits. In this paper, we review the neuronal and genetic aspects as well as medication effects on P50 in schizophrenia.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.19-23
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• 1997

Attention is a phenomenon hard to define, but can be conceptualized as a mental function ranging from sustaining readiness to perceive stimuli to understanding the nature and value and selecting stimuli that are most relevant to the given situation. Manifestations of attention include vigilance, and focused, directed, selective, divided, and sustained attentions. While basic attentional tone is controlled by the interaction among reticular activating system, thalamus and prefrontal cortex, direction and selection of attention is controlled by neural circuits of prefrontal, posterior parietal, and limbic cortex. It is expected that understanding of attention and its neural control could provide answers to the relationship between pathophysiology and clinical symptoms of some major psychiatric disorders. More efforts are required to develop tools to assess more detailed and various aspects of attention in Korea.