Ughh. This drama really bugged me. As someone with some background knowledge and care giving in mental health, I just need to share a few thoughts on this one. Especially because the drama presented things in an almost textbook way. Well it came off as super old textbooks written years ago when we have much more research to update our knowledge of these things today.

Drama gave a decent portrayal of people with various mental health conditions. I especially appreciate that it took their perspective and was sympathetic.

What I couldn’t stand was that in order to manipulate the audience and tell emotional stories, they went completely off track in explaining root causation for mental health issues. They would rather put blame on bad parenting or societal pressures because it suited the story, than address the scientifically proven genetic predispositions people have to many of these mental health diagnoses. I am not saying environmental factors don’t play a role in triggering, but it was pretty obvious they wanted to skirt around the biological and genetic causes. To me, it was too much of a missed opportunity and came across as Korea once again not wanting to fully acknowledge mental health. Almost like it is a personal weakness and flaw to have such genetic predispositions. So it feels more comfortable to explain it in another way. I’m sorry but bad parenting does not cause bipolar disorder. It is a physical, chemical brain condition.

Once again, Korea still has a ways to go in facing without shame mental health.