https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=370605

Interview: Korean American therapist uses K-dramas to start conversations about mental health
by Lee Gyu-lee
In today’s hectic society, especially in countries like Korea that run on hustle culture, mental health can often be overlooked, and taking a moment to look into one’s own psychological well-being might feel like a luxury that can’t be afforded.
But Korean American therapist Jeanie Chang hopes to change such a notion, turning around how mental health is viewed and approached through the use of K-dramas.
Chang, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified clinical trauma professional, uses K-drama examples in her clinical work, suggesting relatable series that could help patients overcome their mental struggles.
Aside from her work as a clinician and corporate speaker, she gained social media influence with her YouTube channel, Noona’s Noonchi, in which she takes a deep dive into K-dramas from a mental health perspective using her experience as a clinician. Her growing influence led her to found her own wellness company of the same name, offering mental health education and resources related to Korean culture.
“The main reason why I brought K-dramas into my work is that many people struggle talking about mental health. What’s a good way of talking about it? By giving an example of a story (from a K-drama). It gets very burdensome and makes them feel like it’s all about their grief but if I bring a story about somebody else, this is helping me because it takes a burden off the person,” Chang said during an interview with The Korea Times at the newspaper’s office in downtown Seoul, Tuesday.
“I bring in a K-drama and it changes the conversation. All I had to do was bring up a K-drama but then I’m really talking about mental health … So I brought K-dramas in to talk more about mental health in a more fun way and with less stigma.”
The clinician had her share of soul-searching before launching her clinical career, starting out as a broadcast journalist after college. But feeling burnout despite her passion for the field, she quit her job to enter business school, before taking a break from her professional life to raise four children.
During the break, she took time to reflect on her true passion and interest and made a big decision to pursue the field of psychology, even though it was completely unrelated to her previous work experiences.
“I remember thinking, what am I good at? What do I enjoy? … Then it came to me. Everything has been centered on me examining people’s well-being, using my ‘nunchi’ [Korean word for ability to detect other people’s moods] to understand relationships and emotions. So I decided to start from scratch and go to the field of psychology,” she said.
Chang, who moved to the U.S. as a baby, wasn’t familiar with K-dramas until she came across the rom-com series “Jealousy” in 1992, during a summer program in Korea. Since then, she fell in love with K-dramas, experiencing therapeutic moments through TV series.
“It was during those moments, years of raising kids, graduate school and watching K-dramas, that I realized they helped me. They helped me understand my emotions and my mental health … And during that time I was going ‘Oh, it’s helping me understand why I’m angry at my mom about this,’ I see it on a show and I was processing,” she said.
Her first experience of incorporating K-dramas into her clinical practice came by chance when she was treating a Chinese family. Being a tough session, she brought up the topic of K-dramas to ease the tension, suggesting they watch the drama series “Reply 1988,” which had the story of a similar family relationship.
And as COVID-19 further fueled the global popularity of K-dramas, it came naturally to Chang to discuss Korean series more easily and approachably during her sessions, leading her to start her YouTube channel.
Chang noted that the Korean cultural concept of “jeong,” which translates to affection and attachment, and “han,” grief and resentment, are the crucial factors that make K-dramas suitable for helping people reflect on their own grief and trauma.
“K-dramas are perfect because they are wholesome, and show such love and connection. It’s still all relatable to the world. Everybody wants to feel a connection and knows there’s regret, sorrow, family conflict and trauma. K-dramas have universal themes and messages that anybody can relate to,” she said, adding that character-driven plots allow people to relate more to the stories.
“What K-dramas do well is to focus on the people and the characters’ growth and development … The writers do a good job of capturing those emotions (of resilience, hope and trauma). What Western TV shows do is focus on the plot. But at the end of the day, they’re not going to relate to a plot but to the people.”
When asked about the best series to watch to deal with grief, she recommended “Move to Heaven,” “Be Melodramatic” and “Thirty-Nine,” although adding it could be different for each person as “grief does not look the same.”
Chang is expecting her book release this May, titled “How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life: Powerful Lessons on Belongingness, Healing, and Mental Health.”
The book shares her experience of utilizing K-dramas to work with people, including a memorable case of a former lawyer in his 60s who discovered K-dramas during his imprisonment. His experience of witnessing fellow prisoners getting emotional through K-dramas changed his life and helped him through his time in prison.
“He would say K-dramas brought us into a world that was real but it was not real because we weren’t there but we were able to escape through our emotions,” Chang said.
“In this book are global perspectives of people who see K-dramas through their reality … They saw one K-drama like ‘Move to Heaven’ and it changed their life to help them process grief, trauma and emotions.”
Chang expressed her hopes to take part in changing Korea’s perspective on mental health, a topic much less acknowledged in the nation.
“The history is we don’t talk about emotions in Korea. My dad, for instance, would never say ‘I’m sad’ … That generation is what kind of built Korea,” the therapist said.
“I still think Korea is very advanced in many things but in mental health, they’re a little bit behind. So they just need to catch up, but once they do, Korea is so competitive that they’re going to have some advanced mental health system. And I want to be part of that.”