OBJECTIVES: Adult attachment is a relatively stable disposition, rooted in internal working models of self and relationship patterns. However, findings reported from recent research have suggested that levels of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and security are also affected by situational factors. The State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM) was developed for the purpose of capturing temporary fluctuations in the sense of attachment security and insecurity. In this study, we examined the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the State Adult Attachment Measure (K-SAAM). METHODS: K-SAAM, Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire-Revised (ECR-R), Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), Korean version of Positive Affective and Negative Affect Schedule (K-PANAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (R-DAS), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale 20-K (TAS 20-K) were administered to 180 subjects in the community. Exploratory factor analyses and correlation analyses among related variables were conducted. RESULTS: Scores on the K-SAAM demonstrated high internal consistency, with corrected item-total correlations from .56 to .87. Results of exploratory factor analysis yielded three reliable subscales measuring state levels of attachment-related anxiety, avoidance, and security. Results of additional analyses demonstrated both convergent validity and discriminant validity of the K-SAAM. CONCLUSION: The results reported here are highly supportive of the reliability, validity, and utility of the K-SAAM as a state measure of attachment. This new measure will allow clinicians to assess various temporary changes in attachment levels and to examine the efficacy of attachment-based psychotherapy. The K-SAAM has the potential to advance the field in understanding of the dynamics of adult attachment.
Adult ; Affective Symptoms ; Anxiety ; Appointments and Schedules ; Depression ; Humans ; Psychotherapy ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated PTSD prevalence, symptoms, depressed mood and anxiety, comparing two groups of the patients in trauma; one who had experienced the loss of consciousness (group "A" here after) and the other group of patients who had not(group "B" here after). METHOD: Subjects were 120 patients(age18-66) who had received trauma(traffic accident, fall down) more than 1 month. Before they consisted of 56 patients who had experienced the loss of the consciousness(46.7%) and 64 who had not(53.3%). Men were 69 and women were 51. Clinician administered PTSD Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, State Trait Anxiety Inventory-I, II were administered. The factors such as sociodemographic variables, unconsciousness at the time of trauma, memory about traumatic accidents were considered. RESULT: Out of 120 subjects, 30 patients(25%) were diagnosed as PTSD: 17 from 56(30.4%) and 13 from 64(20.3%) were found in the group "A" and "B" respectively. Prevalence of PTSD was higher in the group "A". However, there was no significant difference between two groups(X2=1.607, p>0.05). The CAPS of group "A" showed significantly high frequency in the loss of interest, detachment, restricted affect, sleep difficulty, irritability/anger, concentration difficulty(p<0.05), while the group "B" scored high in intrusive recall and increased startle. The scores of BDI, STAI-I, II were significantly higher in the group "A"(t=-3.16, p<0.05)(t=-2.75, p<0.05, t=-3.38, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: PTSD was more frequent and depressed mood and anxiety appeared more often in the group who experienced the loss of consciousness. Thus the loss of the consciousness at the time of trauma prones of the aevelopment PTSD and to symptom of aepression and anxiety.
Anxiety* ; Consciousness* ; Depression ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Memory ; Prevalence* ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* ; Unconsciousness

OBJECTIVE: Symptom provocation paradigms using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) can be an important tool to visualize neuroanatomic correlates of PTSD symptoms. The purpose of this study is to measure regional changes of brain upon exposure to fear stimulus and elucidate the probable relation between signal changes and fear response in PTSD. METHOD: Event-related fMRI was performed during a task where traffic accident-related photos and checkerboards were presented in 9 women with PTSD and 9 woman normal controls in unpredictable order. MRI data were acquired on a 1.5 T GE vision system with a head volume coil. Stimuli were presented on a mirror mounted on the head coil. A total of 200 functional images were taken during a 10-minute scanning session. TR was 3 seconds and inter-stimulus time was varing 4.5 to 11.5 seconds. Data was analyzed using SPM99. RESULTS: In PTSD group, the fear conditions versus the neutral conditions showed activations in both occipital cortex, both fusiform gyrus, left parietal lobule, both insula, right cerebellar tonsil, right putamen, right claustrum, but deactivations in both prefrontal gyrus(p<0.001). In normal control group, activation were found for the fear conditions as compared with the neutral conditions in left fusiform gyrus, both occipital cortex, left parietal lobule, right frontal lobule(p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Emotion provocation paradigm using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging can be applied to illustrate fear response mechanism in PTSD. The result suggests that insula, limbic lobe, cerebellum may play a role in mediating fear response in PTSD.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Cerebellum ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Negotiating ; Palatine Tonsil ; Putamen ; Rabeprazole ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic*

OBJECTIVES: The previous assumption that patients with bipolar I disorder make a full recovery of cognitive function in the euthymic phase has been challenged by studies that suggest neuronal changes, and recently persisting neuropsychological dysfunctions beyond episodes of the illness. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impairment of the neurocognitive performance of euthymic bipolar patients, the characteristics of cognitive impairment, and the relationship between cognitive dysfunction and clinical variables of illness in bipolar population. METHODS: 19 bipolar out-patients who had been euthymic for more than 3 months by Hamilton Depression Scale score below 7 and Young Mania Rating Scale score below 6 were compared with age- and education- matched 19 healthy subjects on neurocognitive tests. Patients showing observable extrapyramidal symptoms were excluded with the objective rating. The following tests were administered in according to cognitive domain: Korean-Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, subtests among Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Signal Detection/Decision-Reaction Timer/Psychomotor Performances among Vienna Test System. RESULTS: The bipolar group performed significantly lower than the control group on verbal and performance IQ, total IQ, and psychomotor function or coordination. There was no relationship between the cognitive impairment and clinical course of illness, except duration of neuroleptic exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Although our findings did not replicate the recently reported results, especially in the domain of executive function and verbal memory, they suggested the presence of neurocognitive difficulties, in the general ability and visuomotor function in stable bipolar patients. Also, we tailed to identify the influence of clinical course variables on cognitive area with statistically signficant differences.
Adult ; Bipolar Disorder ; Depression ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Memory ; Neurons ; Outpatients ; Wisconsin

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the relationship of personality traits with dopamine D4 receptor(DRD4) exon III polymorphism in a Korean population. METHODS: We analysed DRD4 exon III 48-bp repeats polymorphism in 173 Korean healthy female adolescents(age=13.88+/-0.29 years) who also completed Temperament and Character Inventory(TCI). RESULTS: Novelty seeking score of the TCI was significantly higher in the subjects with DRD4 long alleles(>or=5 repeats) compared with the subjects without these(t=2.11, p=0.037). CONCLUSION: The present study supports the previous reports that long repeats of the DRD4-exon III polymorphism are related with Novelty Seeking personality.
Dopamine* ; Exons ; Female ; Humans ; Receptors, Dopamine* ; Temperament

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies in patients with Tourette's disorder suggested presynaptic dopaminergic dysfunction, demonstrating increased dopamine densities. In present study, we investigated dopamine transporter densities using I-123N-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-chlorophenyl)tropane(I-123-IPT)-SPECT in drug-naive children with Tourette's disorder and postulated that dopamine transporter density reflected dopamine concentrations. METHODS: Eight drug-naive children with Tourette's disorder and six normal children were included in the with the brain SPECT 2 hours after an intravenous administration of I-123-IPT. Obtained SPECT data were reconstructed for the assessment of specific/nonspecific dopamine transporter binding ratio of basal ganglia and were evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively. We investigated correlation between total tic severity of children with Tourette's disorder assessed with YGTSS and specific/nonspecific binding ratio of basal ganglia. RESULTS: Drug-naive children with Tourette's disorder had a significantly greater increase of speciffic/nonspecific dopamine transporter binding ratio of left basal ganglia than normal children. However, no significant differences in specific/nonspecific dopamine transporter binding ratio of right basal ganglia were found between children with Tourette's disorder and normal children. Also, we found no significant correlation between total tic severity of children with Tourette's disorder and specific/ nonspecific binding ratio of basal ganglia. CONCLUSION: These findings support the hypothesis of dopamine dysregulation in presynaptic dopamine function of the basal ganglia in the pathophysiology of Tourette's disorder.
Administration, Intravenous ; Basal Ganglia* ; Brain ; Child* ; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins* ; Dopamine* ; Humans ; Tics ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon* ; Tourette Syndrome*

OBJECTIVES: Study results of association between dopamine transporter gene(DAT1) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) were not conclusive. Distribution of DAT1 polymorphism is variable according to ethnicity. Ethnic differences in the distribution of DAT1 can be an impediment to apply previous findings to Korean ADHD. This study was to examine the association between DAT1 and ADHD, and the risk allele of ADHD among DAT1 polymorphism in Korean. METHODS: DNA extracted from blood of 100 normal controls and 44 ADHD patients. DAT1 with variable number of tandem repeats(VNTR) were determined using polymerase chain reaction. The differences of allelic frequency distribution and genotype frequency distribution between patient group and control group were tested with Fisher's exact test. The pairs of allele and of genotype with difference between the two groups were selected by Fisher's excat test adjusting p-values with permutation method. Odds ratios of two alleles and of two genotypes between the two groups were computed. RESULTS: There was association between DAT1 and ADHD(genotype: p<0.05, allele: p<0.05. Patients with ADHD were more likely to have 440 base pairs than 480 base pairs comparing to controls (OR=4.46, 95% CI: 1.44-13.75). Patients with ADHD were more likely to have 9/10 genotype than 10/10 genotype comparing to controls(Odd Ration=3.74, 95% Confidence Interval: 1.11-12.61). CONCLUSIONS: We found the association between DAT1 and ADHD, and possible risk allele of Korean ADHD. Replication of the results in larger sample is needed.
Alleles ; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity* ; Base Pairing ; DNA ; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins* ; Dopamine* ; Genotype ; Humans ; Odds Ratio ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

The 'vascular depression' hypothesis is supported by the high incidence of depression among patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease or stroke, and the association of geriatric depression with silent stroke or white matter hyperintensity on neuroimaging scans. The vascular depression might be a valid new concept, making it worthwhile to be a new subtype of depression with different etiology, clinical manifestation, treatment method, and prognosis. Additionally, it can be suggested that the primary and secondary prevention of depression related with cerebrovascular disease can be possible by reducing the risk factors of cerebrovascular disease. The further study should be carried out to verify the diagnostic criteria of vascular depression and to develop pharmacotherapy for prevention and treatment. The more effort to understand and investigate vascular depression should be made in Korea where the cerebrovascular disease ranks first in cause of death and there may have been many untreated vascular depression patients.
Cause of Death ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Depression* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Korea ; Neuroimaging ; Prognosis ; Risk Factors ; Secondary Prevention ; Stroke

No abstract available.

No abstract available.