[The Editors' Verdict]A Culture of Seeking Medical Help Even for Emotional Pain

Kyung-ho Lee, Head of Biohealth Department

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On the 14th, the government announced measures to significantly reduce the world’s highest suicide rate. These include creating life-respecting safe villages, lifecycle-specific responses, blocking harmful means of suicide, and improving government governance structures. Mental health screenings, which are currently conducted every 10 years for people aged 20 to 70, will be conducted every 2 years, aligning with the physical health screening cycle. However, no specific numbers were provided regarding funding and staffing increases.

In 2021 alone, about 13,000 people took their own lives. That year, traffic accident deaths numbered 2,900, making suicides four times higher. Japan’s suicide prevention budget was 750.8 billion won as of 2017. South Korea’s suicide prevention budget was 36.8 billion won as of 2021. Japan’s budget excludes the ‘personnel expenses’ category, while South Korea’s includes it. Japan’s suicide rate decreased from 20.9 per 100,000 in 2011 to below 15, but recently (2021) recorded 16.8. The government aims to reduce the rate from 26.0 in 2021 to 18.2 by 2027, a 30% reduction. Although calls to increase funding and manpower for suicide prevention are easy to make, they are difficult to implement immediately.

Suicide occurs due to a complex interplay of various factors. An analysis of psychological autopsy interviews conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare from 2015 to 2021 (7-year cumulative) found that most suicide victims showed warning signs before death (such as mentioning death, organizing their surroundings, changes in sleep patterns) and were diagnosed with or presumed to have had psychiatric disorders. On average, each person experienced 3.1 concurrent incidents (family issues, economic problems, job stress). Depression accounted for the highest rate at 82.1% across all age groups. According to a report by the National Assembly Futures Institute (High Suicide Rates: What Is the Problem and What Is Not), different age groups face different challenges: competition and violence (teenagers), survival and anxiety (young adults in their 20s and 30s), roles and responsibilities (middle-aged adults in their 40s and 50s), and poverty and hopelessness (those aged 60 and above).

Suicide victims commonly experience mental health problems such as depression and anxiety following stressful events, which worsen and lead to suicide. The first step in suicide prevention measures must begin with mental health, including depression. A culture that treats and overcomes mental illness must also be created. When the body is sick, people go to the hospital even if told not to. They meet doctors, receive treatment, prescriptions, or surgery. A culture where mental illness is treated the same as physical illness must be established.

The number of depression patients increases every year, yet the culture of avoiding psychiatric or counseling centers remains. When the body is sick, people wish for recovery, but when the mind is sick, it is often dismissed as a personal problem. This is similar to how most suicides are replaced by the term ‘extreme choice.’ In American movies and dramas, scenes of people consulting psychiatrists or psychological counselors appear frequently. U.S. viewer protection guidelines require that such scenes show practical advice, procedures, and the actual methods professionals use. Scenes of alcohol, drug, and gambling addicts attending related meetings and sharing their experiences are also common. These are actively used not as campaigns but as devices to reveal characters’ inner psychology.

In comparison, we have video content guidelines that advise refraining from detailed depictions or glamorization of suicide. We also need to create guidelines that include counseling scenes when economic hardship, school violence, family conflicts, bullying, and various addictions are portrayed in video content. It is time to shift the perception of mental health counseling from being ‘because there is a problem’ to ‘to find a solution.’

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