Why We Should Work to Destigmatize Mental Illness in South Korea and Other Countries

By Chanah Park

Cypress High School

South Korea is recorded to have one of the worst country-wide mental illness problems in the world. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, South Korea is fourth in suicide rates. Many sources attribute this fact to the culture of stress that is prevalent across most Asian countries, in addition to the everyday stressors faced, which include familial responsibilities and obligations in either school or work.

The widely-accepted explanation for the beginning of stigmatization of mental illnesses in South Korea is the separation of those considered mentally ill into government regulated mental hospitals. It can be assumed that the isolation and segregation between the mentally ill and those not caused the latter to compartmentalize the former as lacking, inferior, and an embarrassment. This particular cause can not only be attributed to South Korea but many other countries as well. Although back then, the separation of the mentally ill from “normal” society may have been reasoned by people’s fear of the unknown, we can not say the same for why we still recognize the stigma to this day. And many, including high schoolers Victoria Choi and Erin Choi, agree. 

In many Asian countries and especially in South Korea, embarrassment and dishonor to oneself and one’s family is taken very critically. The fear of this unnecessarily idealized attribute is one of the main causes of the greater stigma in South Korea.  It is known that this stigma has prevented many from reaching out for help by seeing a therapist, checking oneself into a mental hospital, or going to rehabilitation. People fear that their friends, family, and coworkers will judge them for being “less than” and “unable to meet their culture’s standards,” which in turn causes those suffering to deny their symptoms and ignore them until it becomes too late. However, this should not be the case. As a rising junior at Troy High School Victoria Choi states, “Even in the age that we're in, I still feel like there's a lot of social stigma surrounding mental illness, which dissuades many from seeking treatment. This is definitely an issue; those who need help should not be afraid to get treatment based on what others think.”

I believe that people will always face pressures from different kinds of stressors in their life because that is just a part of being human and with that, it is inevitable that the stress may become too much and cause mental illnesses. So in a case where we are forced to take the reactive rather than the proactive side, we should do our best as a society to destigmatize getting help when we need it.