“I understand what is anxiety. But why are you so anxious to this extent? From the perspective of the third party, I honestly don't seem to be in an anxious situation like this. ”

I was curious.
What is it that makes A so anxious?

A resided in Seoul and was a stable large company. There was also a friend of the opposite sex who expressed a desire to get married.

But he was all uneasy. I thought that I could be pushed out of the company at any time, so I took over the work of others more than necessary, and I spent time outside of work for self-development. Even when I was hanging out with my friends, I couldn't enjoy it because I felt uncomfortable somewhere. I never dreamed of getting married because I thought the family could be broken at any time. This is the story that came out after going deeper into A's mind.

“When I was young, the house collapsed because of the IMF. My parents fight every day, I just cry in the room ... and the memories of that time still come to life. ”

It was a story I heard often. The clinic meets people whose wounds have not yet healed during the IMF. There were several statistical figures that surged right after the IMF: unemployment, divorce, and suicide. Could the pain of the unemployed and divorced parties be expressed in writing?


But it was the children of the family at the time who were as painful as they were, but they couldn't tee off and no one knew. The anxiety and fear of the children who witnessed the sudden collapse of a harmonious family. Its size is more than adults can imagine. Even if you don't have a divorce, the scar remains long. For children, home is everything in the world. As the collapse of the family is directly linked to survival, it remains a trauma that has experienced the fear of death. Moreover, the brain of a child who is still in the process of developing is much more vulnerable to anxiety than adults. It is the child's brain that can be improved quickly if we recognize and properly treat these areas, but at the time, our society did not seem to have the ability to look at the children.

There are three major symptoms that appear in people who have trauma that reminds them of the fear of death. Re-experience, arousal, and avoidance behavior. The fearful moments are repeated in my head. Like a scene from a movie I watched yesterday, it comes to life vividly, and it also has a nightmare. As I continue to experience the fear, I have to be anxious and awake at all times. If you are in a situation similar to that of Trauma, you are amazed and dodge. Therefore, despite the fact that A has entered a stable situation, the economic crisis and the friction between people continue to fear. Because of the economic crisis that hasn't happened, I can't rest. They cannot even marry because they are concerned about the friction between the couple who did not wake up.

Is this a personal problem? no. The IMF has had a great impact on the psychology of the people as a whole where we are not aware. A person whose house has collapsed in a typhoon can never feel as comfortable as before. Somehow, we have to try to make the house stronger and try to go to a more secure place. To those who have already experienced or witnessed a life collapsed, the phrase, 'It's okay if you can't study, you have to live doing what you want to do rather than money.' So, the craze for professionalism that has blown up since the IMF is currently ongoing. Many are trying to become more stable professions and recommending the way for their children, because they are afraid of the crisis situation that can come back someday.

The public servant craze is bigger than the professional craze. The best-selling '90 -year-old is coming 'analyzes the reason for the' public servant craze 'because it is the only remaining fair opportunity. However, I believe that the aspect of stability certainly contributed as well. Probably the most probable job that will not collapse even if the IMF-level crisis comes. In addition, the marriage rate, which fell sharply after the IMF, continues to fall, and the rate of suicide that has risen sharply has risen ever since. The IMF cannot explain all of this, but it certainly began.

How the corona virus will hurt our society I think it will have a strong impact on our society decades later, beyond the socio-economic impact expected from now on. Surely our society after corona will be a more anxious world. Just as we have never fully recovered from the wounds we suffered 20 years ago.


We must prevent this from being repeated. Now, we have to stop bright children from living in anxiety in the future. Important choices in life, such as careers, marriage, and childbirth, are already heavily affected by anxiety, but we must stop this from getting worse. To do that, we have to prevent the collapse of many families. Even if you can't stop them all in reality, you have to take care of the hearts of those who will be hurt in them.

What are the specifics? Honestly, I don't know. As a doctor sitting in a small office, I'm not sure if there is such a capacity in Korea. First I write about what I have seen and heard. With the hope of becoming a country that not only overcomes the crisis right now, but also prepares for future wounds.

# In-It # In-It #Kim Ji-Yong #Mental Room

# Good 'in-it' with this article, meet now
[In-It] Corona War, Korea's Big Lesson
[In-It] Things that are visible only after leaving the street