Objectives: The objective of this study was to confirm the Chiljeong (七情) characteristics of Hwa-byung patients using the core seven-emotions inventory-short form.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study based on the electronic medical records from a Korean medicine hospital. We included patients who were diagnosed with Hwa-byung and examined with Core Seven-Emotions Inventory-short Form (CSEI-S) during hospitalization periods. We presented the characteristics of Hwa-byung by demographic information, CSEI-S, Hwa-byung scale, and Korean Symptom Checklist 95. A correlation analysis was performed between CSEI-S and other clinical and psychological characteristics.
Results: The Chiljeong characteristics of Hwa-byung were high in the order of Sorrow (悲), Thought (思), Fear (恐), Fright (驚), Depression (憂), Joy (喜), and Anger (怒). There was no significant difference between each emotion. After combined Korean medical treatment, Sorrow (悲) and Thought (思) significantly decreased. There were static correlations between sorrow (悲) and fright (驚), thought (思) and sorrow (悲), depression (憂) and sorrow (悲), depression (憂) and fright (驚), thought (思) and depression (憂), fear (恐) and fright (驚), anger (怒) and thought (思), thought (思) and fright (驚), sorrow (悲) and fear (恐). Sorrow (悲) and Hwa-byung characteristics scale showed static correlation. Joy (喜) showed a static correlation with disharmony between the heart and kidney scores of the Hwa-byung pattern identification. Between KSCL-95 and CSEI-S, static correlation appeared in depression (憂) with depression, anxiety, and sleep problem scale, sorrow (悲) with depression and anxiety, fright (驚) with depression and obsessive symptoms.
Conclusions: Despite several limitations due to the study design and small sample size, this research successfully used CSEI-S to study the Chiljeong (七情) characteristics of Hwa-byung for the first time.

Objectives: To perform correlation analysis between the Core Seven Emotions Inventory-Short Form (CSEI-s), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), upper gastrointestinal symptoms, and gastroscopic findings and to compare emotional characteristics with upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings.
Methods: In this study, medical records of 38 participants who visited the hospital for examination purposes or complained upper gastrointestinal symptoms and completed the CSEI-s, BAI, BDI, and Questionnaire for upper gastrointestinal symptoms were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 25.0. Frequency Analysis, Descriptive Analysis, Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney's U-test, and Correlation analysis were performed.
Results: The upper gastrointestinal symptom group showed higher levels of anger, sorrow, depression, and anxiety than the asymptomatic group. On gastroscopy, the normal group had higher levels of Joy than the abnormal group. The reflux esophagitis group showed higher levels of thought, depression, sorrow, and anxiety than the non-reflux esophagitis group. Joy showed a negative correlation with BDI score. However, anger, depression, sorrow, BAI, and BDI score showed positive correlations.
Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that CSEI-s can be used to treat patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms and reflux esophagitis.

Objectives: Academic stress poses a significant risk for the mental health of medical students, and a feasible group intervention program for managing academic stress is required. The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical effectiveness of emotional freedom techniques (EFT) on the mental health of Korean medical students.
Methods: The class of first-year medical school students (n=36) participated in an after-school EFT group intervention program comprising six sessions (15 minutes/session, three weeks) to analyze its clinical effectiveness as a single-group test-retest clinical study. The changes in the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores were examined using a paired t-test and Cohen's D at post-EFT and two-week follow-up.
Results: There were significant curtailments at post-EFT and follow-up measures in TAI-Total (t=2.704 and t=3.289), TAI-Worry (t=2.297 and t=2.454), TAI-Emotionality (t=2.763 and t=3.654), PSS-Negative Perspective (t=2.659 and t=3.877), and PANAS-Negative Affect (t=2.885 and t=3.259) subscales, however not in PSS-Positive Perspective (t=-1.279 and t=-1.101) and PANAS-Positive Affect (t=0.194 and t=-0.122) subscales. The trait anxiety (t=2.227) was significantly mitigated in the post-EFT measure and the state anxiety (t=2.30) in the follow-up measure.
Conclusions: The EFT group intervention alleviated test stress, negative affect, and anxiety in the Korean medical students. This study contributes to an understanding of academic stress and EFT intervention in the competitive environment of medical education.

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of Korean Medicine Therapy (KMT) for the treatment of Chemotherapy-induced Cognitive Impairment (CICI) through systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as proceeding research to further research the efficacy of KMT for CICI patients.
Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA). The RCTs on the efficacy of KMT for treatment of CICI were searched by structured search strategies in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, CAJD, KISS, NDSL, KoreaMed, and OASIS. The searched RCTs were screened by inclusion and exclusion criteria. We evaluated the quality of the method in the included studies using the Jadad score and Cochran ROB tool. The efficacy outcomes were the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Clinical total Effective Rate (CER) of CICI. They were analyzed using mean difference for continuous variable or Relative Risk (RR) for Dichotomous variable in the random-effect model. The RevMan 5.3 program was used for meta-analysis.
Results: We included 19 RCTs, including 653 participants, in the systematic review and meta-analysis. There were favorable results for the KMT group after the intervention compared with the pharmacotherapy group, physiotherapy group, and combined treatment group. KMT group showed improvement using CER and VAS compared with exercises, but their heterogeneities were slightly significant. KMT was more effective compared to the Rehabilitation program in CER and the subgroup analysis results showed that KMT had a significant difference compared to other therapies in VAS, to Medication therapy in CER. Conclusions: KMT presented reasonable evidence on improving the Clinical total Effective Rate and Visual Analogue Scale in CICI patients. However, further evaluation in future research is required. Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of Korean Medicine Therapy (KMT) for the treatment of Chemotherapy-induced Cognitive Impairment (CICI) through systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as proceeding research to further research the efficacy of KMT for CICI patients. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA). The RCTs on the efficacy of KMT for treatment of CICI were searched by structured search strategies in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, CAJD, KISS, NDSL, KoreaMed, and OASIS. The searched RCTs were screened by inclusion and exclusion criteria. We evaluated the quality of the method in the included studies using the Jadad score and Cochran ROB tool. The efficacy outcomes were the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Clinical total Effective Rate (CER) of CICI. They were analyzed using mean difference for continuous variable or Relative Risk (RR) for Dichotomous variable in the random-effect model. The RevMan 5.3 program was used for meta-analysis. Results: We included 19 RCTs, including 653 participants, in the systematic review and meta-analysis. There were favorable results for the KMT group after the intervention compared with the pharmacotherapy group, physiotherapy group, and combined treatment group. KMT group showed improvement using CER and VAS compared with exercises, but their heterogeneities were slightly significant. KMT was more effective compared to the Rehabilitation program in CER and the subgroup analysis results showed that KMT had a significant difference compared to other therapies in VAS, to Medication therapy in CER.
Conclusions: KMT presented reasonable evidence on improving the Clinical total Effective Rate and Visual Analogue Scale in CICI patients. However, further evaluation in future research is required.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. It can lead to emotional and physical problems. Treatments such as antidepressant and cognitive behavioral therapy for MDD have many limitations. Traditional East Asian Herbal Medicine (TEAM) is a representative modality of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CIM) which can be used for MDD. However, no study has systematically reviewed the efficacy or safety of TEAM for MDD so far. Therefore, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate effectiveness and safety of TEAM as a monotherapy for MDD. We only included TEAM that could be used in context of clinical setting in Korean Medicine. Outcomes were the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) and total effective rate (TER). After comprehensive electronic search of 11 databases, we included 28 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared HM as monotherapy with antidepressant for MDD. Meta-analysis showed that TEAM had significant benefits in reducing HAMD (MD=-0.40, 95% CI: -0.67 to -0.13, p=0.003, I2=85%) and improving TER (RR=1.06, 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.10, p=0.003, I2=0%). It also appeared to be safer than antidepressant in terms of adverse effects. Methods used for RCTs were poor and the quality of evidence was graded 'low' or 'moderate'. These findings indicate that the use of HM as a monotherapy might have potential benefits in MDD treatment as an alternative to antidepressant. However, considering the methodological quality of included RCTs, the clinical evidence is uncertain. Further well-designed RCTs are required to confirm these findings.

Objectives: To report the effect of Korean medicine on a patient with insomnia from severe hot flashes.
Methods: The patient suffered from extreme hot flashes for months. Symptoms were so severe that the patient attempted suicide. After starting psychiatric medication, symptoms persisted and hospitalization began. During hospitalization, herbal medicine, acupuncture, and psychotherapy were conducted. For evaluating therapeutical effect, Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging was performed twice during the treatment process. It was divided into major facial area and back area. The facial area was divided into two small units to measure the difference in temperature between two points. The back area was measured in the same way.
Results: The temperature difference between the two points decreased over time and the patient's subjective symptoms reduced.
Conclusions: Korean medicine therapy can improve symptoms of patients with insomnia accompanied by hot flashes.