By Alea Umairah
Edited By Nur Najia Nazri
(Warning for those who have not watched the drama as this article contains spoilers)
A picture from the Daily Doses of Sunshine drama
In this era, mental health issues are no longer an unfamiliar subject for most of us. Mental health issues have been openly discussed and more people have started to accept and become aware of it. Mental health is just like physical health; everyone has it but not everyone has mental health issues. Do you know the differences between mental health and mental health issues? Mental health simply means the state of our mental well-being meanwhile mental health issues (also known as mental illness) are mental conditions that can be diagnosed and need professional treatment.
Daily Dose of Sunshine, a Korean drama series, gives viewers a glimpse of a psychiatric ward environment. Throughout the show, we will follow Jung Da Eun, the new nurse who just transferred to the psychiatric ward in her days dealing with mentally ill patients. In the drama, various types of mental illness are portrayed such as bipolar disorder, social anxiety, and delusion. We could also see the stigma that people have towards mental illness and how people with mental health issues face discrimination due to their conditions.
Just like doctors and nurses who deal with patients with flu could get infected by them, doctors and nurses who deal with psychiatric patients are also affected by their patients. The head nurse Song Hyo Shin once said to Da Eun, “So what if you have a mental illness? What if you have depression? It’s not like anyone chooses to be ill” while trying to comfort and convince her to get back to work after she was discharged from the hospital.
Stigma is a negative belief that one society has towards something. Stigma could later lead to discrimination which means unfair treatment towards someone. These issues could be seen through the character nurse Jung Da Eun and head nurse Song Hyo Shin alongside her sister, Song Ae Shin who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
If we talk about schizophrenia, most people think of it as “crazy”, “violent”, or “scary”. People with schizophrenia would be seen as harmful individuals and such stigma was portrayed by the media such as movies, TV shows, and news.
In the drama, Hyo Shin and Ae Shin are discriminated against and are not allowed to move into the new apartment because the community does not want them there due to Ae Shin's condition as they are scared of her. One of the residents also mentioned that she was scared because she saw people with schizophrenia acting violently on social media.
Another issue is when Da Eun got back to work and the guardians of her patients found out that she had just been discharged from a psychiatric ward, they started to boycott her. Although Da Eun has explained that she has been taking her medication without a miss, they still protested that Da Eun should not be allowed to treat patients.
What are the causes of such stigma?
First, it could be due to one’s lack of awareness and understanding. People who have little to almost no information about mental illness tend to have a stigma about it. Stigma is also due to the media portrayal of mental illness. Some media tend to only show the scary and bad parts of mental illness without providing more information about it.
There are ways to overcome the stigma towards mental illness. Firstly, you could surround yourself with people who have mental health issues. This way you could understand them better and you will see that people with mental illness are not scary and dangerous as stigmatised. Other than that, you could also read up on this topic more. A deeper understanding of this subject may give you a broader perspective on the complexity of mental health stigma.
This is a good drama if you want to know more about mental illness. Through this drama, I have learnt to know that there are several types of depression. I also got to know more types of mental illness such as somatic delusion and pseudodementia. But I want to warn you that if you want to watch this drama, watch with precaution because the topic discussed and the visual presentation might be triggering to some people. Overall, I would say that watching this drama will not waste your time as you could also educate yourself more about mental health issues through this drama. Happy watching!
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