Stray Kids 9th Member ~ Shine Pt.1

Docu Series S-1 EP 6/38 "Mental Health In Korea"

Mentions of depression, suicidal thoughts or actions, anxiety, ADHD, and PTSD.

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MC: Welcome back Sammy. It's good to see you.

Sammy: It's good to see you again.

MC: Shall we talk about Mental Health here in Korea?

Sammy: Where to begin? Geez.

MC: What about School Pressure influencing depression?

Sammy: Well I guess we can start with that. From what I've learned from my friends who went to high school in Korea is that, it's hard. You need to be on top of everything! I guess it does teach you not to procrastinate but it also influences you to forget taking care of yourself. Relaxation, mental health, and physical health all are linked to depression. If you have depression you tend to lack in caring for yourself because you don't have the energy. People call that being 'lazy'. It's really not.

MC: What about the Idol System. How does that induce depression and anxiety?

Sammy: Oh no doubt, antis. The harsh system of this isn't good neither is that, you're not even pretty, etc etc. there is so much I could say about the idol system that induces SOOOO many mental health problems. You also have to hide who you really are and put up this persona of you. You might have to deal with the hate from your fellow members in your group. Or you get negative comments on everything from your managers, your stylists, your companies, even fans and antis. There is so much reason for people to fall into the abyss that is depression. Anxiety can also be created from this. Mental Health is linked to everything. Even the smallest imperfection can trigger someone. That's why it is so debilitating. I used to have chronic depression, with therapy I got better. Even now it's still very bad. I'll also have my PTSD mix in with my depression and have flashbacks of things that happen now and what happened long ago. PTSD is weird though. It's not that you remember everything. Especially since my trauma happened when I was very young.

MC: How can your PTSD and depression merge? That's what I'm getting from this.

Sammy: Instead of just solely my abuser it could be someone I trust also spewing hate at me. EVEN though I know they'd never do that. Sometimes it'll happen in the practice room which is my new life even though this happened when I was living with my mother at our old apartment. It can be something that frustrated you that day or a bad experience manifested into the nightmare.

MC: That must be hard to deal with.

Sammy: It is but I always have my family around me and a therapist a call away.

MC: So you've been getting help?

Sammy: Yes, for a very long time actually. Since 2013? My old therapist was terrible my new therapist is amazing! He's like my best friend. We swear together and he gives me friend like advice and therapist advice. He's just great.

MC: Good to know.

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Sammy: I hate that the idol system is a breeding ground for self-esteem issues and self-hatred. Sometimes they're 11 year olds looking to debut in the future and get these problems because of the training and sleepless nights and terrifying teachers.

MC: Nobody said Idol life was easy not trainee life.

Sammy: People assume as an idol the stress is alleviated slightly. Nope. It's worse. Sometimes we crack under that stress and lash out. It's only natural and I wish fans would realize that and media would too. We're not perfect. We're human, we cry and laugh and scream. We get hurt, we break down, we push forward. Just because you see this persona of the perfect person doesn't mean we are. We hide our imperfections to give you all a clean performance or to give you happiness and entertainment.

MC: On the topic of imperfections, soloist IU mentioned she suffered with Bulimia.

Sammy: Oh I forgot to mention physical Heath problems like eating disorders can cause a lot of mental health problems. Bulimia is... in my opinion one of the most dangerous eating disorders. Overeating and then purging and fasting. Include depression and guilt in all of that and that's a recipe for disaster. Anorexia is also a terrible one. Anorexia can't just simply be stopped by eating, you have to also go through a lot of therapy. Also if you don't have any physical or mental health problems, therapy is still great. It's not only for the depressed or anxious. It's for everyone. Therapy can help you become productive in your job if you fall behind because of procrastination. Seriously I have a weird loop I go through. Depression says no energy no work getting done today. Anxiety says we HAVE to do this thing amazingly otherwise nobody will like it. ADHD says we're getting nothing done today executive dysfunction. That is if I don't take my medication.

MC: You take medication?

Sammy: Yeah, I have insomnia meds and ADHD meds. Those both have kind of negatively effected my depression and anxiety so we're still trying to figure it all out. South Korea doesn't have the most excellent way of getting medication. They consider many different legal medication from the States a drug. We all know their drug regulations. We all know what happened to Bom as well.

MC: Yeah. Truly sad.

Sammy: Seriously you assholes she had medical proof that she's been taking that medication for a long time! It took me forever to get my doctors to prescribe me the medication that I have now even then it works like half of the time.

MC: Yikes.

Sammy: It's a never ending cycle! America take me back I don't like it here anymore!

MC: *chuckles* I thought you did.

Sammy: I don't like it anymore. Antis are disgusting and hate on celebrities for stupid things. Not being 'polite enough' or female idols having an rbf. DOUBLE STANDARDS! I'll get into that at a later date.

MC: Ok then!

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I finished this a week after I had started it... I'm tired, it's 2:30 in the morning, and I wanna sleep... ok? Goodbye... 😴