Non-Relapse Rate in a 24 Week Follow-up Clinical Study with Korean Male Alcohol-Dependent Patients / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: In order to provide useful data for the further clinical studies with Korean alcohol-dependent patients, enrollment and non-relapse rates were investigated while alcohol-dependent patients were followed up for 24 weeks. METHODS: The subjects of this study were alcohol-dependent male patients who, for the first time, visited a hospital among 3 groups of hospitals, University Hospital, General Hospital or Mental Hospital, or those who needed to be followed up after discharge from those hospitals. After assigning 12 subjects to each hospital, we investigated enrollment and non-relapse rates while cognitive-behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy were provided. RESULTS: 1) Forty-eight patients were enrolled and the rate of enrollment was 36.4%. The enrollment rate in the University Hospital group was 52.1%, in the General Hospital group 50.0%, and in the Mental Hospital group 10.4%. 2) In 48 patients, non-relapse rate was 27.1% at 12 week and 18.8% at 24 weeks after starting follow-up. It was 24.4% and 20.0% at 12 and 24 weeks, repectively, in the University Hospital group while the General Hospital group showed 33.3% and 16.7%, respectively, and the Mental Hospital Group showed 20.0% at both 12 and 24 weeks. CONCLUSION: These results provide important data for further clinical studies of Korean alcohol-dependent patients.

A Study of Self-Engulfment in Schizophrenic Patients / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to identify demographic variables and illness related variables which may affect the severity of self-engulfment in the patients with schizophrenia. We also studied the relationship between self-engulfment and insight, and the relationship between self-engulfment and self-esteem. METHODS: Data on demographic variables and illness related variables for the subjects were gathered from hospital records and clinical interviews by the psychiatrists. Degree of insight far the subjects was assessed through clinical interviews by the psychiatrists. Degree of self-engulfment and self-esteem for the subject was assessed from the self-engulfment scale and the self-esteem state respectively. A total of 111 patients with schizophrenia were selected for statistical analysis. RESULTS: 1) The females exhibited significantly higher socres than the males on the self-engulfment scale . 2) There was no illness related variable, which exhibited a significant difference among subgroups on the self-engulfment scale. 3) There was no significant correlation between the self-engulfment stores and the insight scores . 4) There was a significantly inverse correlation between the self-engulfment scores and the self esteem scores. CONCLUSION: The results of this preliminary study suggest that self-engulfment may develop despite lack of insight, and that there was inverse relationship between self-engulfment and self-esteem in the patients with schizophrenia. It also suggests that females are more subject to self-engulfment than males. So, authors suggest that it is valuable to do further studies of self-engulfment in the patients with schizophrenia.