• Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.497-500
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• 2018

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a quite rare multi-systemic genetic disorder strongly associated with psychiatric illness in adults, especially psychosis. This report presents a 16-year-old female with PWS and symptoms of brief psychotic disorder with a complete resolution of symptoms under aripiprazole medication. However, an exacerbation occurred after aripiprazole reduction. Apart from a weight gain of about 2 kg over the course of two years, no adverse effects could be found. This first report on the use of aripiprazole in a subject with PWS and psychosis suggests that aripiprazole might be a promising treatment approach in this distinct group of patients.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2014

Objective : To obtain the incidence rate of anxiety disorders among the active duty Korean military personnel, who visited the military hospitals from 2011 to 2013, this descriptive epidemiological study was performed. Methods : After acquiring the data for the anxiety disorders from Defense Medical Statistics Information System, the annual incidence rates were analyzed by forces, position status, and specific disease entities. Results : One thousand, nine hundred and thirteen (1,913) active duty male military personnel were diagnosed with any kinds of anxiety disorders in their first visit to the psychiatric outpatient department (OPD). The total OPD visit counts were 7,870 during the same period. Anxiety disorder, NOS was the most frequent disorder, followed by panic disorder. While the incidence rate for anxiety disorder, NOS decreased, panic disorder displayed increasing tendency. Stress-related disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder were positioned third and fourth, respectively, for the number of first visit and they both showed decreasing tendency in annual incidence rates. Social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and mixed anxiety-depressive disorder followed next. The annual incidence rates for anxiety disorders showed decreasing tendency, particularly evident in army soldiers. However, naval officers showed higher anxiety disorder incidence rate compared to those of the army and the air forces. Conclusion : Comparing to general population, panic disorder was higher while specific phobias and GAD were lower in the Korean military. It is interesting to observe higher incidence rate for anxiety disorder in naval officers and warrants further evaluation.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.121-125
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• 2003

Objective:Recently, many experimental evidences have been reported that psychiatric diseases are closely related with neurodevelopmental abnormalities and this can be properly explained by apoptosis. It is known that Apo-1/Fas is one of the genes in charge of apoptosis related with neurodevelopmental abnormalities. In this study, the association between bipolar disorder and functional polymorphism in Apo-1/Fas promoter gene has been investigated. Method:For 81 bipolar disorder patients and 217 healthy control subjects, MvaI restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP) of Apo-1/Fas promoter gene was analyzed after polymerase chain reaction(PCR) amplification. Result:There was a statistical significant difference in genotypic distribution(${\chi}^2$=16.656, df=2, p=0.0002) and allelic frequencies(${\chi}^2$=14.225, df=1, p=0.0002) between bipolar disorder patients and healthy control subjects. Conclusion:Our results suggest an association between functional polymorphism in Apo-1/Fas promoter gene and bipolar disorder and provide the important genetic information related with the pathogenesis of the disease. Further studies employing larger samples are required to clarify the present results.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2014

Objectives : Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is often comorbid with adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other psychiatric illnesses. When associated with other mental problems, the prognosis of the AUD can be more serious. This study shows research on the clinical and neuropsychological characteristics according to whether or not ADHD symptoms and AUD were comorbid. Methods : A total of 64 adult inpatients who completed AUD scales about adult ADHD, alcohol dependence, depression, anxiety, and impulsiveness. They also completed neuropsychological tests about attention and executive function. According to the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale score, patients were categorized into two groups (ADHD symptom positive/negative group). Results : Fourteen among the 64 subjects were part of the ADHD symptom positive group (21.9%). They had statistically significant shorter abstinence periods and a higher rate of history of 'rule violation during school' and 'physical damage in childhood' compared to the ADHD symptom negative group. Conclusion : The comorbidity rate with ADHD symptom in adult AUD is higher than the general population. The ADHD symptom positive group suffered from more severe and refractory AUD. Considering the more frequent history of rule violation during school in the ADHD symptom positive group, the association between ADHD and AUD may be mediated by conduct disorder. Therefore we suggest the necessity of careful evaluation and intervention in children and adolescents with ADHD and conduct disorder.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.150-160
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• 2018

Objectives: This study investigated the effect of social skills training (SST) on facial emotion recognition and discrimination in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: Twenty-three children aged 7 to 10 years participated in our SST. They included 15 children diagnosed with ADHD and 8 with ASD. The participants' parents completed the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL), the ADHD Rating Scale, and Conner's Scale at baseline and post-treatment. The participants completed the Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (K-WISC-IV) and the Advanced Test of Attention at baseline and the Penn Emotion Recognition and Discrimination Task at baseline and post-treatment. Results: No significant changes in facial emotion recognition and discrimination occurred in either group before and after SST. However, when controlling for the processing speed of K-WISC and the social subscale of K-CBCL, the ADHD group showed more improvement in total (p=0.049), female (p=0.039), sad (p=0.002), mild (p=0.015), female extreme (p=0.005), male mild (p=0.038), and Caucasian (p=0.004) facial expressions than did the ASD group. Conclusion: SST improved facial expression recognition for children with ADHD more effectively than it did for children with ASD, in whom additional training to help emotion recognition and discrimination is needed.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.104-110
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• 2019

Objectives: Insomnia patients who visited the psychiatric outpatient of a university department, were divided into those patients with insomnia alone and those with depression or anxiety disorder, along with insomnia. The study analyzed their demographic characteristics and the differences in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) results among the patient groups. Methods: Patients who visited the psychiatric department in Konkuk University hospital from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2018. If they were diagnosed with insomnia disorder based on DSM IV-TR and had undergone STAI, their electronic records were retrospectively analyzed. Based on the records, the patients were classified into those with insomnia disorder only, those with insomnia and anxiety disorder, and those with insomnia and depressive disorder. This study analyzed the demographic characteristics and STAI results of each group, and compared the differences among those groups. Results: During the period, 99 of 329 insomnia disorder patients who had performed STAI were diagnosed with depressive concurrent disorder and 61 with concurrent anxiety disorder. There was no difference in demographic characteristics of age and sex ratio among the three patient groups, and all had greater than 70% proportions of patients aged from 50s to 70s (71.8%, 77.1%, and 73.8% respectively). The average scores of STAI-I were 51.85 ± 10.15 for the patients with anxiety disorders and 54.18 ± 10.32 for those with depressive disorders, both of which were higher than the score of the patients with insomnia alone (44.55 ± 8.89). However, the score difference was not statically significant between the anxiety and depression groups. Similarly, in the STAI-II comparison, the averages of patients with anxiety or depressive disorders along with insomnia were 49.98 ± 8.31 and 53.19 ± 10.13 respectively, which were higher than that of the insomnia only group (42.71 ± 8.84), but there was no significant difference between the anxiety and depressive disorder groups. Conclusion: Although there were no differences in demographic data between the patients with insomnia only and those with accompanying depressive or anxiety disorder, the STAI-I and II scores were lower in the insomnia only group. In the future, it is necessary to consider other demographic characteristics including comorbidities and to conduct similar analyses with a larger sample.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2020

With the advancement in modern information technology, virtual reality (VR) is being increasingly used for the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of mental disorders. Recently, a VR-based cognitive behavioral therapy for social phobia has been recognized as a new medical technology in South Korea. This might lead to an increase in the use of VR in the field of psychiatry. The present review provides an overview of the status of VR therapies in various psychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, addiction, and eating disorder. Besides, it summarizes the role of VR therapy in the management of disorders associated with child and adolescence psychiatry as well as various other clinical applications. Additionally, we discuss the merits and limitations of VR therapy, which might serve as a useful reference for researchers. In the current environment wherein novel medical models consisting of a combination of digital devices and medicine are being developed; understanding new technologies such as VR could open new doors to mental health treatments.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 1994

The authors report a case of REM sleep behavior disorder which occurred in a 69-year-old business man. He began experiencing episodic "acting out" behavior of his dream at the age of 66. The episodes tended to be associated with dream contents, mainly being chased or threatened. Before that, his sleep was relatively quiet despite occasional nightmares, midsleep arousal, and shallowness. Injuries resulted from leaping out of bed, jumping onto furnitures, and grabbing and biting the spouse's arm. Most recent dream-incurred laceration of chin required 5 sutures. Medical and psychiatric history revealed no significant findings except that he had been overanxious all his life within himself with others' reputation of himself as pleasant and easy-going. A nocturnal polysomnogram showed repeatedly intermittent increase of chin and/or leg muscle tones during otherwise characteristic REM sleep period. The overnight video recording revealed head lifting and limb movements during REM sleep periods. Brain MRI and EEG were normal. Job-related stress was presumed to be an etiological possibility. Clonazepam 0.25-0.5mg nightly almost completely relieved the symptoms.

• Journal of mucopolysaccharidosis and rare diseases
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2021

Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a neurodevelopmental genomic imprinting disorder involving a lack of gene expression from the paternal chromosome 15q11-q13 region. This is typically due to paternal 15q11-q13 deletions (in approximately 60% of cases), maternal uniparental disomy 15, or when both 15s are from the mother (about 35% of cases). An imprinting center controls the expression of imprinted genes in the chromosome 15q11-q13 region. PWS is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by mental retardation and distinct physical, behavioral, and psychiatric features. Characteristic behavioral disturbances in PWS include excessive interest in food, skin picking, difficulty with a change in routine, temper tantrums, obsessive and compulsive behaviors, and mood fluctuations. Individuals with PWS typically have intellectual disabilities (borderline to mild/moderate mental retardation) and exhibit a higher overall level of behavior disturbances compared to individuals with similar intellectual disabilities. This condition severely limits social adaptations and quality of life. Different factors have been linked to the intensity and form of these behavioral disturbances, but there is no consensus regarding the cause. Consequently, there is still controversy surrounding management strategies and there is a need for new data. PWS is a multisystem disorder. Family members, caregivers, physicians, dieticians, and speech-language pathologists all play an important role in the management and treatment of symptoms in an individual with PWS. Here we analyze behavioral problems in children and adults with PWS by age and review appropriate management and treatment strategies for these symptoms.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2023

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the Comprehensive Attention Test, Korean-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Rating Scale-IV scores in children and adolescents with ADHD. Methods: Fifty-five children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD and not taking psychiatric medications were included in this retrospective study. A correlation analysis was performed. Results: Although simple visual and auditory selective attention have diagnostic value in traditional continuous performance tests, this study revealed that inhibition-sustained attention and interference-selective attention are also effective in evaluating ADHD. Furthermore, the correlation between the attention and intelligence test scores varied depending on the use of visual or auditory stimuli. Conclusion: The findings of this study contribute to clarifying our understanding of the cognitive characteristics of children and adolescents with ADHD and can be used in future research.