E-ISSN : 2733-4538
The aim of the present study was to explore the therapeutic effect of expressive writing on specific phobias and the psycho-social mechanisms underlying the relationship between the two. While a number of studies involving expressive writing have demonstrated their efficacy with respect to their health and psychological benefits, few have explored the relationship between expressive writing and anxiety disorders, and the psychological mechanisms underlying it. Therefore, we examined the influence of expressive writing on specific phobias. Sixty-three Korean and American participants were put into either the expressive writing group or the control group. Changes of phobic symptoms were measured at five different time points. The results showed that the writing group reported significantly reduced phobic symptoms as compared to the control group at follow-up, but not immediately after treatment. It was also found that higher scores related to positive reinterpretation coping were significantly related to lager reduction in phobic symptoms. These results suggested that intervention using expressive writing has therapeutic value with respect to phobic symptoms at follow-up rather than right after treatments and that the positive reinterpretation coping has an facilitative effect on their relationship. Finally, the limitations of this study were discussed along with suggestions for the further research.
The purpose of this study was to examine whether social skills training using videos of social cognitions for schizophrenic in-patients would be more effective on social functioning and relationships than traditional social skills training group therapy. The social skills training group using videos of social cognitions consisted of ten participants, and the traditional behavioral social skills training group had 13. All subjects participated in a total of ten once-weekly sessions for ten weeks. The social skills training using videos of social cognitions program was a combination of traditional behavioral social skills training and training for enhancing social cognitions. The subjects’ behaviors were assessed during the pre- and post-programs in order to examine the effects of the social cognitions and the development of social skills. The scales used in this study included the Picture Arrangement of Korean-Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Relationship Change Scale(RCS). The results were as follows. First, schizophrenics who had completed the program which used videos of social cognitions significantly improved with respect to Picture Arrangement of Korean-Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Second, they also improved with respect to total scores on the RCS and showed more improvement in the subscales of the RCS including satisfaction, communication, sensibility, openness, and consideration. Further, this group significantly improved with respect to performance in communication and sensibility on the RCS. Finally, the clinical implications and limitations of this study and direction of future research have been discussed.
The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Neurofeedback Training(NFT) on inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in children with ADHD. Thirty two outpatient children with IQ scores over 70 who went to Chonbuk National University Hospital participated in this study. Before pre-test, children and their parents received a thorough explanation of the study and provided their consent form. Both children and their parents completed the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version-Korean Version (K-SADS-PL-K) and the Korean-ADHD Rating Scale- Parent(K-ARS-P). Children gained more than 16 points (boys) or 11 points(girls) as indicated by the Korean-ADHD Rating Scale-Parent. According to choice from children and their parents, children were divided into an NFT group (n=11), an NFT+medication group (n=9), and a medication group (n=9). All parents participants completed K-ARS at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at four4 weeks follow-up. The NFT was administered for 20 training sessions to children in the NFT and NFT+medication groups. The results of this study were as follows: Inattention score for all groups decreased; however, the inattention score for the NFT group significantly decreased more than that of the medication group. Hyperactivity/impulsivity scores among the groups was not significant. Based on the results, it was concluded that NFT had a tendency to reduce symptoms in a manner similar to medication. Further, NFT was more positive than NFT+medication with respect to symptom improvement. Finally, the implications and the limitations of this study, and suggestions for future study were also discussed.
The present study investigated the relationships between dream intensity, typical dream themes, attitude towards dreams, and psychopathology. The Dream Intensity Inventory (DII), the Typical Dream Questionnaire (TDQ), the Inventory of Dream Experiences & Attitudes (IDEA), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were administered to 500 adults. As a result, dream intensity, typical dream themes, and attitude towards dreams exhibited associations with psychopathology. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrated that vividness, altered dream episodes, and dream quantity factors on the DII predicted 9.6% of General Severity Index (GSI) variances from the BSI; persecutory ideas, grandiose self, death, positive themes, and beast categories from the TDQ predicted an additional 14% of the GSI variances; and dream apprehension and dream positivity factors from the IDEA predicted 7.8% of GSI variances. Persecutory ideas categories from the TDQ and dream apprehension factors from the IDEA predicted all symptoms on the BSI, and the other variables differentially predicted BSI symptoms.
This study investigated the longitudinal effects of self-enhancement motives, implicit and explicit narcissism on depressive mood. For this purpose, two types of narcissism as well as self-enhancement motives were measured among university students. In addition, the level of depressive mood was measured twice in one year intervals. The two types of narcissism and self-enhancement motives were assumed to be independent variables and were divided into two levels using a median-split method and the dependent variable was depressive mood which was adjusted by the same measure of one year ago. Three-way analysis of covariance demonstrated that depression over one year was higher when the level of enhancement motive was high. Also, depression increased along with enhancement motive or explicit narcissism when implicit narcissism was high. However, these results should be qualified by significant three-way interaction which confirmed our hypothesis that depression would be higher in condition of high level of enhancement motive when both of implicit and explicit narcissism were high. Finally, the results and implications of this study discussed with the stream of previous research.
This study investigated the longitudinal effects of self-enhancement motives, implicit and explicit narcissism on depressive mood. For this purpose, two types of narcissism as well as self-enhancement motives were measured among university students. In addition, the level of depressive mood was measured twice in one year intervals. The two types of narcissism and self-enhancement motives were assumed to be independent variables and were divided into two levels using a median-split method and the dependent variable was depressive mood which was adjusted by the same measure of one year ago. Three-way analysis of covariance demonstrated that depression over one year was higher when the level of enhancement motive was high. Also, depression increased along with enhancement motive or explicit narcissism when implicit narcissism was high. However, these results should be qualified by significant three-way interaction which confirmed our hypothesis that depression would be higher in condition of high level of enhancement motive when both of implicit and explicit narcissism were high. Finally, the results and implications of this study discussed with the stream of previous research.
During the remission period, a lot of schizophrenia patients still suffer from various psychological problems which may affect outcomes. This study intended not only to investigate psychological issues of schizophrenia patients who were in remission state, but also to divide patients into their acute symptoms. Thirty remission state patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia were assessed for various psychological issues and characteristics using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Patients who had experienced auditory hallucinations complained of only somatic problems. However, non-hallucinating patients had more psychosocial problems, such as depression and anxiety, and felt the blocked from social relationships. Our data suggested that patients who had experienced auditory hallucinations and those who had never experienced them during the acute phase of their illness may have different psychological characteristics after their acute symptoms subside. The limitations of this study and suggested directions for future research were discussed.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional facial expression recognition ability and psychosocial adjustment and peer relationships in adolescents. Using the morphing technique, we created 50 emotional faces with various emotional intensities for facial expressions of anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. The sequence of facial emotional expressions were serially presented from neutral to full-blown emotion in ascending trials. Participants were requested to stop the sequence when they recognized emotion. The sequence was opposite in descending task. The intensity of emotion recognized by participants was recorded as sensitivity to a certain emotion and the accuracy of identifying the emotion with full-blown facial expression was also recorded. Participants completed self-reported scales involving internalizing and externalizing symptoms and bullying. Further, peer relationships were assessed by peer nomination. Results showed that female adolescents recognized facial emotions more sensitively and accurately than males. Correlational analyses indicated that the level of internalizing symptoms was positively correlated with emotional sensitivity. On the contrary, externalizing symptoms were negatively correlated with emotional sensitivity and accuracy. These tendencies were found only in cases of male adolescents. Additionally, peer relationships were negatively correlated with accuracy and sensitivity to facial emotions in both boys and girls. The implications and the limitations of this study were also discussed.
The purpose of this study was to explore the temporal developmental relationship of adolescents' depression and delinquency and to examine gender difference with respect to this relationship. A total of 1,418 middle school students completed self-report questionnaires three times at six-month interval. An autoregressive cross-lagged model was analyzed and multiple group analysis was executed across gender. The results showed a significant gender difference in the developmental relationship between depression and delinquency. Specifically, for males, time 2 delinquency had a significant effect on time 3 depression, suggesting an unidirectional relationship. However, for females, time 1 depression had a significant effect on time 2 delinquency and this, in turn, had a significant effect on time 3 depression, suggesting a bidirectional relationship. The results of this study implied that a co-developmental process of depression and delinquency varied by gender. This fact should be carefully considered when preparing for clinical interventions targeting comorbidity. The limitations of this study were discussed along with suggestions for further research.
This study identified the personality and pathology subgroups based upon a cluster analysis of MMPI-2 profiles in 174male pathological gamblers. Moreover, this study investigated the effectiveness of APS scale in differentiating between pathological gamblers and non-pathological gambler. Three MMPI subgroups were identified. Group 1(49%), the ‘normal profile subgroup’ did not show elevated scores on any scales. Group 2(39%), the ‘psychopath subgroup’ had significant spikes on scales 4 and 2. Group 3(12%), the ‘mentally confused subgroup’ had more tense, depressive, and emotional confusion and a lower tolerance for stress. Further, APS demonstrated the utility in detecting pathological gambling. Based on these results, the limitation and suggestions for future study were discussed.
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between bulimia nervosa and impulsiveness, and explored attention deficits according to the impulsiveness of the binge eating disorder-prone group and non-binge eating group. We used the Bulimia Nervosa Test-Revised(BULIT-R), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Ⅱ(BIS-Ⅱ), Continuous Performance Test(CPT), and the Change Blindness Test to investigate attention deficits in the binge eating disorder-prone group. Participants were university students. As results, there were significant group differences in SD, ommision error, and commission error on CPT; however, there were no significant group differences when the impulsivity was entered as a covariate variable. Furthermore, there was a significant group difference in reaction time on Change Blindness Tests, even when the impulsivity was entered as a covariate. Therefore, the binge eating group was shown to be impulsive and had deficits in inhibition compared to the control group. In addition, the results of CPT were affected by the impulsivity, while the results of Change Blindness Test were not. In conclusion, this study confirmed attention deficits in the binge eating disorder-prone group according to the impulsivity using Continuous Performance Test(CPT) and Change Blindness Test. Finally implications and limitations of the present study were dicussed, and suggestions for future study were addressed.
Confirming the heterogeneity in depression may be useful in the its diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The purpose of this study was to identify the subtypes of depression and characteristics associated with it using data from clinical samples. Analyses were based on samples from 1,180 respondents from 19 psychiatric hospitals which had been registered in the Clinical Research Center for Depression. Latent class analysis was administered using responses from the Hamilton Depression Scale to identify a homogenous subtype of depression. Association between emergent latent classes and demographic and clinical characteristics were assessed. As a result, three subtypes of depression were identified: severely depressed, affective depressed, and mild depressed. The severely depressed subtype had more suicidal tendencies than the other groups. The affective depressed subtype tended to be as depressive as the severely depressed class, but without psycho-motor symptoms as compared to the other groups. In addition, the affective depressed subtype had more sleep disorder than the other groups. Based on a three-month follow-up study, the severly depressed subtype exhibited more serious and persistent depression. The implications and limitations of this study were also discussed.
This study examined the chronic psychiatric symptom status of those who survived the Yeoncheon Guard Post(GP) shootings which occurred in June, 2005. In addition, we looked into the individual differences of maladjustment according to stress coping style and internal/external control loci. Further, we proposed the need for treatment programs to improve adaptation functions. Subjects included 19 survivors. A self-reporting questionnaire was carried out and semi-structured one-on-one interviews were carried out from June to August, 2009. Study results indicated that 63.2% of the survivors experienced diagnosable PTSD. Further, 57.8% of them had severe depression and 68.4% exhibited severe anxiety. The results of a correlation analysis among psychiatric symptoms, stress coping style and internal/external control loci demonstrated that survivors who used passive coping styles had more severe symptoms than those who used active coping styles. Additionally, when there were many external control loci, symptoms of depression and anxiety were more severe. Results suggest that traumatic experiences during military services can progress into chronic PTSD and victims' personal lives can have a destructive influence. Results also indicate that stress coping style and internal/external control loci are important factors for adaptive function with regard to post-traumatic experiences. Finally, in order to improve the adaptability of soldiers who have experienced trumatic events. we strongly suggested intervention involving educational and therapeutic strategies.
The purpose of the current study were to translate the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale for Children as developed by D'Alessandro and Burton (2006) to a Korean version and to investigate the factor structure of the Korean Scale (K-DAS-C) in 187 Korean 5-6thgrade elementary school children. Inconsistent results from several previous studies may have been due to the different methods of factor analysis and translation problems related to the Korean version. Therefore, an exploratory factor analysis using the maximum likelihood factor extraction was used in this study. As a result, a two-factor solution was obtained: personal standards perfectionism and self-critical perfectionism. Analyses showed that each factor from the K-DAS-C had good internal consistency and adequate seven-week interval test-retest reliability. Negative correlations between the two structure scores from the K-DAS-C and Global Self-Esteem Scale supported concurrent validity of the K-DAS-C. Particularly, scores related to self-esteem and self-critical perfectionism were more negatively correlated than personal standards perfectionism. Thus, self-critical perfectionism could be regarded as a cognitive vulnerability of depression, whereas personal standards perfectionism could not. However, these two factors could play a different role in cognitive vulnerability of depression according to age. This study established that the Korean Scale for measuring dysfunctional attitudes could be interpreted by two factors and had good reliability and validity when used for Korean 5-6th grade elementary school children. The Korean scale is expected to be useful in studies of vulnerability of depression and outcomes of preventive interventions.
This study aimed to identify the assessment value of projective drawing tests in determining probability of child sexual abuse. To accomplish this, we compared Van Hutton's quantitative drawing scores(preoccu- pation with sexually relevant concepts: SRC, aggression and hostility: AH, withdrawal and guarded accessibility: WGA, alertness for danger, suspiciousness, and lack of trust: ADST) in a single sexual abuse group (n=31), a multiple sexual abuse group (n=33), an alleged sexual abuse with no evidence group (n=30), and a clinical group with no history of sexual abuse (n=64). Results indicated that, there were no group differences in SRC, AH, and ADST. However, the clinical group had significantly higher scores than the others with respect to WGA. Drawings of genitals, breasts, or anuses were not observed in any group. The implications of the findings and limitations of the current study as well as recommendations for future study have been discussed.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the one-year stability of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in preschoolers. One hundred ninety-seven preschoolers aged 3-5 years (105 boys and 92 girls) who had been recruited from daycare centers in the metropolitan area of Seoul were assessed twice with the Korean version of the CBCL 1.5-5 at one year intervals. The one-year stability for internalizing, externalizing, and total behavior problems were r=0.71, 0.76, 0.77 for boys, and r=0.73, 0.59, 0.67 for girls, respectively. Seven of the 13 boys (53.8%) and 9 of the 14 girls (64.3%) with internalizing problems in the clinical range (T > 64) at Time 1 continued to be in the clinical range one year later. For externalizing problems, 14 of the 19 boys (73.7%) but none of the five girls remained in the clinical range at Time 2. The results suggested interesting gender differences in the stability of internalizing and externalizing problems of preschoolers.