Understanding Depression

Yong-Ku Kim, MD, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry at College of Medicine, Korea University. He received a MD degree from College of Medicine, Korea University in 1987 and a PHD in psychiatry from Korea University in 1998. Dr. Kim has been affiliated with Korea University since 1998, first as an assistant professor (1998-2000), then as associated professor (2001-2005), professor (2006- present). For the past 30 years, his professional activities have extended beyond the area of pure clinical or research work. Dr. Kim has well over 350 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, including Biological Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry, Clinical Journal of Psychiatry, and Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry and 20 publications of books and have made over 100 academic presentations in my area of interest. Dr. Kim is a fellow of Collogicum Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum, International Society for Affective Disorders, World Federation of the Society of biological Psychiatry. He currently sits on the editorial boards of some leading academic journals in the field of neurobiology, including Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, Psychiatry Investigation, World Journal Psychiatry, Annals of Depression and Anxiety, Psychiatry Journal and so on. Dr. Kim received prestigious awards such as Astrageneca Award and Dr. Paul Janssen Schizophrenia Research Award.

• Part I. Conceptual and diagnostic issues.- 1. Current criticism on DSM-5 and future perspective on DSM-6 in major depression.- 2. Diagnostic biomarkers and biogoical classification in major depression.- 3. Neural circuit taxonomy and precision psychiatry in major depression.- 4. Lifelog and Voice Informed Forecast and Detection for diagnosis of major depression.- 5. Differentiation of major depression from bipolar depression.- 6. Rethinking the treatment resistant depression.- 7. Understanding psychotic depression.- Part II. Etiological and neurobiological issues.- 8. Complex role of serotonin-dopamine-glutamate receptors in major depression.- 9. New concept of gene-environment interections and epigenetics in major depression.- 10. Early life stress in HPA axis and MR/GR receptors in the development of major depression.- 11. Molecular, structural and functional neuroimaging in major depression.- 12. Chronic inflammation and neuroprogression in the pathophysiology in major depression.- 13. Understanding the connection between the gut-brain axis and major depression.- 14. Different biological mechanisms and treatments of depressive subtypes.- Part III. Symptomatic and clinical issues.- 15. Reconceptualization of anhedonia as a crucial symptom in major depression.- 16. Chronic pain and major depression: shared psychological and neurobiological mechanism.- 17. Current knowledge of cognitive dimension of major depression.- 18. Suicide behavior as a distinct psychobiology in major depression.- 19. Directional relationship between obesity and major depression.- 20. Gender differences in disease progression in major depression.- 21. Current knowledge of postpartum depression.- 22. Neurobiology and risk factors in late life depression.- Part IV. Therapeutic issues.- 23. New antidepressant development in the treatment of depression.- 24. Chronotherapy in the treatment of major depression.- 25. Psychedelics: future therapeutics in major depression?.- 26. Novel therapeutic strategies for treatment-resistant depression(TRD).- 27. New clinical applications of neurostimulation in major depression.- 28. Promising digital therapeutics in the treatment of major depression.- 29. Novel psychological interventions in the treatment of major depression.- 30. Personalized intergrative treatment in major depression.