Objectives:
To examine effect of Korean medical treatment on child and adolescent patients with depressive disorder and correlations among changes in anxiety and anger psychological scales before and after treatment.
Methods:
Medical records of 28 adolescent and 9 child patients diagnosed with depressive disorder based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Ⅴ (DSM-Ⅴ) who received Korean medical treatment (herbal-medication, acupuncture, Korean psychotherapy, and so on) for at least 8 weeks were retrospectively reviewed. Psychological scales including Beck Depression Inventory-Ⅱ (BDI-Ⅱ), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), State Anxiety Inventory for Children (SAIC), Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (TAIC), and Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA) were measured every four weeks and analyzed.
Results:
After eight weeks of treatment, STAI-X-1 (State Anxiety), STAI-X-2 (Trait Anxiety), BDI-2, BAI, STAXI-S (State Anger), AXI-K-I (Anger Expression-In) and AXI-K-O (Anger Expression-Out) showed statistically significant decreases in adolescent patients. In child patients, ChIA was significantly improved after eight weeks. For psychological scale pairs in adolescent patients, BDI-2 and STAI-X-1·STAI-X-2·BAI·STAXI-S·AXI-K-I, STAIX-T and STAXI-S·AXI-K-I showed significant positive correlations whereas AXI-K-O and AXI-K-C showed a negative correlation. In child paitents, there was a significant positive correlation for all psychological scales except for the relationship between SAIC and ChIA. In adolescent patients, low pretreatment BDI-2 predicted BAI, STAXI-S, and AXI-K-I score reduction after 8 weeks. Lower BAI scores significantly decreased STAI-X-2 and BDI-2 scores after 8 weeks but increased AXI-K-C. In child paitents, low pretreatment ChIA scores predicted a decrease in CDI score after treatment.
Conclusions:
Korean medical treatments including herbal medicine, acupuncture, and Korean psychotherapy were effective in improving depressive disorder and accompanying symptoms such as anxiety and anger of child and adolescent patients.