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We have all had our trouble times. One being att the moment the outbreak| | | |
of this dreadful pandemic that has sadly taken the lives of many, whether it ✧| | |
be a family member, neighbor, distant relative or someone we had no relation✧ | |
to. The question that arises is how do we cope with it? The stress, the angst, ✧| |
the unexplainable emotions. This question is well embodied in ¨Soul Mechanic¨✧ |
as we see through how a passionate psychiatrist heals those in need of help. ✧ Fix You (2020)
Synopsis/Plot
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Lee Si Joon (played by Shin Ha Kyun) is an eccentric but passionate psychiatrist working in a hospital. He cares deeply for his patients. This care often includes idiosyncratic methods which often gets him labeled as a ¨maniac.¨ Han Woo Joo (played by Jung So Min) is a rising musical actress. Righteous and upstanding, After years of hard work in the acting industry her efforts seem to be paying off, but her mental issues and explosive anger keeps treating her career. Through an incident, the quirky psychiatrist who aids to people's mental stigmas and the rising star whose emotional wounds damper almost every aspect of her life, meet and unfolds a doctor-Patient relationship and a possible romance.
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Personally for me, once i read the storyline i knew this drama was for one. Like many, i fall into the category of those stressed and depressed because of the impact this pandemic has had on me and my family. Being a psychology-fanatic and aspiring psychiatrist, the first episode was really a shasher for me as the whole Medical Drama theme is very used in Korean Dramas, Psychiatry has to be one of the fields least portrayed and when it is portrayed it is usually overshadowed by the Romance theme, e.g. Kill me, Heal Me, Thirteen but Seventeen and e.t.c. So when i read the plot i had high expectations and indeed they were fulfilled.
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In-depth sight: Mental Illnesses
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The way in which people with mental illnesses are depicted in this drama is very humane. Mental health issues are not romanctized nor stigmatized. The characters, like many people in reality who live with mental disorders, function at a similar level as those without mental disorders. Reminding us that they are almost like most of us in society.
Lets take for example, the Anorexia patient (played by Hong Ye ji) . Now I am no Psychiatrist yet, so i'll be following along with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This patient suffered from Anorexia nervosa,
¨Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to a significant low body weight in the context of the age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health (less than minimally normal/expected1)¨
¨So i tell my Mom i am not a doll and
throw up in front of her. I do that to torture her¨
In simple terms the patient eats little to no food suffering from malnutrition, hormonal disorders, and a low body weight due to reaching an ideal body image. The patient's way of ¨restrictive energy intake¨ was through purging, and the overall cause of her Anorexia Nervosa was not due to low esteem in her self-image but due to the fact that she wanted to torture her mother who treated her as a doll.
¨There's no mental illness without a cause.¨ Lee So Joon
This drama in a sense, situates us towards the viewpoints of those suffering with mental illnesses, Now although many of us haven't puked in front of our parents , or smashed our ex-boyfriends car for two timing but i can firmly say i and many others alike, have retaliated, in our own form, towards the way someone made us feel. This drama , assiduously expressed why people who suffer from mental illnesses act the way they do in a way that individuals can relate to emphasizing how we are not so different from them.
The Emotions: Angst and Anger, void, Sadness, and Happiness
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Anger & Angst
Emotional Void and Emptiness
Sadness
Happiness
Another thing that i really love that this drama does is that it abridges the emotions most of us feel as we go on with our daily lives in the character(s). Our female lead, Han Woo Joo, principled and virtuous in spirit suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. With this disorder comes frequent shifts in mood where it is as if she is on an emotional rollercoaster. In a sense Han Woo Joo symbolically embodies the emotions of many of us. The writer made it so that we could relate to the character and understand that we arent indifferent from those with mental difficulties.
The Healing
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Shin Ha Kyun´s smile is this drama is a healing device on its own.
Another thing that one can take away from this drama are the ways of coping and healing from situations that have and could possibly has traumatized you or someone you care for. When hearing of healing many often think of K-dramas such as Uncontrollably Fond, Just Between Lovers, Come and Hug Me and e.t.c. Kdramas where their lover is suffering from a terminal disease, they're haunted by a traumatic event where an earthquake brought a building down, or their father just so happened to be a psychopathic killer. But this drama differentiates from other shows as the viewers don't just get a glimpse characters trauma and how the characters way of healing unfold, but are also able to relate to the character as well as find ways to cope as well.
Authors Note: Thanks for Reading! Please feel free to express your thoughts and opinions down below, until we meet again, Sayonara!