Korean drama fans when asked why are they addicted to binge-watching dramas, they often reply with the word that its a therapy for their mental health. Being a Korean drama fan, I can relate to it because it's like a fun diversion from my daily similar repetitive routine so often within a small confined world of mine. I have been born and brought up in a surrounding that doesn't have constant change in it, in other words, it's so usual. Right from the background, culture, people, entertainment, knowledge everything remains the same for the past 24 years of my life, but thanks to the internet revolution I have discovered the world of dramas. From my side, I discovered a new world with a new culture, environment, people, their relationship with each other, and how differently they handle their problems. So when we get to see something new, we are excited, and eventually, we end up being happy mentally and emotionally without us even being aware of it, hence when something has a positive impact on my life I don't hesitate to accept the fact of being a fanatic of Asian dramas though it might seem funny and stupid to some of my friends and family.
In recent times, Korean dramas are getting popular worldwide. There are several reasons we can point out. But first and foremost is the one-line story and characters involved in the drama. There are k-dramas completely focused on a particular genre like action, romance, comedy, etc. But some particular dramas consisting of these combinations of two genres are particularly attractive to people.
As these genres are combined into one drama with lots and lots of different characters in it we can connect ourselves with at least any one of the particular characters in it. The comfort and positive energy we get through that connection help our mental health to be stable. We also get some solutions maybe the lessons from the character we connect with.
K-dramas that show or inject the harsh reality which can be smoothly handled by ourselves are so much needed for us and this society. Especially the older characters halmoni/haraboji ( grandmother/grandfather) are simply heartwarming, loving, and caring with Little comedy in the storyline is the greatest healing vibe of the dramas.
The same goes for every character like teenage girls/boys, professional office girls, rich CEOs, siblings, young and hyperactive girls, cute young boys, etc. Though it is a drama of 16-20 episodes, the reality, coping up the mechanism for some hard situations, butterfly moments, feel of youth, bits of advice from halmonis and harbojis, hard work, love, friendship, hope and evil characters shown are the complete pack of goodness that teach us to make up our mind to handle every step in our life.
As a Korean drama fan, I have talked about how from my perspective it helped to promote my mental health. But there are studies that show that k-dramas can raise mental awareness, watching dramas increases flow, a mental state in which a person is entirely engrossed in a task. There are different genres of dramas like action, comedy, and romance but I would like to suggest some of the dramas that are in a genre called 'healing dramas'.
