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It can sometimes feel as if South Korea, overworked, overstressed and ever anxious, is on the verge of a national nervous breakdown, with a rising divorce rate, students who feel suffocated by academic pressures, a suicide rate among the highest in the world and a macho corporate culture that still encourages blackout drinking sessions after work. More than 30 South Koreans kill themselves every day, and the suicides of entertainers, politicians, athletes and business leaders have become almost commonplace. The recent suicides of four students and a professor at Korea's leading university shocked the nation, and in recent weeks a TV baseball announcer, two professional soccer players, a university president and the former lead singer in a popular boy band killed themselves. And yet Koreans - while almost obsessively embracing Western innovations ranging from smartphones to the Internet to cosmetic surgery - have largely resisted Western psychotherapy for their growing anxieties, depression and stress. Talk-therapy modalities with psychiatrists, psychologists and other types of trained counselors are only slowly being accepted, according to mental health experts here. "Talking openly about emotional problems is still taboo," said Dr. Kim Hyong-soo, a psychologist and professor at Chosun University in Kwangju. "With depression, the inclination for Koreans is to just bear with it and get over it," he said. "If someone goes to a psychoanalyst, they know they'll be stigmatized for the rest of their life. So they don't go." Mental health experts said many troubled South Koreans seek help from private psychiatric clinics (and pay their bills in cash) so their government-insurance records do not carry the stigma of a "Code F," signifying someone who has received reimbursement for such care. Even when Koreans do seek out counseling, the learning curve can be steep. A prominent psychiatrist with a practice in Seoul, Jin-seng Park, said it was not unc

GPS jamming signals coming from North Korea has forced South Korea to order its military and civilian air transports to switch on alternative navigational devices to avoid disruption. A statement from the ministry has confirmed that they were able to warn airlines and pilots of the 241 affected South Korean flights along with the 11 foreign airlines like Thai Airways, AirPhil, FedEx, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. But even as the GPS jamming signals continued, South Korea sees no serious threat to navigational safety. Korea Communications Commission confirmed that the GPS jamming signals have been coming from a city on North Korea side of the border. "We've traced the jamming signals to the direction of Kaesong," a commission deputy director told Springhill Group. According to the transport agency, planes that suffered from GPS signal jamming were instructed to use the alternative navigation systems and were not delayed in their schedules. The signal jamming appears to be focused on air traffic at Gimpo and Incheon airports, both of which are around 30 miles from the border.

An employee's job performance is dependent upon many things, includingemotional intelligence (EI). "It has been established that the emotions an employee experiences in their organization affect his/her psychological and physical health, and also that employee's attitude towards duties, the organization, and work-related accomplishments," said Tae Won Moon of the Department of Business Administration at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea, and lead author of a recent study examining EI on the job. Burnout, also termed emotional exhaustion, is a key factor in determining how emotional intelligence affects job performance. "In our study we used the words emotional exhaustion and burnout interchangeably. Burnout includes three distinct states: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment," said Won Moon. "Among these three states, emotional exhaustion is at the core of burnout." When an employee is forced to exhibit emotions to customers that are insincere, such as smiling to a customer when having a bad day, causes emotional dissonance. "Researchers have suggested that sustained emotional dissonance reduces an individual's self-identity or even promotes a strong contrary (pseudo) identity and this leads to feelings of stress, frustration, or burnout/emotional exhaustion," said Won Moon. High levels of EI are linked to increased coping skills, on and off the job. Therefore, Won Moon theorized that low levels of EI would lead to emotional exhaustion or burnout. For the study, Won Moon interviewed 295 employees from a South Korean department store. The average age of the participants was 38, and all had been employed for at least one year. The results revealed that three key components ofEI, optimism, social skills and emotional validation, were negatively linked to emotional exhaustion. "We speculate that individuals who are good at utilizing their emotions by incorporating emotion in thought, and understa

The annual list of the top 10 consumer complaints is out, and it features familiar scams. Once again, the report is a good reminder to be careful. Some of the scams have become more sophisticated, with more high-tech ways of stealing your money. Topping the list are auto complaints, including misrepresentations in advertising or sales, faulty repairs, and leasing and towing disputes. In second place are complaints about credit and debt. The category includes mortgage modifications and mortgage-related fraud, credit-repair schemes, debt-relief services, predatory lending, and illegal or abusive debt-collection tactics. The five fastest-growing complaints are about fraud, debt-collection abuses, do-not-call violations, mortgage-related issues, and problems that people have had with both legitimate and sham home-improvement companies. New to the list this year are real-estate-related complaints. Hard times have left many people wanting to dump their timeshares, or at least get out from under yearly maintenance fees they can no longer afford. This desperation on the part of timeshare owners has been a boon to schemers. In one such swindle, "timeshare resellers" tell folks they can help them unload their unwanted properties and ask for an upfront fee for the service. I'm sure you can guess what happens. No buyers are found, no help is really offered and people are out of their money, stuck with a timeshare they can't afford. But then another timeshare crook swoops in to add insult to financial injury. Timeshare recovery companies offer to help owners get back the funds lost to resellers. They ask for an upfront fee. It's a double financial whack because this, too, turns out to be a scam.

With the risks associated with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), many women have turned to natural menopause solutions. But these also can bring risks. New report documents risks and introduces a safe and reliable alternative for women going through menopause Santa Fe, NM (PRWEB) August 08, 2012 Today branded ingredient distributor Helios CORP/Sunbio released a special report on the risks women may face taking popular natural treatments for menopause. The report discusses data from studies on black cohosh, genistein and Amberen. It also introduces a new natural menopause ingredient, EstroG-100. EstroG-100 has a proven track record of safety and efficacy. "Menopause is tough enough as it is," says Michael Jeffers, Helios CORP/Sunbio CEO. "Women shouldn't have to put their health at risk to get through it with some comfort. A 2003 study shows that 80% of women turn to natural alternatives to help with the symptoms of menopause. Our goal in releasing the report is make sure women have the information they need to make a safe and reliable choice," says Jeffers. In 2002, the conventional treatment for menopause symptoms, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), came under fire when the Women's Health Initiative trial showed it increased women's risk for heart disease, breast cancer and stroke. Without this option, women have turned to natural alternatives. However § In 2006, the U.K. and Australia required labeling for black cohosh products warning about potential liver toxicity. In 2008, nonprofit standards and safety organization, US Pharmacopeia also made this recommendation. Denmark and Korea have banned its sale; § In 2007, a National Institute of Environmental Health study showed genistein, a soy isoflavone, to be carcinogenic in rats. Organizations like the North American Menopause Society and the Breast Cancer and Environmental Health Research Agency have called for more research on soy and genistein to clarify its efficacy and safety. § Rese

(CNN) -- South Korea is perhaps the world's leader in terms of identifying and treating gaming and Internet addiction. After wiring the nation with the world's fastest broadband infrastructure, South Korea's government spends millions per year to identify and treat gaming and Internet addicts. About 8% of the country's population age 9 to 39 suffer from Internet or gaming addiction, according to a 2010 government study. Some see South Korea as a window into the future: Perhaps other nations, including the United States, will see a wave of gaming and Internet addiction when our technological infrastructure catches up. Others say it's too soon to know if gaming addiction is really its own disorder. In the United States, Internet and gaming addiction are not listed in the official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the next revision of that list, however, the American Psychiatric Association has proposed that "Internet Use Disorder" be listed as warranting further study. Open Mic: South Koreans take on gaming Some groups, however, have moved forward with treating Internet and gaming addiction. One of the leaders in that field is Dr. Han Doug-hyun, from Chung-Ang University Hospital in Seoul, South Korea's capital. Han's research lab treats people who are addicted to games using techniques similar to those used to treat alcoholics, including counseling and virtual-reality therapy (Check out this CNN video to see inside his research and treatment space). As part of CNN's feature on "Gaming Reality," Han gave us his list of the top five warning signs that a person should seek professional help for Internet or gaming addiction. Take a look at the tips and let us know what you think of them, and of the science of gaming addiction, in the comments. Here are Han's top 5 warning signs of gaming or Internet addiction: 1. Disrupted regular life pattern. If a person plays games all night long and sleeps in the daytime, that can be a warning he or she shoul