Abstract

This study examined the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy(ACT) on psychological acceptance, psychological well-being, depression and suicidal ideation of depressed college students living in a metropolitan city. Selection criteria were high scores on the Beck Depression Inventory and Scale for Suicidal Ideation. Nine students participated in the ACT program, and nine in the control group. The ACT program was composed of eight sessions. Psychological acceptance, psychological well-being, depression and suicidal ideation were assessed before and after treatment. Depression and suicidal ideation were statistically significantly reduced and psychological acceptance and psychological well-being were improved only in the ACT group, with no significant changes in the control group. This suggests that ACT can be effectively applied as a suicide prevention program that reduces risk factors and develops protective factors for suicide. However, there are some limits of this study due to small sample size and non-random assignment. Thus, future research should replicate the program’s effectiveness by using more advanced research design.

Abstract

The authors examined whether acknowledging one's signature strengths and applying these to daily life increases mental health. The authors directly compared treatment based on individual strengths with that based on one's weaknesses to test which intervention was more effective in increasing well-being and decreasing depression. Participants who were aware of or utilized their signature strengths every day over a week experienced significantly greater increases in well-being and significantly greater decreases in depression, compared to the participants who were aware of their own weaknesses or tried to make up for their weaknesses. This implies that interventions based on character strengths are effective in preventing psychopathology and enhancing mental health. Finally, the authors discuss this study's contributions and limitations and offer suggestions for further research.

Abstract

This study examined the efficacy of positive psychotherapy (PPT) on pure languishing clients. Pure languishing clients were randomly assigned to the PPT intervention (n = 20) or to a waiting list (n = 21). All participants completed measures before and after the intervention to assess life satisfaction, positive emotion, and negative emotion. The PPT intervention led to statistically significant improvement in life satisfaction and positive emotion. These findings suggest that a PPT intervention is effective for pure languishing clients.

Abstract

This study investigated deficits of decision-making in college students with schizotypal traits using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the relationships between IGT and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) performance. Based on scores of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, schizotypal-trait (n=21) and normal control (n=21) groups were selected. In the IGT, the schizotypal-trait group showed lower total net-score and block net-scores in the final two blocks(4th and 5th), and selected B card more frequently than the normal control group. The control group showed increased block net-scores along with progressing blocks, whereas the schizotypal-trait group showed no increase of block net-scores. In the WCST, the schizotypal-trait group made more total errors and perseverative errors than the control group, and there was a significant negative correlation between perseverative errors of the WCST and the 4th block net-score of IGT in the schizotypal-trait group. Overall, these results indicate that college students with schizotypal traits have a deficit of decision-making, which may result from a perseverative tendency for the initially preferred option to persist, and deficits of decision-making can serve as markers of schizospectrum disorders.

Abstract

This study examined the mediating effects of thought suppression on the relationship between self-compassion and anxiety and obsession. A thought suppression inventory that assesses thought suppression and intrusion separately and evaluates successive suppression was used. Participants, consisting of 194 nonclinical undergraduate and graduate students, completed self-administered questionnaires on self-compassion, thought suppression, anxiety and obsession. The results indicated that self-compassion was significantly associated with intrusion, successful thought suppression, and anxiety and obsession. Only intrusion mediated the relationship between self-compassion and anxiety and between self-compassion and obsession. The findings offer a rationale for psychotherapeutic approaches that have self-compassion as a process variable such as ACT and CFT. The implications of this study are discussed with future suggestions.

Abstract

This study developed a preliminary cognitive-behavioral group program for the family care-givers of dementia patients, and explored its therapeutic effects on their care-giving burdens, coping skills, and psychological distress. Primary care-givers of dementia patients were recruited from a university hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Korea and a community mental health care center (N=19). The program took place weekly for 90 minutes, lasting for four weeks (four therapy sessions). A booster session was provided after two months. Treatment effect was measured by asking the participants to complete pre-, post-, and follow-up evaluation: the Short Zarit Burden Inventory (S-ZBI), Modified Conflict Tactics Scale (MCTS), Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS), Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SS), Brief COPE (B-COP), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Repeated measures ANOVA, and paired t-test were conducted to assess the therapeutic effect of the group program. The decrease in personal strain (S-ZBI's subscale) was maintained at two-month follow-up. The level of depression and aggressive attitude/behaviors toward dementia patients were temporarily reduced after intervention, and the use of coping skill was temporarily increased after the intervention. However, there was no significant change in the level of anxiety, attitude towards dementia, and social support. The implication and limitation of this study and suggestions for future study are discussed.

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the inter-rater reliability and the validity of Children's Global Assessment Scale(C-GAS), which assesses the level of functioning of children and adolescents. To accomplish this, six raters who are currently training or have completed training to be clinical psychologists individually rated ten vignettes using C-GAS. The vignettes consisted of the chief complaints and brief summary of biopsychosocial information of each subjects. Eight of the subjects were mentally retarded, but two were not. The intraclass correlation was then tested to investigate the inter-rater reliability within raters, and found to be 0.784 indicating moderate inter-rater reliability. The paired sample correlation test was then tested to investigate the concurrent validity, and the r was found to be 0.847. Finally, the clinical implications and limitations were suggested, and further issues and directions dicussed.

Abstract

Abstract

In this study, we attempted to investigate the role of dichotomous thinking (DT) as the mechanism of mood shuttle, a core symptom of Bipolar Disorder (BD). We examined whether bipolar persons use DT when they evaluate affective stimuli. Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS) and Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) were administered to 209 cyber university students. From them, a bipolar tendency group (BG, 19 subjects) and a control group (CG, 20 subjects) were screened based upon the scores of two bipolar symptom scales, MDQ and BSDS. Then two groups answered the Dichotomous Thinking-Index Revised (DTI-30R) and responded to the Affective Stimulus Rating Task (ASRT) developed to measure dichotomous judgment style in emotional situations. In the ASRT, subjects read scenarios of various valence (positive/negative/mixed) and rated the dimension of pleasure vs sadness. The BG revealed higher DT than the CG. Also, the BG set shorter distances between a certain affect and the opposite affect (e.g. pleasure vs. sadness) than the CG. When judging emotional situation, the BG marked fewer anchors on the self-anchoring scale than the CG. Overall, the extreme ends on the “sadness-pleasure” dimension were closer to each other, and the dimension had fewer gradations in the BG. The closeness of distance and fewer divisions between contrary affects may act as the mechanism of mood shuttle in BD. Finally, the clinical implications of this study were discussed, and the limitations of the present research with directions for future studies were presented.

Abstract

This study explored the effects of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy(DBT) Skills Training on Aggression, Self-Esteem, and Anger Expression in adolescents. Three hundred middle school adolescents in Chonbuk province completed the Aggression Scale, Self-Esteem Scale and Anger Expression Scale. Eighteen adolescents selected by those scales were randomly assigned into a DBT Skills training group and control group (nine each). The DBT Skills training program was administered for nine sessions. Aggression in the DBT skills training group decreased more than in the control group, while Self-Esteem increased in the DBT skills training group more than in the control group, Anger Expression did not differ significantly between the groups. Finally, the implications and the limitations of this study, along with suggestions for future study were discussed.

Abstract

This study investigated the role of behavioral activation and ways of stress coping in the relationship between emotional inertia and depression. Emotional inertia refers to the degree to which emotional states are resistant to change from previous time to the next time. Emotion researchers focus on the concept of emotional inertia as an important emotional dynamic system of psychological maladjustment, with active discussions in progress among the clinicians and researchers treating depression. In this study, 341 university students were asked to fill in self-reporting questionnaires on behavioral activation and inhibition, ways of stress coping, and depression. The 28 respondents who score in the top 7% -of the Beck Depression Inventory, comprised the depression group, while 24 subjects scoring in the bottom 7% were assigned to the control group. Emotional inertia was measured through Experience Sampling Method(ESM). The participants were asked to rate their positive (e.g. feeling satisfied / calm / happy / pleasant) and negative (e.g. feeling sad / depressive / anxious /angry) emotional states on a scale ranging from 1 to 100, five times a day for three consecutive days. The data from this Experience Sampling Method was analyzed by Hierarchical Linear Modeling(HLM), with emotional inertia calculated by autocorrelation between emotional states as the first level and behavioral activation and ways of stress coping as the second level. First, there were meaningful differences in both positive and negative emotional inertia between the depression and control groups. Second, the emotional inertia of positive emotions was negatively associated with behavioral activation in the depression group. Third, the emotional inertia of negative emotions was negatively associated with problem-solving strategies in the control group. For the coping style of seeking social support, emotional inertia of negative emotions was negatively associated in control group. On the other hand, the emotional inertia of negative emotions was positively associated with wishful-thinking strategies in depression group. In conclusion, this study has implication to first introduce the concept of emotional inertia which has not been examined in domestic research. Based on the results, the relationships among emotional inertia, behavioral activation and ways of stress coping were discussed, and the directions of follow-up studies were suggested.

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the contributions of demographic and psychosocial variables to the prediction of long-term post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms following a natural disaster. A total of 148 survivors of the 2006 torrential downpour in P-gun, Gangwon-do, Korea completed measures assessing post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, previous trauma exposure, peri-traumatic distress and dissociation, post-traumatic negative beliefs, and poor social support, as well as questions about their demographic characteristics 28 months after the natural disaster. Peri-traumatic dissociation, post-traumatic negative beliefs, and age were significant predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Post-traumatic negative beliefs, peri-traumatic dissociation, poor social support, and not living together with a spouse were significant predictors of anxiety symptoms. Post-traumatic negative beliefs, not living together with a spouse, socioeconomic status, peri-traumatic dissociation, and age were significant predictors of depressive symptoms. Overall, these findings suggest that several peri- and post-traumatic psychosocial variables, as well as age, living together with a spouse or not, and socioeconomic status play an important role in predicting and preventing long-term psychological sequelae among survivors of a natural disaster.

Abstract

This study investigated differences in elementary school children's perceptual thresholds to detect positive and negative emotions in facial expressions, and explored differences in perceptual sensitivity by changes of emotional intensity based on their anxiety and depression levels. Participants were elementary school students in grades 4 through 6. The students' anxiety and depression levels were estimated using the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (n = 236) and the Children's Depression Inventory (n = 216). We divided our sample into an “elevated” group (1 SD above the mean) and a “normal” group (the rest of the participants) based on their anxiety and depression scores. Using the facial emotional perception task consisting of 11 intensity levels of positive and negative facial emotions, we estimated perceptual thresholds and sensitivity of the each group. For positive emotions, the highly depressive group perceived ‘happiness’ at lower intensities of happy facial expressions compared to the normal group. For negative emotions, both the elevated anxious and depressive groups perceived ‘anger’ at lower intensities of angry facial expressions compared to the normal groups. Compared to the normal groups, the perceptual sensitivity was significantly lower in both the anxiety- and depression-elevated groups, revealing that those children were less sensitive to changes in facial emotional expressions. Therefore, there were differences in perceptual thresholds and sensitivity between the highly anxious/depressed groups and the normal groups, especially with respect to negative emotions. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Abstract

This study compared performance level, response bias and confidence of false memory on associative recognition tasks in schizophrenia patients currently experiencing delusions(EDs), patients not experiencing delusions(NDs) and healthy control participants(HCs). Utilizing a process dissociation procedure(PDP) suggested by Jacoby et al.(1993), the study investigated differences among EDs, NDs, and HCs of associative recognition, response bias, and memory confidence. The assessment consisted of an associative recognition task and an item recognition task, with 16 old items and 16 new items each. The number of correct and incorrect responses in each task from EDs, NDs, and HCs were compared. As a result, first, during the associative recognition process, recognition accuracy in HCs was significantly higher than EDs and NDs, whereas there was negligible difference between EDs and NDs. In the item recognition process, recognition accuracy in HCs and NDs was significantly higher than EDs, with no significant difference between HCs and NDs. Second, EDs demonstrated conservative bias during item recognition process and no response bias in associative recognition process. Finally, confidence level in false memory was significantly higher in EDs than NDs in the associative recognition process, but not in the item recognition process. The results suggest that the item recognition process deficit and false memory confidence can be closely related to the formation of delusion. The limitations of the present study and suggestions for further studies were discussed.