E-ISSN : 2733-4538
CBT-based computerized attention and executive function training for ADHD children was developed and its effect was evaluated before and after the raining. The total subjects were 45 school-aged children diagnosed as ADHD in Seoul National University Children's Hospital. They were divided into 26 in the experimental and 19 in the control group. The total training sessions consisted of 10 sessions, once per week and each session lasted for 30 minutes. The training program based on Min Sup Shin and Sung Zoon Cho's program(2008) was used for the experimental: It was consisted of total 16 games including visual attention, auditory attention, working memory, behavioral inhibition, organization, executive function. Attention and executive functions of ADHD children were individually assessed by using neuropsychological tests, including ADS, Stroop Test, Children's Color Trail making Test, ROCF, and WCST before and after the training. ADHD symptoms and executive functions(attention, behavioral inhibition, and cognitive flexibility) in experimental group significantly improved after the training. These results that CBT-based training using computerized game would for effective for helping ADHD children.
This study aimed to compare the mental health of Vietnamese immigrant women married to Koreans and residing in urban areas(hereafter, “urban residents”) with that of their counterparts living in rural areas(hereafter, “rural residents”), and to determine the various factors affecting the two groups' mental health. To accomplish this, we measured and compared depression(CES-D), somatization(SCL-90-R), and quality of life(WHOQOL-BREF) between the two groups. The results showed rural residents suffered more depression and somatization and reported a lower quality of life than the urban residents experienced. In both groups, some specific variables, i.e. marginal acculturation pattern, “we-ness”, household income, social support, marital conflict and conflict coping strategy significantly predicted mental health and quality of life. In addition, urban residents’ mental health and quality of life were relatively dependent on their husband’s occupational status and gender role, while those of rural residents relied somewhat on their geographic origins in Vietnam and their citizenship status. Finally, we discuss recommendations for differential therapeutic interventions for these two groups and suggestions for future research.
The present studies aimed to investigate the effects of the BAS (Behavioral Approach System or Behavioral Activation System), BIS (Behavioral Inhibition System), and FFFS (Fight-Flight-Freeze System), in the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST), on the development and maintenance of gambling behaviors. Study 1 identified two rRST factors in the SP (Sensitivity to Punishment) scale of the SPSRQ (Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire), which measures original BIS, and examined the relationship between BAS and the beginning of gambling among 764 undergraduates. We used exploratory factor analysis to show the presence of FFFS and BIS in SP. We found BAS, as measured by SR, correlated positively with the K-GABS (Korean Gambling Attitudes and Beliefs Scale), which reflects the individual's affinity for gambling, and also found a significant difference in BAS between students who gambled more than once a month and students who did not gamble. Study 2 examined the relationship between both FFFS and BIS and performance on the modified Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) in a sample of 57 participants with high BAS scores from study 1. We calculated 4 separate multiple regression analyses using FFFS and BIS as predictors and 4 measures on the modified IGT as dependent variables. FFFS and BIS explained a significant amount of variance regarding the gaining of money; however, they failed to reach significance as predictors of total count, reaction time, and net gain-ratio (good deck-bad deck). From these results, we suggest that high BAS can influence the start of gambling, and low FFFS and high BIS can influence an individual to lose more money while gambling. We discuss the limitations of these studies and implications for future research.
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and psychopathologies and the effects of emotion regulation strategies on psychopathologies. For this purpose, I measured undergraduate students’ emotion regulation strategies and psychopathologies, using the Emotion Regulation Strategy Questionnaire (ERSQ) and the Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R) respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that maladaptive strategies correlated positively with psychopathology and that adaptive strategies such as support-seeking strategies, distractive strategies, and approaching strategies, correlated negatively with it. Multiple regression analysis showed that emotion regulation strategies accounted for 29% of the variance in the psychopathologies. Among the emotion regulation strategies, maladaptive strategies had the highest predictive power for psychopathology. In addtion, among adaptive strategies only support-seeking strategies were significant predictors of psychopathology. I discuss limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.
According to one cognitive model of the fear of blushing(Dijk, Vocken, & de Jong, 2009), the belief that one is blushing presumably gives rise to negative beliefs regarding the costs of blushing. The anticipation of such costs causes fear, which leads to increased self-focused attention. This increase in self-focused attention then causes the individual to become hyper-sensitive even to small facial temperature changes, thus leading to an enhanced sensation of blushing. The present study focused on investigating the relationship between blushing tendencies and self-focused attention using an in vivo approach. We divided the participants into four groups by screening them using the Blushing Propensity Scale(BPS) and the Self-Focused Attention Scale(SFA). They then engaged in a five minute conversation with two unknown confederates. To measure blushing, we used both a subjective questionnaires and actual facial skin temperature using a thermal imaging camera. Results revealed that the high-BPS/high-SFA group displayed higher facial temperatures and longer blushing recovery times relative to the other three groups. However, although there was no significant difference in facial temperature between the low-BPS groups, the high-BPS groups reported on the subjective questionnaires that they blushed more intensely and more frequently. This is an empirical study examining the influence of self-focused attention on fear of blushing. These results may provide valuable information regarding the treatment of high blushing-fearful people.
Anxiety sensitivity (AS) refers to the tendency to fear of anxiety-related sensations. Catastrophic interpretation of bodily sensation is the major characteristic of AS. Cognitive Defusion (CD), the key process of acceptance and commitment therapy, is to prevent suffering from one's own thoughts (i.e., Cognitive Fusion) and aims to make people aware that a thought is just a thought and a feeling is just a feeling. To investigate CD's effects on AS, this study focused on fear of respiratory symptoms (FRS), one of the sub-components of AS, and examined whether FRS can be conceptualized as Cognitive Fusion (CF) and whether CD can ameliorate FRS. Female college students who scored in the top 75 percentile or the bottom 25 percentile in their FRS scores were invited (28 people for each group) to participate in the experiment among 329 preliminary survey respondents. Two groups (high FRS and low FRS) showed significant differences in all scales related with CF. Afterwards, half of both groups were given CD intervention while the remaining were allotted into a control condition. After intervention, the changes of FRS and other measures measuring CF were analyzed. Results showed that CD decreased FRS and believability of a negative thought during a breath-holding task only in high FRS group, but increased willingness and breath-holding duration for both high and low FRS groups. In this regard, the present study suggests that even a short intervention, such as CD focusing on disconnecting a catastrophic thought process, can ameliorate AS.
This study aimed to compare motion perception among college students, healthy elderly people, and patients with Alzheimers' disease(AD) using 2D or 3D illusory motion stimuli. The 3D illusory motion stimuli are static images but perceived moving forward and backward, and 2D perceived moving left or right. Significant group differences were found in motion perception, with the students performing best, healthy elderly people next, and the people with AD. And the people with AD performed better in 2D than 3D test. These results suggest impact of aging and disease status on motion perception and possibility of involving different mechanisms in 2D and 3D motion perception.
The current study aimed to develop a multidimensional, self-report inventory of psychological symptoms for North Korean refugees: the Brief Psychological State Inventory for North Korean Refugees (BPSI-NKR). After reviewing previous studies, we derived 103 preliminary items and 9 subscales: 7 basic scales comprising Post-Traumatic Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Somatization, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Anger, and Psychosis and 2 supplementary scales comprising Family problems and Alcohol problems. We administered the 103 preliminary items to 298 North Korean refugees educated in Hanawon and examined the items' correlations with the Symptom CheckList-90-Revision and the item-total correlations, resulting in a final version of the BPSI-NKR, comprising 84 items and 9 subscales. Then, we administered this final version of the BPSI-NKR to 127 male and 225 female North Korean refugees educated in Hanawon, to assess its internal consistency, reliability, and validity. Of the original participants, 77 males and 100 females participated in the retest study. Analyses showed that the BPSI-NKR had moderate to high test-retest and internal consistency reliabilities. Correlations between the BPSI-NKR's two supplementary scales and family and alcohol-related inventories supported the BPSI-NKR's criterion-related validities. Finally we discuss the BPSI-NKR's applications for clinicians working with North Korean refugees and suggestions for further research.
This study examined the effects of acceptance versus suppression and of anxiety sensitivity(AS) on changes in anxious responses to a hyperventilation challenge. The sample consisted of 36 undergraduates high in AS and 36 others low in AS, who we selected based on their respiratory sensation concern scores of the Korean version of the Anxiety Sensitivity Inventory-Revised. Half the participants in each AS group were randomly assigned to either acceptance or suppression conditions. Participants in the acceptance condition listened to a rationale for accepting their internal experiences, and those in the suppression condition listened to a rationale for suppressing their internal experiences. After undergoing each training corresponding to the treatment conditions, participants applied the instructions during and after the hyperventilation challenge. Participants in the acceptance condition decreased their anxiety responses on most measures to a greater extent than did those in the suppression condition. The superior efficacy of the acceptance condition as compared to the suppression condition was more prominent in the low AS group than in the high AS group on subjective anxiety and pulse rate measures. In addition, there were no differences between the two AS groups in terms of the acceptance condition's relative benefits on systolic and diastolic blood pressure. These results suggest that acceptance may be a useful intervention for decreasing anxious responses to a voluntary hyperventilation challenge in a sample of non-treatment seeking undergraduates. Finally, the implications of these results as well as the limitations of this study are discussed.
‘Dissociation’ means the disconnection or separation of consciousness, which should be and remain continuous and integrated. This study aimed to explore the internal and external causes of dissociation; the disorganization of mind. We supposed trauma, overwhelming a person's coping ability, to be the external cause and a self-structure with high self-complexity and independently split self-aspects to be the internal cause. To demonstrate this hypothesis, we used the Dissociative Experience Scale to select a dissociative-tendency group and a normal control group from 380 university students taking online and/or offline psychology courses. Then, we administered the Early Trauma Inventory to the participants and we also administered Self Aspect Test to measure self-complexity. These results revealed that dissociative -tendency group have experienced more diverse early trauma than control group. The dissociative-tendency group reported having suffered more emotional, general, and sexual trauma but not more physical trauma than the control group reported, which supported the prediction that trauma functions as the external cause of dissociation. Furthermore, upon measuring self-structure, we found the dissociative group showed greater self-complexity than the normal control group did. They, however, regarded their complex divisions as disharmonious and chaotic mess. In other words, a dissociative group member's great self-complexity indicates the over-division of a less integrated self, which suggests a split self-structure is the internal cause of dissociation. The dissociative group's extraordinary self-complexity seems to be a kind of buffer limiting the shock of a trauma to one part of the self. In conclusion, we understand dissociation to be a phenomenon for over-dividing the self-structure and bufferring the shock of any trauma, at the cost of integrity. We conclude with the study's limitations and suggested directions for future study.
This study aimed to investigate whether trait and state hope could moderate in the relationships among life stress, psychopathology, and life satisfaction. I examining whether hope could stably serve as a buffer 3 months after a stressor by using a short-term, longitudinal design. Furthermore, it examined the relationship between the hope and problem-solving styles to understand how hope effects stress. Participants were 247 college students who completed a questionnaire at the first time but 155 college students completed it at the second time. I analyzed the questionnaire via a correlation analysis and hierarchical regression. The results revealed that state hope predicted psychopathology and life satisfaction after controlling for stress at 1 time. Specifically, state hope moderated the relationship between stress and psychopathology, and between stress and life satisfaction. Furthermore, hope correlated positively with positive and rational problem-solving styles and correlated negatively to negative, impulsive and avoidance problem-solving styles. These findings suggest that hope influences mental health and quality of life as a stress moderator through positive problem-solving. Finally, I discuss limitations of this study and the fact that hope can work within psychotherapy as a psychological strength, and suggest future directions for this research.
This study examined the effects of a social skills group-training program, based on the cognitive-behavioral approach, on the social skills, negative automatic thoughts, and stress levels of international couples' children. The participants were 17 3rd to 6th-grade elementary-school students whose mothers were international marriage immigrants. Nine children participated in an experimental social skills training program, and 8 children participated in a learning skills training program, as the control group. Each program comprised 10 sessions. We used a social skills rating system, the Korean-children's Automatic Thought Scale, and a stress scale for the participants' pre-and post-tests. The results showed a statistically significant reduction solely in the experimental group's general stress and negative automatic thoughts, and a marginally significant improvement in only that group's social skills after the program. We had a limited ability to rigorously test the program's effects because of small sample size and problems with the representativeness of the sample and random assignment of the groups. In spite of these limitations, our results suggest that this social skill training for international couples' children, who are a high-risk group in our society, may have a preventive effect through positive change related to psychosocial adjustment.
This study attempted to identify preschoolers' developmental trajectories regarding externalizing problems and evaluated the association between trajectory groups and preshoolers' temperaments. We assessed 197 preschoolers, ages 3-5 (102 males, 97 females), in Seoul's metropolitan area 3 times at 6-month intervals. Additionlly, we collected maternal reports of the preschoolers’ behavior problems (K-CBCL) and temperaments (K-JTCI). A Latent Growth Mixture Modeling Analysis with a cohort sequential design revealed 3 distinct trajectories in the preschoolers' development of externalizing behaviors: the “moderate-maintaining”, “low-maintaining”, and “high-increasing” trajectories. We determined novelty seeking and harm avoidance significantly explained the preschoolers' 3 developmental trajectories. High temperament levels in both novelty seeking and harm avoidance tended to differentiate between “low-maintaining” and “high-increasing” groups, whereas only the high harm avoidance temperament was associated with the “moderate-maintaining” trajectory. We discuss the results in terms of the importance of longitudinal research in the development of psychopathology and suggests using Latent Growth Mixture Modeling and temperamental data for early identification of high-risk children.
This study explored the internal structure of 31 Korean Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) subscales. For the purpose, we randomly divided a sample of normal adults into two groups and, then used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The exploratory factor analysis produced a model of 3～5 factors, and confirmatory factor analysis identified 5 correlated factors. These 5 factors were anxiety and depression, impulse and expansion, physical and physiological problems, reduction of activity and social withdrawal, and aggression and emotional instability. We discussed the study's implications and limitations regarding the use of the PAI in cross-cultural comparisons.