Watch K-dramas to improve your mental health, therapist says, and some viewers agree

Korean dramas that deal successfully with heavy issues can help people reconnect with their emotions or process trauma, Jeanie Chang says

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Lee Jung-jae in a still from Netflix Korean drama Squid Game. K-dramas like this can help people reconnect with their emotions or process trauma, says one expert. Photo: TNS

Published: 11:15am, 23 Nov 2024

If you have ever binge-watched an entire season of a K-drama like Squid Game or Crash Landing On You, one Korean-American expert has good news: it has probably improved your mental health.

High production values, top-notch acting and attractive stars have helped propel South Korean television shows to the top of global viewership charts, but therapist Jeanie Chang says there are deeper reasons so many people are hooked.

With soap-like plotlines that tackle everything from grief to the joy of new love, watching K-dramas can help people reconnect with their emotions or process trauma, she says, giving the shows a healing power that transcends their cultural context.

“We all have family pressures and expectations, conflict, trauma, hope,” she said, adding that watching heavy topics being successfully managed on screen can change people’s ability to navigate real-world challenges.

South Korean-US therapist Jeanie Chang next to the Love Lock attraction at Seoul’s Namsan Tower, which is often used as a K-drama filming location. Photo: AFP

For Chang, who was born in Seoul but raised in the United States, K-drama was particularly helpful in allowing her to reconnect with her roots – which she rejected as a child desperate to assimilate.