No abstract

The print media is still one of major sources for health-related information. To shed light on how the media accurately delivers information for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we searched the newspaper articles and analyzed their contents for accuracy in the description of symptoms, causes, and treatment of PTSD. The articles featuring PSTD were searched from the very first available to 2010 at on-line search systems of three major Korean newspapers. A total of 123 articles appeared and the first article appeared in 1984. The number of articles steadily increased till the early 2000s but we found the robust increase in the late 2000s. Among the mentioned symptoms of PTSD: re-experience (39%) was most common, followed by avoidance or numbing (28%) and hyperarousal (22%). Of the 29 articles mentioning treatment of PTSD, 13 mentioned psychotherapy only and 11 mentioned both psychotherapy and medication equally. However, the psychotherapies mentioned were non-specific and only five articles mentioned any empirically supported therapies. The number of articles on PTSD in Korean newspapers has continually increased during the last three decades. However, the quality of information on the treatment of PTSD was questionable.

The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) is the most widely used self-report tool for use with the general population and various clinical entities, including those with schizophrenia. This preliminary study tested the reliability of the DES, especially temporal stability and validity, in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia receiving inpatient or outpatient treatment. The DES was administered at a university-affiliated training hospital in South Korea to a total of 68 patients (39 inpatients and 29 outpatients) whose diagnosis of schizophrenia was confirmed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis Disorders. Internal consistency, 4-week test-retest reliability, and validity were calculated. Participants also completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Symptom Checklist-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale. Four-week test-retest reliability was moderate (r = .69) and internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α = .95). Total score on the DES was correlated with childhood trauma (r = .69, p < .001), posttraumatic symptoms (r = .50, p < .001), and depression (r = .52, p < .001), demonstrating the convergent validity of the scale. Our study confirms the psychometric soundness of the DES among patients with schizophrenia after the acute stage of illness (e.g., 3 weeks after admission), supporting use of the scale for screening and evaluating dissociative symptoms within this population.

ObjectiveResearch suggests that the contents of delusions in schizophrenia are influenced by culture and social environment. However, few studies have investigated the chronological change of such delusions within a society. To investigate specifically the changes in the persecutory delusions of schizophrenia that have occurred over time, we compared the nature of the persecutors and their persecutory behaviors among inpatients with schizophrenia.MethodsAll admissions to the psychiatric unit of Hanyang University Guri Hospital with discharge diagnoses of schizophrenia during two different five-year time frames (1996-2000 and 2006-2010) were reviewed. From their inpatient medical records, we investigated the descriptions of persecutors and their persecutory behaviors in the delusions of 124 patients (54 in the1990s and 72 in the 2000s).ResultsOverall, persecutory behaviors and nature of persecutors in the delusions of schizophrenia did not differ between the two time frames. However, subgroup analysis revealed that in women but not in men, rejection as a persecutory behavior was significantly higher in the 1990s (p<0.05).ConclusionThe ten-year time interval may be too short to find significant changes in delusional content in general. However, our additional finding in women may be a result of the tremendous change in status of Korean women during the last decade.

No abstract