• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.454-462
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• 2016

Purpose: Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is defined as 'positive psychological change experienced as a result of a struggle with highly challenging life circumstances'. The purpose of this study was to identify the level of PTG and its correlates in Korean patients with breast cancer. Methods: A sample of 120 participants was recruited from outpatients, who had successfully completed primary treatment of breast cancer at a university hospital., Data were collected from June to December, 2014 using Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale, Cancer Coping Questionnaire, Revised Life Orientation Test and The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Results: Total score for the PTG was $79.18{\pm}17.54$ in patients surviving breast cancer. Bivariate analyses indicated that PTG was positively associated with having a religion, perceived social support, greater optimism, cancer coping, and illness intrusiveness. Results of the regression analysis showed that cancer coping (${\beta}=.29$, p=.001), optimism (${\beta}=0.28$, p=.001) and illness intrusiveness (${\beta}=0.17$, p=.037) were statistically significant in patients' PTG. Conclusion: The research findings show that the variables of cancer coping, optimism and illness intrusiveness significantly explain PTG and these psychological variables can be used to provide improvement in PTG for patients with breast cancer.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2017

We reviewed the scientific literature on psychological effects of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) disaster, which is one of the biggest threat to modern society. CBRNE disaster has the potential to cause specific physical symptoms and psychological distress in victims ; moreover, various toxic symptoms and carcinogenesis/mutation would be an important issue. Bioterrorism can cause localized outbreaks of infectious disease or pandemic disaster. Somatization as well as posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression are the characteristic psychological symptoms in CBRNE disaster's victims. CBRNE disasters could lead to large-scale public fear and social chaos due to the difficulties involved in verifying the extent of exposure and unfamiliar area to the common people. In the evacuation process, problems associated with adjustment and conflict between victims and residents should be considered.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

Posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) is a psychiatric illness that results from exposure to serious threats of injury or death. In addition, dental phobia, which is suggested as a sub-threshold form of PTSD, may result from aversive or painful dental treatment. Patients with PTSD may present greater dental and behavioral challenges than other patients due to their mental illness, neglect of oral hygiene, and their medication. Dentists have to consider the challenges to provide these patients with proper dental treatment.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.79-85
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• 2010

Objectives : Trauma patients have attentional bias which enforces traumatic memories and causes cognitive errors. Understanding of such selective attention may explain many aspects of the posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) symptoms. Methods : We used the rapid serial visual presentation(RSVP) method to verify attentional blink in burn patients with PTSD. International affective picture system(IAPS) was used as stimuli and distracters. In the 'neutral test', patients have been presented series of pictures with human face picture as target stimuli. Each picture had 100ms interval. However the distance between target facial pictures was randomized and recognition of second facial picture accuracy was measured. In the 'stress test', the first target was stress picture which arouses patient emotions instead of the facial picture. Neutral and Stress tests were done with seven PTSD patients and 20 controls. In '85ms test' the interval was reduced to 85ms. The accuracy of recognition of second target facial picture was rated in all three tests. Eighty-five ms study was done with eighteen PTSD patients. Results : Attentional blinks were observed in 100-400ms of RSVP. PTSD patients showed increased recognition rate in the 'stress test' compared with the 'neutral test'. When presentation interval was decreased to 85 ms, PTSD patient showed decrease of attentional blink effect when target facial picture interval was 170ms. Conclusion : We found attentional blink effect could be affected by stress stimulus in burn patients. And attentional blink may be affected by stimulus interval and the character of stimulus. There may be some other specific mechanism related with selective attention in attentional blink especially with facial picture processing.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2012

Objective : Cortisol, a product of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis), is one of our defensive mechanisms in response to stress. The level of cortisol in the saliva is a major biomarker of the stress response by HPA axis and shows diurnal variation. We measured salivary cortisol level and its diurnal variation to compare the pattern of changes by degree of burn and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) score. Methods : We measured the salivary cortisol levels of 37 subjects hospitalized in the burn center at our facility from March to June 2012. Salivary cortisol levels were measured at 6 : 00 AM and at 7 : 00 PM. All subjects were tested for CAPS to evaluate the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale to evaluate and to control the coexisting depression. Results : Factorial ANOVA test revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in terms of the effect of the interaction between the degree of burn and the patient's CAPS score. Unlike the mild burn group, in the severe burn group, the patients who had a low CAPS score didn't show a normal diurnal variation and the patients who had a high CAPS score showed the normal diurnal variation. After a few months follow up, we found a greater degree of psychiatric complications in severe burn patients that had a lower cortisol stress response. Conclusion : We suppose that the disappearance of the stress response changes in salivary cortisol seen in the severe burn group may be caused by an impaired stress response. Through followed observation of the subjects, this disruption of cortisol response may cause psychiatric problems afterwards.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.13-18
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• 2015

The purpose of the study is to investigate the predisposing factors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in fire fighters in Korea and to suggest the program development and solution to the critical incident stress management (CISM) in the future. PTSD is characterized by invasion, withdrawal, negative change of cognition and mood, and hypersensitivity. Trauma memory includes explicit memory and implicit memory. The explicit memory is conscious, cognitive, and descriptive and is controlled by hippocampus. The data of explicit memory have inhibitive and narrative language structure. The implicit memory is inconscious, emotional, and remembered by the body. The implicit memory is controlled by amygdala and has inexpressive language structure. The deletion of implicit memory is the key point to trauma treatment. Critical incident stress management (CISM) is the approach for the solution of PTSD. In conclusion, the essential goal of CISM is the psychological cessation of PTSD. This study tried to suggest the education program development of PTSD.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.59-74
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• 2021

Li Gao left a great mark in the history of Chinese medicine by founding Piwei (脾胃) theory. When explaining Li Gao's medical ideology, researchers explain that his medical ideology was created by curing hunger during wartime and treating diseases of people who suffered from battle field trauma. However, Li Gao also suffered from battlefield trauma for his experience of the Mongol siege of Kaifeng (開封城) from 1232 to 1233. It is the hypothesis of this study that Li Gao himself would have suffered posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and this study reexamines the process more closely from the viewpoint of PTSD and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The conclusion of this study is that his achievement in medical history is a result of his PTG. Li Gao's narrative of Piwei (脾胃) theory contains elements that seek revenge against the Mongol soldiers, and Li Gao achieved extraordinary PTG by overcoming the trauma of the siege of Kaifeng step by step.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2017

Objective : The PTSD Checklist (PCL) is a self-report screen for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that can be scored for both diagnostic assessment and symptom severity measurement. The most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) contains a number of changes to the definition of PTSD, and the aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the PCL for the DSM-5 (PCL-5-K). Methods : The participants were 204 Korean veterans of the Vietnam War who completed the PCL-5-K, the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE), PTSD module of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5, Research Version (SCID5-RV PTSD module), Korean version of Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R-K) and Combat Exposure Scale (CES-K). Results : The PCL-5-K demonstrated good internal consistency (${\alpha}=0.972$) and test-retest reliability (r=0.96); the suggested cut-off score for PTSD diagnosis was ${\geq}37$ with 0.88 sensitivity and 0.96 specificity. The PCL-5-K scale correlated highly with the IES-R-K and CES-K. Factor analysis identified only one factor. Conclusion : Among elderly Korean veterans of the Vietnam War, the PCL-5-K demonstrated similar psychometric qualities to those of both the original PCL and subsequent versions. It is expected that the PCL-5-K will be a useful PTSD screening tool.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.29-37
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• 2015

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between psychosocial factors and the severity of musculoskeletal pain in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHODS: A total of 60 subjects were recruited from among the veterans with musculoskeletal pain at D Veterans Hospital. PTSD was evaluated by using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; severity of pain was measured by using the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ); depression and anxiety were measured by using the Symptom Checklist-90-Revision; and the quality of sleep was measured by using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. All data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 software for Windows. RESULTS: The averages cores of pain intensity ($7.48{\pm}1.67$), SF-MPQ-sensory ($13.84{\pm}7.52$), SF-MPQ-affective ($4.41{\pm}3.79$), depression ($19.30{\pm}11.37$), anxiety ($13.39{\pm}7.99$), and quality of sleep ($10.05{\pm}5.89$) were obtained in veterans with PTSD. SF-MPQ-sensory measures sleep quality (r=0.346, p<0.01), SF-MPQ-affective measures depression (r=0.318, p<0.01) and anxiety (r=0.404, p<0.01), and these showed a statistically significant positive correlation in veterans with PTSD. Pain levels were observed to be higher in veterans with PTSD. Moreover, in these subjects, physical pain had a significant influence on the anxiety variable among the psychosocial factors. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that musculoskeletal pain provides meaningful information about depression, anxiety, and sleep disorder in veterans with PTSD. Our data suggest that musculoskeletal pain may need to be addressed as part of the health management process of veterans.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2011

This study has been conducted to provide the basic materials about the occurrence structures, causes and choice of treatments of the traffic accident offenders' PTSD(Posttraumatic Stress Disorder). The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, accident offenders', not victims', PTSD conditions, which has been only estimated until now, are measured by nationwide questioning survey. Second, accident offenders' changes of driving attitude after accidents could be typed by factors analysis in the 20 driving situations closely connected to the occurrence of traffic accidents. Third, by the t-test, the difference of driving attitudes in primary driving situations according to existence of PTSD is distinguished. Six driving situations, which are found significant by t-test, are applied to structural equation. So the variables related to PTSD and the models which analyze the attitude changes of driving are constructed. This study provides the basic materials to help the reduction and prevention of the occurrence of PTSD.