Maternal Depression and Anxiety and Ratings of Behavioral Problems of Child / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between maternal depression and anxiety, and their ratings of child's behavior. METHODS: 769 elementary school students participated in this study. Mothers completed the Korean Conners' Parent Rating Scale (K-CPRS), the Korean Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder Rating Scale (K-ARS): Home Version, the Korean Beck Depression Inventory (K-BDI) and the Korean Beck Anxiety Inventory (K-BAI). Teachers completed the Korean Conners' Teacher Rating Scale (K-CTRS) and the K-ARS: School Version. The maternal emotional status was classified into four groups (Normal, Anxious and Not Depressed, Depressed and Not Anxious, Anxious and Depressed) according to BDI and BAI scores. The subscale raw scores of K-CPRS, and K-ARS: Home version were compared among maternal emotional status by the Analysis of Covariance before and after their scores were controlled for the each subscale scores rated by teachers consistent with those rated by parents. RESULTS: All of the subscale scores of parent's form were significantly different according to maternal emotional status after controlled for the scores of teacher's form. After post hoc analysis, the scores of parents' ratings of Anxious and Not Depressed group and Anxious and Depressed group were higher than those of the Normal group. CONCLUSION: The mothers who are depressed and/or anxious tend to report more behavior problems of children than now they actually are.

Quality of Life after Stroke: A Two-Month Follow-Up / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Currently, there is a growing interest of Quality of Life(QOL) in stroke patients. This study aimed at describing the temporal change of QOL in stroke patients and identifying factors that influence QOL of stroke survivors 2 month after the event. METHODS: Data were collected on 98 stroke patients using a two month prospective follow-up design, using WHO QOL scale. The difference of the QOL between in acute phase and 2 month after stroke was compared with by t-test. The relationships between sociodemographic variables, depression, anxiety, social support and neurological variables, and QOL were examined by correlation analysis. Multiple regression analyses were performed to explore the predictors of QOL. RESULTS: The overall QOL domains and total scores except the social support domain were left unchanged 2 month after stroke, even though mean anxiety scores had decreased and neurological disabilities had improved during the 2 month course. Depression, anxiety, social support and neurological disabilities were significantly correlated with total QOL and its sub-domains. Among these factors, Depression was of paramount importance in predicting QOL in acute phase and 2 month after stroke. CONCLUSION: Although the mean of QOL in stroke patients had not significantly changed 2 month after stroke, QOL and its sub-domains were significantly correlated with depression and neurological disability. This study suggests that psychiatric intervention and holistic approach would be required after stroke as well as neurological treatment.

The Relationship between Serum Lipid Levels and Suicidality in Suicidal Attempters / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Many studies have demonstrated that suicide is related to low serum cholesterol level, whereas conflicting results have also reported. The aims of the present study are to determine whether suicidal attempters have low lipid concentration and to identify the relationship between suicidal attempt severity and serum lipid levels. METHODS: Subjects were 50 suicidal attempters who visited the emergency room in Korea University Medical Center between July 1998 and June 1999. All subjects had been interviewed by psychiatrist and evaluated with Risk-rescue rating, HDRS and BPRS. They were diagnosed as major depressive disorder (n=29), personality disorder (n=19), and schizophrenia (n=2). Serum lipid levels in 50 suicidal attempters were compared with those in 50 nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients corresponding to the age, sex and diagnosis of the suicidal attempters. We also examined the Spearman's rank correl-ations between the serum lipid levels and risk-rescue score. RESULTS: The serum total cholesterol level (t=-3.29, p=.001), total lipid level (t=-2.62, p=.01), and LDL level (t=-2.64, p=.011) in suicidal attempters were significantly lower compared with non-suicidal controls. In major depressive patients, total cholesterol level, total lipid level, and LDL level in suicidal attempters were significantly lower than those of nonsuicidal controls. In personality disorder patients, however, only serum total cholesterol level was significantly lower. Risk-rescue rating score was negatively correlated with serum total cholesterol level (t=.-293, p=.039), and positively corre-lated with BPRS (t=.544, p< 001), and HDRS (t=.488, p=.001). CONCLUSION: The lipid levels in suicidal attempter were significantly lower. Suicidal attempt severity was also significantly correlated with serum total cholesterol level. These findings suggest that low serum cholesterol should be related with severe violent suicidal attempt.

Relationship between Religious Conversion Experience and Narcissistic Personality Trend / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Although there have been many studies in the academic fields outside theology about religious conversion experience, only a few objective methodological research efforts have been possible because of difficulties in scientific approach due to the subjective's individual and diverse characteristics. Recently, research from a psychological and psychiatric point of view has begun. There are many different viewpoints toward religious conversion: from a psychoanalytic perspective, regarding it as a projection of the father figure; to negative attitudes such as sexual repression, exhibitionism, neurosis, psychosis, dissociation, organic brain disease, aphasia and compensation for deprivation; and also to positive viewpoints that there is no psychopathology, that the experience of religious conversion exert an adaptive effect, and that it is a phenomenon which happens to persons who have a well-integrated personality. From the viewpoint of psychoanalytic self-psychology, religious conversion is self-object seeking behavior in people who have a narcissistic personality trend. In this study we tried to demonstrate the association between religious conversion and narcissistic personality trend. Particularly, we attempted to show the hypothesis that the crisis conversion group has a higher association with the narcissistic personality trend. METHOD: We divided the subjects into 3 groups (crisis conversion group, progressive conversion group, non-conversion group) and analyzed the differences in the scales of narcissistic personality according to the diagnostic criteria (diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder based on prototypicality rating and narcissistic personality inventory). RESULT: The results showed that the crisis conversion group had a significantly higher value than the other 2 groups for narcissistic personality inventory and factor II (Leadership/Authority) and factor III (Superiority/Arrogance), showing that the crisis conversion group had a higher narcissistic personality trend. CONCLUSION: The crisis conversion group has more narcissistic personality trend than other 2 groups and the narcissistic personality trend which was found in the crisis conversion group may have a more adaptive and functioning dimension in contrast to a pathological and maladaptive one.

The Relationship between Mystic Experience and Dissociation / 신경정신의학

Mystic experience is highly evaluated so as to be called as core of experience in the religious world and also becomes the subject of concern among various social groups. Psychologists and psychiatrists are concerned about it, but because of its individuality and subjectivity, the scientific approach was difficult so that only the description of mystic experience has been researched so far. There is a current report saying that mystic experience is the one of the dissociative phenomenon. And there are a lot of reports saying that dissociation is related to childhood trauma experience and rises as much as psychopathological tendencies exist. Consequently, based on the reference that mystic experience is connected with dissociation, the study has been progressed to find out the level of dissociation, psychopathology and trauma experience for religious people who experienced mystic experience but excluding patients. Among them, it has been compared between group of non-mystic experience (n=35) and group of mystic experience (n=42). We used Dissociative Experience scale-Korean version (DES-K), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), questionnaire about trauma. The result is that the group of mystic experience had a significantly higher tendency to have dissociation and trauma experience than group of non-mystic experience. However, the difference of psychopathology has not been found.