• Anxiety and mood
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 2014

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship among daytime sleepiness, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and stress response of students in a university Methods : A total of 557 students were recruited in this study. The participants filled out stress response inventory, Epworth sleepiness scale, overall anxiety severity and impairment scale, and quality of life scale. Results : Excessive daytime sleepiness group showed higher scores in all factors in stress response inventory, overall anxiety severity and impairment scale, and quality of life scale. Sleepiness might be correlated with somatization and depression and anger in Stress response inventory. Conclusion : Excessive daytime sleepiness group exhibited poor quality of life scale. Screening about overall quality of sleep, such as mood and anxiety should be considered for students in a university.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.376-385
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• 2016

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the relationships among job stress, job satisfaction, and mental health in marine officers. Methods: The researchers gathered data on marine officers working at a harbor in Chungcheong Province, South Korea, using a self-reported questionnaire. Mental health was measured by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revision (SCL-90-R), and general characteristics including socioeconomic factors, job stress, and job satisfaction were measured by structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationships among job stress, job satisfaction, and mental health status according to the symptom dimensions of the SCL-90-R. Results: Among the marine officers, obsessive-compulsive behavior, depression, and somatization were the most problematic symptoms. Those who reported poor health, low job satisfaction, and high job stress had a higher prevalence of psychoticism, somatization, depression, anxiety, and phobic anxiety. Conclusions: An occupational health system should be introduced that would regularly check the mental health of marine officers in charge of ships and sailors, in order to help reduce their stress levels, enhance their job satisfaction, and thereby improve their mental health.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was done to evaluate the effects of a recreation therapy program on burn rehabilitation patients to determine if the program is an effective nursing intervention which can affect mental health problems and heart rate variability. Methods: Subjects were 54 hospitalized burn rehabilitation patients (25 in the control group, 29 in the experimental group). The experimental group participated 6 times in a recreation therapy program led by a qualified instructor. Brief symptoms inventory-18 (somatization, anxiety, depression) questionnaire, and heart rate variability were checked before and after the recreation therapy program. Results: The mental health scale showed significant differences in somatization (p<.001), anxiety (p<.001) and depression (p<.001). There was no significant difference in heart rate variability (autonomic activity, autonomic balance, stress resistance, stress parameter and fatigue, mean heart rate, electro-cardiac stability). Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest that a recreation therapy program is an effective nursing intervention to decrease the level of mental health problems of burn rehabilitation patients. However, a subsequent study is needed to develop an intervention program that will induce the effect of physiological parameters like heart rate variability (HRV).

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.269-276
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• 1996

A theroretical study was made on the psychodynamism of somatoform disorder. Somatoform disorder is caused by a defense mechanism of somatization. Somatization is the tendency to react to stimuli(drives, defenses, and conflict between them) physically rather than psychically(Moore, 1990). Ford(1983) said it is a way of life, and Dunbar(1954) said it is the shift of psychic energy toward expression in somatic symptoms. As used by Max Shur(1955), somatization links symptom formation to the regression that may occur in response to acute and chronic conflict. In the neurotic individual psychic conflict often provokes regressive phenomena that may include somatic manifestations characteristic of an earlier developmental phase. Schur calls this resomatization. Pain is the most common example of a somatization reaction to conflict. The pain has an unconscious significance derived from childhood experiences. It is used to win love, to punish misdeeds, as well as a means to amend. Among all pains, chest pain has a special meaning. Generally speaking, 'I have pain in my chest' is about the same as 'I have pain in my mind'. The chest represent the mind, and the mind reminds us about the heart. So we have a high tendency to recognize mental pain as cardiac pain. Kellner(1990) said rage and hostility, especially repressed hostility, are important factors in somatization. In 'Psychoanalytic Observation on Cardiac Pain', psychoanalyst Bacon(1953) presented clinical cases of patients who complained of cardiac pain in a psychoanalytic session that spread from the left side of their chests down their left arms. The pain was from rage and fear which came after their desire to be loved was frustrated by the analyet. She said desires related to cardiac pain were dependency needs and aggressions. Empatic relationship and therapeutic alliances are indispensable to psychotherapy in somatoform disorder. The beginning of therapy is to discover a precipitating event from the time their symptoms have started and to help the patient understand a relation between the symptom and precipitating event. Its remedial process is to find and interpret a intrapsychic conflict shown through the symptoms of the patient. Three cases of somatoform disorder patients treated based on this therapeutic method were introduced. The firt patient, Mr. H, had been suffering from hysterical aphasia with repressed rage as ie psychodynamic cause. An interpretation related to the precipitating event was given by written communication, and he recovered from his aphasia after 3 days of the session. The second patient was a dentist in a cardiac neurosis with agitation and hypochondriasis, whose psychodynamism was caused by a fear that he might lose his father's love. His symptom was also interpreted in relation to the precipitating event. It showed the patient a child-within afraid of losing his father's love. His condition improved after getting a didactic interpretation which told him, to be master of himself, The third patient was a lady transferred from the deparment of internal medicine. She had a frequent and violent fit of chest pains, whose psychodynamic cause was separation anxiety and a rage due to the frustration of dependency needs. Her symptom vanished dramatically when she wore a holler EKG monitor and did not occur during monitoring. By this experience she found her symptom was a psychogenic one, and a therapeutic alliance was formed. later in reguar psychotherapy sessions, she was told the relaton between symptoms and precipitating events. Through this she understood that her separation anxiety was connected to the symptom and she became less terrifide when it occurred. Now she can travel abroad and take well part in social activities.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.45-51
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• 2004

Hwabyung is a Korean culture bound syndrome and translated as anger syndrome at DSM-IV. And it is caused by the suppression of anger and has characteristics of chest discomfort, burning up as physical symptoms, and mortification, chagrin as psychological symptoms. It is very common in the field of psychiatry in Korea with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). * Objective : 95 patients with MDD or Hwabyung, who visited the department of psychiatry in Korea University Medical Center or oriental medical hospital of Kyunghee Medical Center from May 2003 to August 2003, were selected for the study to compare between Major Depressive Disorder and Hwabyung. * Methods : The Structured Clinical Interview Schedule for DSM-IV (SCID) and Hwa-Byung Diagnostic Interview Schedule (HBDIS) were conducted for diagnosis. And Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) was carried out for comparison between MDD and Hwabyung. * Result : Among the 95 patients, MDD group was 23 persons, Hwabyung group was 36 persons, and MDD plus Hwabyung group was 36 persons and it occupied 37.9%. MDD plus Hwabyung group had higher scores than any other groups in the whole dimensions of SCL-90-R. Hwabyung group had higher scores than MDD group in somatization, anxiety, hostility, Global Severity Index(GSI) and positive symptom total (p<.05) of SCL-90-R, but two groups had no difference in obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal-sensitivity, depression, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, positive symptom distress index of SCL-90-R. * Conclusion : These result showed that Hwabyung is similar to MDD at the point of depression and psychoticism but more severe at somatization, anxiety and anger than MDD.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.219-222
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• 2009

Various somatic symptoms are known to be related to stress in a general population. Korean red ginseng has been used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment and prevention of many diseases in Oriental medicine. There exist no data, however, on the effect of Korean red ginseng on somatic symptoms in a general population. In this study, 21 normal subjects were randomly assigned to the Korean-red-ginseng group, and 18 subjects to the placebo group. The subjects took 3 g Korean red ginseng or placebo every day for three weeks. After the three-week treatment, there was a interaction effect of a greater reduction in the Symptom checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R) somatization score (p=0.04) in the Korean-red-ginseng group. This study suggests that Korean red ginseng is effective for the management of somatic symptoms in a general population.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2012

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the correlations between neurological and psychiatric symptoms at two weeks after stroke. Methods : For 412 stroke patients, stroke severity was evaluated by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS), disability by the Barthel Index(BI) and modified Rankin Scale(mRS), cognitive function by the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination(K-MMSE), and muscle power by grip strength. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed by Symptom check list-90-Revision(SCL-90-R), consisted of nine symptom domains : Somatization, Obsessive-compulsive, Interpersonal sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic anxiety, Paranoid ideation, Psychoticism, and Additional items. The correlations between the neurological and psychiatric symptoms were investigated at the time of admission and before discharge(i.e. before and after treatment). Results : At the time of admission, NIHSS score was associated with scores on Phobic anxiety and Additional items ; and scores on BI and mRS were associated with Depression, Phobic anxiety and Additional items. At the time of discharge, NIHSS score was associated with scores on Somatization, Depression, Phobic anxiety, and Additional items ; scores on BI and mRS were associated with scores on Depression, Phobic anxiety and Additional items ; MMSE score was associated with Obsessive-compulsive, Depression, Phobic anxiety, and Additional items ; and grip strength was associated with Somatization, Depression, Anxiety and Additional items. Conclusions : More severe neurological symptoms were associated with higher psychiatric morbidity particularly in depression, phobic anxiety, sleep and appetite disturbance at acute stage of stroke. More intensive psychiatric care and intervention are needed for the high risk group.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.333-359
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• 2017

We examined the moderator roles of negative belief in emotional expression and emotional clarity between work-life balance and psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety and somatization). Also we identified gender differences in their moderating effects. This study was based on a sample of 869 married working employees (man: 424, women: 445). Hierarchical moderated regression analyses showed that work-life balance, negative belief in emotional expression and emotional clarity were strongly associated with depression, anxiety and somatization. While negative belief in emotional expression significantly moderated the relationship between work-life balance and depression and anxiety, emotional clarity showed no significance. We found gender differences in moderating effects of two moderators. In specific, the only women who had more negative belief in emotional expression were more psychological symptoms in a low work-life balance situation. On the other hand, the only men who had higher emotional clarity were less depressive and anxious under the conditions of high work-life balance. We discussed about implications of these results.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.309-314
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• 2012

Objective: To investigate the psychological characteristics of hepatic malignancy patients before interventional procedures and assess associations with related factors. Methods: Two hundred and thirteen patients requiring interventional procedure for hepatic malignancy were asked to complete a survey of health knowledge and psychological symptom on health knowledge questionnaire and SCL-90 before interventional procedure. Logistic regression analysis was employed to determine the association of various demographic, clinical and health knowledge factors with the presence of psychological symptoms in patients. Results: Eight psychological symptom scores, i.e. somatization, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobia, paranoid ideations and psychotic states, were significantly higher than the normal range (P< 0.001). Of 213 cases in the study, 49 families (23.00%) concealed the diagnoses of hepatic carcinoma from patients; 135 patients (63.38%) described the prognosis of the disease correctly. It was demonstrated that the correlations between psychological symptoms and related factors, i.e. age, gender, education, interventional procedure times and health knowledge, were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Psychological distress is severe in hepatic malignancy patients before interventional procedures. Age, gender, education, interventional procedure times and health knowledge are associated with psychological symptoms which are significant different from the normal range in Chinese.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.330-342
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• 2013

Objectives This study was to examine the differences on alexithymia, rumination, depression and somatic symptoms by each Sasang constitution, and aimed at combining the psychological construct with Korean medical treatment. Methods One hundred eighty men and women aged from 20 to 69 who reside in Geoje-si were selected, and data from 173 people consisting of the three constitutions-Soyangin(39), Taeeumin(83), and Soeumin(51), excepted the minority sample of Taeyangin(7 people)-were analyzed. Collected data were analyzed and tested by IBM SPSS Statistics 20: frequency analysis for demographic data; t-test for gender differences; one-way ANOVA for differences among three constitutions; and Pearson correlation analysis for the correlation between variables. Results The result of t-test taken for the gender differences between variables was not significant. According to the result of one-way ANOVA conducted by different Sasang constitutions, no variables showed a significant result except that of alexithymia. The correlation analysis showed that the alexithymia had positive correlation with rumination, depression, and somatic symptoms. Rumination was in positive correlation with depression and somatic symptoms. Especially, depression had high positive correlation with somatization symptoms. Among the variables analyzed by each constitution, only the survey result of the alexithymia was significant. Conclusions Given that each constitution showed different levels of the alexithymia, it can be concluded that therapeutic intervention in the treatment for the Taeeumin who shows a high level of alexithymia is needed to improve their emotional recognition and expression. In this context, application of program which focus on the emotional ability such as emotion coaching to the Korean medical treatment is expected to improve alexithymia, depression, and somatic symptoms.