How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life: Powerful Lessons on Belongingness, Healing, and Mental Health

by Jeanie Y. Chang

Discover the power of how K-Dramas can improve your wellbeing and provide a sense of belonging

Love K-Dramas and want more permission to binge watch them? In How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life: Powerful Lessons on Belongingness, Healing, and Mental Health, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Jeanie Y. Chang explores what K-Dramas can teach us about our own well-being and how we can use the lessons they teach us to live better and more meaningful lives. She also touches upon the powerful interrelationship between K-dramas, mental health, and belongingness. Topics covered include:

Using K-Dramas as a roadmap to life, showing you how to navigate speed bumps, roadblocks, twists, turns, and dead ends
Building cross-cultural relationships that you otherwise may not have without being a K-Drama fan
Processing grief from the loss of a loved one to a loss of anything―a job, your physical safety, a relationship, or something else
Harnessing the idea of Jeong, which is innate in Korean society and refers to the emotional sentiment of affinity, affection, kinship, and connection which is the thread throughout Jeanie's community
Working the author’s trademarked mental health framework, Cultural Confidence®, to build up your mental health, identity, mindfulness, and resilience


For K-Drama fans and enthusiasts and anyone curious about the influence of pop culture, How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life is an entertaining and educational must-read on how this enormously popular global phenomenon can help us become the best versions of ourselves.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 29, 2024

About the author

Jeanie Y. Chang is a LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist).

Reviews

[Nuraina Abdul Razak · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is the fastest I’ve read a non-fiction. In this case, it’s not for the best of reasons - I thought the substance of the book was shaky at best and honestly, this book could have been half its length and still got across its main points. I thought it got quite repetitive in the first half. It definitely needed a better editor to make the words more concise and the book more tight.

In any case, there were still some useful points to the book, how kdramas (like any form of entertainment/art I feel) could’ve a form of self-healing after a tough day at work/school. We can also learn from the characters and the trials they go through to navigate our own lives (again like any other form of entertainment we consume).

[Ashima Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If you can’t stop watching K-Dramas, it’s because they serve a good balance of escapism and realism. A dose of a K-Drama a day is not about escaping your reality, but helping you live through it in your own authentic way.”

Love K-Dramas and want more permission to binge watch them? Or do you wonder what brought on this craze for Korean culture around you? What if someone told you this enormously popular global phenomenon can help us become the best versions of ourselves; that there is a powerful interrelationship between K-Dramas, mental health, and belongingness?

In How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Jeanie Y. Chang explores what K-Dramas can teach us about our own well-being and how we can use these lessons to live better and more meaningful lives.

This book is everything I’ve wanted to say about why K-Dramas have become an obsession for me. K-Dramas have so much to offer that a lifetime is not enough to absorb all of it. If you’re new to them, it may take a few misses but there is a concoction of K-Drama genres for everyone, you just have to try a few before you meet the right match. And when you do, you’ll be sucked into a mesmerising world.

At a time when Korean culture is still moving determinedly towards its peak and K-Dramas are bringing a new wave of rising popularity every few years, this book perfectly explains the reasons why we fall hopelessly in love with K-Dramas and continue to return to them with new vigour, every day.

For complete review, visit https://aquamarineflavours.wordpress....
Find me on other platforms via https://linktr.ee/AshieJayn

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was already a K-Drama fan and had been following Jeanie Chang on social media for a while when this book was released. I love how she explains in the book why K-dramas are so relatable and help us identify all sorts of issues surrounding mental health, family and work relationships, and more. I was particularly impressed with her explanation of secondary trauma, whereby the person does not experience the trauma directly, but is traumatized over and over every time the person reads about, hears about, or watches footage of the traumatic incident. I’d never thought about that until reading her explanation; I’d already watched the K-Drama she used as an example, “Twenty-Five Twenty-One,” and her explanation helped me better understand the characters and the plot line, and why I felt so connected to them. Another topic she dives into is suicide, a problem that is much more prevalent in South Korea than anywhere else in the developed world. She lays out a sensitively written explanation about the drivers behind suicide and how the most respected values of Confucianism are often the same tenets that contribute to despair when a person doesn’t feel they have it can live up to them. Confucianism is a double-edged sword, portrayed in positive and negative ways in K-Dramas. Finally, I really enjoyed reading about the author’s journey to get to this point. I admire her for building a successful new career at midlife—she’s a great role model for those who face similar circumstances.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should have gotten five stars, since it's 100% in my wheelhouse. I love k-dramas, and I really loved hearing the perspective of a Korean American around my age on the global growth in their popularity. I liked the ways that Jeanie Chang summarized the shows (most of which I've seen.) Her explanations of cultural concepts like noonchi, han and jeong were fantastic. The book is very upbeat and I would love to talk with Chang any day of the week.

I totally related to the feelings Chang expressed of pride that people were appreciating Korean culture.

So where's my fifth star? It would be really great for me if K-dramas could improve my mental health and especially anxiety as much as Chang is suggesting. I think...it's a little too convenient. But sure! Yes! I'm watching TV for my mental health, and it's super healthy because it's Confucian!

Actually I kind of love that.

OK, so really the only downsides: the author acted like her personal brand was the PPL. (In K-dramas, the sponsors just plunk undeclared ads into the shows--suddenly the protagonist is putting on lipstick, or explaining why she's taking branded ginseng, or whatever.) It also frustrated me that the book was poorly edited enough that I caught errors without trying.

[Claire Chave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lorsque j'ai connu les k-dramas (en 2019), je n'avais aucune idée du changement que ça allait provoquer dans ma vie.

En moins de 3 ans, j'ai :
- découvert une culture
- voyagé dans un nouveau pays
- appris une nouvelle langue
- transformé mon style de vie radicalement

Alors ce livre de @noonasnoonchi est un peu une compilation de tous ces changements, avec des explications. C'est un livre vraiment intéressant, parce qu'il aborde les k-dramas d'un point de vue psychologique, certes, mais plus globalement parce qu'il analyse l'impasse des kdramas sur la psyché humaine. Et je trouve ça FASCINANT.

[Karine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered K-dramas during the pandemic when nothing else on Netflix was of interest and I haven't looked back. I've mostly watched rom-com series as I find them the most enjoyable.

I picked up this book as I wanted to discover more about what makes K-dramas so appealing and why they have such a lasting impact on so many people.

I enjoyed the authors explanations about how different shows explain different mental health topics. It was interesting dissecting the shows this way and looking at them in a new light. I've now come away with a massive list of new shows to watch.

[Olivia Victorius · Rating 4 out of 5]

good books, but i feel like it didn't really elaborate much in detail about mental health much. very light to read

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Rebecca Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, reflective, and heartwarming. A wonderful and powerful read that truly helped made those connections.

[_booksagsm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeanie Y. Chang is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the creator of the Cultural Confidence® framework.
Jeanie's background lies in dealing with mental health, identity and cultural understanding. I started following her on insta and could immediately feel a connect with her concepts of how K Dramas are healing. As a Korean American, Chang taps into her cultural heritage to explore meaningful aspects of Korean culture and how they manifest in popular media, especially K-Dramas.

I am watching K dramas from more than 10 years now and there is this slight comfort which I find there always. K-Dramas are one of the most significant blend of romance, suspense, humor and tragedy. With the focus on relationships, personal growth, family values and societal norms, K dramas resonate with viewers from diverse background.

In How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life, author talks about mental issues and the way K dramas have captured them in various ways. Book is divided in 3 parts:
1. The Powerful Intersectionality of K-Dramas and Mental Health
2. The Powerful Intersectionality of K-Dramas and Identity
3. The Powerful Intersectionality of K-Dramas and Resilience

Author has touched upon universal emotions like grief, love and identity while also exploring uniquely Korean concepts such as "jeong" (a deep emotional connection) and "noonchi" (the ability to read social cues).The book positions K-Dramas as a roadmap for navigating life’s challenges, emphasizing their balance between escapism and realism. Chang effectively links K-Drama plots to themes like resilience and personal growth, highlighting the healing potential they can offer.

I particularly am interested in reading about mental health issues and I also found K dramas healing. But, they might not be the cure, they offer warmth. If you are a K-drama fan or would like to start your K-drama journey, here are some recommendations:

1. "Daily Dose of Sunshine" - particularly topping my list.
2. Our Blues
3. My Mister
4. It’s Okay to Be Not Okay