• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.183-195
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• 2018

Objectives: To investigate validity and effectiveness of Saam five element acupuncture treatment in psychological problems. Methods: We selected a Korean medicine doctor known to apply Saam five element acupuncture treatment to the psychiatry field. An investigator visited the doctor's clinic to observe the cases and interview patients. Duration of each interview was 30 minutes to one hour. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for in-depth interviews. All interviews were recorded and converted into texts. Converted texts were then summarized and analyzed qualitatively. Results and Discussion: Treatment process of Saam five element acupuncture designed for psychiatric use is divided into four stages: qi transformation (氣化), acupuncture treatment, deep breathing, and acupressure. In the first stage, patients are asked to express their feelings and emotions in a physical sense; to imagine their feelings have colors, weight, and physical form, and to describe those characteristics. Next, the doctor evaluates each patient's qi according to the six qi (六氣), and then determines protocol of Saam five element acupuncture treatment. This treatment is focused on suffering of the patient and specific symptoms or emotions. The treatment duration is brief and changes in symptoms are frequently checked during treatment sessions. Without discussing details of stressful events, the doctor enables patients to express physical aspects of their feelings. He also provides them with psychoeducational resources. As a result, patients experienced immediate changes in body sensation, emotions and thinking, decreased response to triggers, and increased self-control after treatment. Conclusions: The Saam five element acupuncture treatment has the potential to be used as a treatment for psychiatric disorders. Treatment can be effective in managing psychiatric disorders when applied by primary Korean medicine clinics.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.103-116
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• 2015

Objectives: Medical students suffer from mental health and academic problems due to academic stress. We investigated academic stress and exhaustion along with psychological issues caused by medical education during the years in the School of Korean Medicine. Methods: Two hundred fifty-one university students from the School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, were asked to complete the Medical Stress Scale (MSS), Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS), Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) three times during each semester for two years from 2013 onwards. We analyzed the influence of school term and vacation on educational stress and negative affect with the T-test. The Pearson's correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to predict changes during the first semester or first years of study in the School of Korean Medicine. Results: Academic stress and burnout increased steadily until the first semester of third grade, which was measured with MSS and MBI-SS. The anxiety level was highest when the students started the first grade and it decreased significantly after the first semester. Negative affect repeatedly increased significantly after each school term; however, it reduced after each vacation. In the first grade, 19.5% of the last measure of MSS can be explained with the first measure of MSS. Discussion: This study extensively reviewed the trends and characteristics of four years of academic stress and its related psychological influence, and discussed its importance for developing a more efficient academic curriculum for traditional Korean Medicine.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.101 no.4
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• pp.677-685
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• 2012

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of forest environment and therapeutic program to the patients with major depressive disorder in antidepressant medication. The first group participated the four sessions of therapeutic program in the forest environment ("forest therapy"), the second group did in the program in a hospital environment, the third group did merely walking in the forest ("forest bath"), and the last group was controls. All the participants was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and had been taking antidepressant medication longer than 3 months. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression(HRSD), Montgomery-Asberg Depressin Rating Scales(MADRS), Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), and general health perception was measured by Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire(SF-36). Heart rate variability(HRV) were also examined to observe the physiological parameters before and after the program. In the results, HRSD score of forest program group was significantly lower than controls after the program. MADRS score of forest therapy group and hospital program group was also significantly lower than controls after 4 sessions of the program. The remission rate defined as below 7 points in HRSD was higher in the forest therapy group, hospital program group, forest bath group, and controls in order. These results reveals that the therapeutic program performed in forest environment may improve unremitted depressive symptoms of patients with major depressive disorder. Although not significant, the forest therapy program showed better outcome than hosptial program and forest bath.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.176-181
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• 2014

Objective : Despite high prevalence and effective treatments of panic disorder, lots of patients are not properly treated due to lack of awareness of the disorder. This study summarizes and presents the results from Public Awareness Survey of Panic Disorder during the Mental Health Exposition held in Seoul in April, 2014. Methods : A total of 401 participants who visited the booth of the Korean Academy of Anxiety Disorder agreed and completed the survey. The questionnaires comprised of three sections; first, after given a case of patient with panic disorder, participants were asked to choose a diagnosis and treatment options. Second, participants were asked to differentiate the symptoms of panic disorder from those of other mental disorders and answer where they acquired the knowledge of the disorder. Third, visual analogue scales were used to get more detailed information for several issues about panic disorder. The incidence and ratio for each question were provided and compared. Results : Among the participants, 78% reported a patient within the case need treatment, and 30% accurately recognized it was panic disorder. As for treatment needed, 40% selected psychotherapy by psychiatrists, 28% chose counseling by psychologist, 23% said that they can overcome it by self-care. Only 2% of participants selected the pharmacotherapy as treatment needed. Approximately 40% of participants have encountered information about the disorder from gossips of celebrities, 32% from mass-media, and merely 6% from medical professionals. About 80% of participants could discriminate the symptom of panic disorder from those of depression, schizophrenia, or generalized anxiety disorder. Conclusion : Our results suggest that substantial proportions of participants have the awareness of panic disorder, while as for treatment they were strongly biased against pharmacologic treatments. Most of their source of the awareness was not relied upon professional information. Efforts for giving correct information and increasing public awareness of panic disorder are needed to bridge a gap between professionals and general public.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.372-379
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the service awareness perceived by 25 groups using animal-assisted intervention(AAI). Data collected were analyzed for variables on the effectiveness of AAI by using SPSS Win 25.0 statistical program. The study findings showed that AAI service is very effective for psychological meaning in both expecting purpose before and substantive effect after using AAI. They were satisfied with AAI generally, particularly in terms of participant engagement and differentiated services. Also, they perceived that the cost of AAI service is generally appropriate in consideration of activities with animals and satisfaction of participants but a bit expensive compared to other programs. Also, it was found that the value and the possibility of public expansion of AAI are very high and that the immersion and professionalism of the participants affect the effectiveness of AAI. The results of this study indicate that it is necessary to develop programs and verify effectiveness as a psychotherapy technique and are expected to be useful as basic data for establishing and developing a quality service of AAI.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.43-64
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• 2015

This study investigated the effects of song discussion on depression and rehabilitation motivation in stroke patients. Older adults with chronic stroke participated in this study: nine for the experimental group and eight for the control group. The experimental group was divided into three subgroups and participated in 12 sessions over 6 weeks. Target lyrics were selected by the investigator among popular songs from the participants' young adulthood. The song-based discussion was facilitated to address issues targeted at supportive, insight-focused, or reconstructive stage. The control group was provided with delayed intervention. At pre and posttest, the short form of Geriatric Depression Scale and the Rehabilitation Motivation Scale were measured. The experimental group showed significantly decreased depression and significantly increased rehabilitation motivation (p < .01), while the control group showed no significant changes. Positive changes were also observed in all subcategories of rehabilitation motivation in the experimental group, particularly in significantly increased task-oriented motivation and decreased amotivation. This study suggests that song discussion will be effectively applied in rehabilitative settings to address psychological issues of older adults with stroke.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.458-466
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to review the research on treating depression in Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) over the last 5 years to set the foundation for further studies. We searched for and analyzed articles about depression in CNKI(China National Knowledge Infrastructure) from January 2010 to December 2014. The results were as follows : The most frequently used diagnostic criteria was CCMD-3(The Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders-3), and the most used evaluation criteria was HAMD(Hamilton Depression Rating Scale). Prescription of decoction of medical herbs was most frequently used as a therapeutic method. Acupuncture, traditional Chinese psychotherapy, and music therapy were also used for some studies. The most frequent TCM Syndrome Differentiation Type was stagnation of liver-QI. For decoction of Chinese herbs, Soyo-san(Xiaoyao-san) and Sihosogan-san(Chaihushugan-san) were most often prescribed, and Bupleuri Radix, Paeoniae Radix Alba, Curcumae Radix, Poria cocos wolf, Angelicae Gigantis Radix, Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba were mainly used for medical herbs. BaekHoi(GV20) and Yindang(Ex-HN3) were often used as acupuncture sites. Post-Stroke Depression was the most common case of intercurrent or secondary depression. According to the Jadad Quality Assessment Scale, the quality of the reports was not high as most of the reports had a score of 3 or below. Most systematic reviews on depression were conducted by Chinese researchers. The problem with Clinical research on depression, according to those reviews, was that there were no standardized criteria for the diagnosis and treatment and the trials were usually not randomized nor controlled. We found out there are various clinical methods for treating depression in TCM, and hope that this research could provide the preliminary data for designing and conducting clinical trials for depression.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2007

The pregnancy and postpartum period appear to be a time of heightened vulnerability for the development of major depression in some women. Postpartum depression affects 10% of women within a few weeks immediately postpartum. Postpartum depression is associated with disturbances in the mother-infant relationship, which in turn have an adverse impact on the course of child cognitive and emotional development. Depression during pregnancy is also common, although it has been relatively neglected. Psychopathological symptoms during pregnancy have physiological consequences for the fetus. Understanding the aetiology of perinatal depression requires integrating of multiple psychosocial and biological risk factors. The treatment of depressed pregnant women requires skilled decision making by psychiatrists. Risk-benefit analysis is appropriate method for intervention fur depression in pregnancy. Effective treatments for depression in pregnancy include psychotherapy, antidepressant medication and electroconvulsive therapy. In treatment of postpartum depression, the biological, psychological, and social interventions are included. Prescribing antidepressants(such as fluoxetine), estrogen in severe and chronic cases, and counselling can be effective for improving maternal mood and aspects of infant outcome. Ongoing research is directed to further elucidating neurohormonal and psychosocial contributions to depression during pregnancy or postpartum. Screening for risk factors and symptoms for depression need to be incorporated into antenatal and pediatric clinics.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2011

Since stress can cause a variety of diseases, the relaxation of stress is an important factor for preventing diseases. One way to relieve stress is to use auditory or visual materials. If auditory and visual ones are used together, the effect of stress relaxation will be maximized. In this context, we analyze mood distribution of genre of music and color distribution of mood from the mood data for musics and color data for mood words collected directly from volunteers. Based on these two distributions, we also perform the $X^2$-test with Minitab for checking that color distributions are different from genre to genre. The results show that a different genre has a different color distribution and that the distributions of color, brightness and saturation depend on mood (P<0.0001). The results will be used to develop an emotional lighting system which plays lighting according to music mood, which can be applied to psychotherapy but more data and analysis are needed for clinical trials.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.75-84
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• 2019

Addicts pay more attention to addiction-related cues, such as substance or behavior. And increased attention to these cues is associated with craving. Methamphetamine is the most abused drug among domestic drug offenders, with continually increasing rates of recidivism. Of the total number of reported drug offenders in the last three years, 21.1 percent have been women. Even so, research on female drug offenders is inadequate, rendering policies and fundamental data for the development of psychotherapy programs insufficient. The present study intended to investigate whether female methamphetamine addicts displayed an attention bias towards drug cues. A dot probe task was conducted on 22 female methamphetamine addicts (addiction group) and 22 non-addicts (control group). The task allowed the correct response rates and correct reaction times of the participants to be calculated according to the positioning of the drug and neutral cues. The analysis results revealed that the control group displayed no difference in correct reaction rates and correct reaction times between the drug or neutral cues. While, the addiction group showed lower correct response rate and slower response time for drug cues in comparison to neutral cues. The results of this study are significant in that it identified the attention bias characteristics toward drug cues of female methamphetamine addicts who were disconnected from drugs.