A preliminary study of disaster media use as a coping mechanism and the psychological impact of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.

The 2014 Sewol ferry disaster is the only South Korean mass casualty incident broadcasted in real time and the first instance of the nation collectively experiencing a disaster through social media. Compared to the large body of literature on disaster media as a stressor, its role as a coping tool remains underexplored. We explored the associations between coping styles in disaster media use and the psychological impact of the Sewol ferry disaster among the South Korean general public.

Understanding Key Predictors of Life Satisfaction in a Nationally Representative Sample of Koreans.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that predict life satisfaction in a large representative sample of Koreans by analyzing data from the Gallup World Poll. The primary objective was to identify important predictors and suggest strategies to improve quality of life in Korea. The study used available Korean data from 2006 to 2017, which included 14,101 participants (mean age = 46.

Post-traumatic stress symptoms in hemodialysis patients with MERS-CoV exposure.

Background: Post-traumatic stress symptoms can occur in patients with medical illness. During the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea in 2015, some dialysis patients in three centers who were incidentally exposed to patients or medical staff with confirmed MERS-CoV infection were isolated to interrupt the spread of the infection. We aimed to investigate post-traumatic stress symptoms and risk factors among these patients.

Inevitable isolation and the change of stress markers in hemodialysis patients during the 2015 MERS-CoV outbreak in Korea.

During the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-CoV) in 2015, one hemodialysis patient was infected with MERS-CoV, and the remaining hemodialysis(HD) patients (n = 83) and medical staff (n = 12) had to undergo dialysis treatment in an isolated environment. This study was performed to investigate the effects of stress caused by dialysis treatment under isolation. Plasma samples from the HD patients and medical staff were collected at the time of isolation(M0), the following month(M1), and three months after isolation(M3).

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth Following Indirect Trauma from the Sewol Ferry Disaster, 2014.

Objective: The definition of psychological trauma, which was traditionally restricted to immediate and direct experience, is now expanding to include mediated or vicarious experience. So the present study aims to examine the relationship between the negative effects and the positive outcomes to a national disaster by assessing the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and posttraumatic growth of the general public.

Methods: A nationwide survey of the Korean population (n=811) who were exposed to the Sewol ferry disaster through the media participated in this research, completing a self-report questionnaire consisting of demographic characteristics, Impact of Event Scale-Revised- Korean, and Korean-Stress-related Growth Scale-Revised.

Schedule for personality assessment from notes and documents (SPAN-DOC): Preliminary validation, links to the ICD-11 classification of personality disorder, and use in eating disorders.

Background: The underlying core of personality is insufficiently assessed by any single instrument. This has led to the development of instruments adapted for written records in the assessment of personality disorder.

Aims: To test the construct validity and inter-rater reliability of a new personality assessment method.

Preliminary field trial of a putative research algorithm for diagnosing ICD-11 personality disorders in psychiatric patients: 2. Proposed trait domains.

This field trial examines the discriminant validity of five trait domains of the originally proposed research algorithm for diagnosing International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11 personality disorders. This trial was carried out in South Korea where a total of 124 patients with personality disorder participated in the study. Participants were assessed using originally proposed monothetic trait domains of asocial-schizoid, antisocial-dissocial, anxious-dependent, emotionally unstable and anankastic-obsessional groups of the research algorithm in ICD-11.

Field trial of a putative research algorithm for diagnosing ICD-11 personality disorders in psychiatric patients: 1. Severity of personality disturbance.

This preliminary field trial examines the reliability and validity of a proposed research algorithm for diagnosing International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11 personality disorders and its association with other psychiatric assessments for the primary classification of a single dimension of the five severity levels of personality dysfunction. In total, 137 psychiatric patients (119 with personality disorders and 18 without personality disorders) in Korea were assessed. In the first part of the study, inter-rater reliability was evaluated with an independent assessment of personality (personality assessment schedule).

Plasma Levels of IL-23 and IL-17 before and after Antidepressant Treatment in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder.

Objective: Cytokines are believed to have a role in the pathophysiology of major depression. The alteration in levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines [interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-2, IL-6, IL-12, interferon γ, and tumor necrosis factor α] in major depression supports the cytokine hypothesis of this illness. IL-23 and IL-17 are also pro-inflammatory cytokines, but few studies have focused on their role in major depression.

Anti-intrusion effect of Lorazepam: an experimental study.

Objective: Easy triggering of trauma-related episodic memory fragments caused by perceptual cues is tied to strong perceptual priming in the implicit memory system. And among benzodiazepines, only lorazepam has been consistently reported to have an atypical suppression effect on perceptual priming processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of single doses of lorazepam, diazepam, and a placebo on intrusive memories after exposure to a distressing videotape and to explore whether the anti-intrusive effect of lorazepam is acquired as a result of the suppression of perceptual but not conceptual priming processes.

State effect of traumatic experience on personality structure.

Objective: Personality is defined as the trait-like qualities of a person. However, it has been recently suggested that the state effect of a situation leads to changes in scores on personality assessments. We predicted that traumatic experiences would induce changes not only in personality scores but also in the factor structures of personality assessments.

The five-factor gambling motivation model.

Pathological gambling is a serious social issue, but the underlying psychological motivations are poorly understood. This study developed a five-factor gambling motivation model. The five factors that motivate gambling (socialization, amusement, avoidance, excitement, and monetary motives) were derived from study data obtained from 240 college students.

The effects of antidepressant treatment on serum cytokines and nutritional status in hemodialysis patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of antidepressant treatment on serum cytokines and nutritional status in hemodialysis patients. Twenty-eight hemodialysis patients with a depressed mood were given 20 mg of fluoxetine for 8 weeks. The degree of depressive symptoms, the serum levels of interleukin-1beta, interleukin-2, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, c-reactive protein, and markers of nutritional status were assessed at baseline and after treatment.

D2 and D4 dopamine receptor gene polymorphisms and personality traits in a young Korean population.

The correlation between the D4 dopamine receptor gene (DRD4) and the D2 dopamine receptor gene (DRD2) polymorphisms was investigated with personality traits. For this study, homogeneous population consisting of 243 young alcohol- and drug-naive Koreans who were blood-unrelated with a mean age (+/-SD) of 13.87 (+/-0.

Allelic variants interaction of dopamine receptor D4 polymorphism correlate with personality traits in young Korean female population.

Polymorphism in exon III of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene has been implicated to be associated with the human personality trait of novelty seeking (NS). For this study, we have investigated the possible association between 48-bp VNTR in exon III and -521 C/T SNP of the DRD4 and personality traits among young ( approximately 14 years of age) Korean female population. We found that the interaction between the two alleles of DRD4 polymorphism, 48-bp VNTR and -521 C/T, were significantly high on NS (F = 4.

Gender-specific molecular heterosis and association studies: dopamine D2 receptor gene and smoking.

If the concept of the gender-specific molecular heterosis is not considered and tested, incorrect conclusions would easily be drawn in association studies. Therein, heterosis and its gender effect in the genetic effect of DRD2 gene for smoking were examined with 187 healthy Korean individuals. The male smokers showed a higher A1 allele frequency (P = 0.

Gender-specific molecular heterosis of dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) for smoking in schizophrenia.

We examined the genetic effect of DRD2 A1 allele in 167 Korean schizophrenics in relation to their smoking habit. Although there was no apparent difference in the genotype distributions of DRD2 gene among the female schizophrenics (n = 66), the male counterpart (n = 101) showed significant differences in their genotype distributions. The comparison between male smoking and non-smoking patients showed the difference in genotype distribution (P = 0.