Actors: Park Bo Young, Yeon Woo Jin, Jang Dong Yoon, Lee Jung Eun

Plot

Jung Da Eun (Park Bo Young) is a nurse who recently transferred over to psych department from internal medicine in her 3rd year of nursing. It starts off with her adjusting to the ins and outs of the psych ward. She is a thoughtful and hard working nurse. The KDrama is about the daily life at the psych ward and the patients who come in and out.

My Review

The Korean title translates to “Morning Always Comes Even in the Psych Ward” which is more appropriate for describing mental health than Daily Dose of Sunshine.

Awareness of mental health is seriously lacking in South Korea and in many other parts of the world. This show has a beautiful way of spreading awareness of mental health.

The nurses who work in the Psych ward, see themselves in their patients. It’s not uncommon for healthcare workers in psychology to see the mental disorders of their patients in themselves.

Anxiety Disorders

This is probably the most common disorder and frequently missed. Is there something in our water?

Da Eun’s bestie, Yoo Chan, suffered from anxiety attacks and no one knew about it until they became more frequent. Sometimes these things are only situational but help is always needed. The show explains an anxiety attack so beautifully. It’s an image Yoo Chan in the bathroom and water is coming up and he can’t breathe and feels like he is drowning. Yoo Chan had the courage to tell everyone he loved and stood up to his new manager to protect himself. I really hope his character inspires other people to get help. Yoo Chan had the courage to tell everyone he loved and stood up to his new manager to protect himself. I really hope his character inspires other people to get help.

The Tired Mom

This is not really a mental disorder but it can definitely push you into one. We see the tired mom who is a busy working mom and also running her household. She is so stressed and overworked that she is pushed into depression and memory loss. The charge nurse Park Soo Young, sees herself in this patient and starts doing the exercises that were prescribed to the patient. The doctor asked them to write down all of the significant parts of their life. Once this was done, they were asked to highlight all of the negative things that they wrote down. As they progress in time, the amount of yellow highlighting becomes more and more on each page.

Psychoatic Disorders

The only thing I did not like about this show is how they showed people with psychosis to be violent. Anyone who has worked in a psych ward knows the code white doesn’t happen this often.

The very first patient Oh Ri Na was delusional and had a psychoatic episode that landed her in the hospital. She went through life just doing what she was told and finally snapped. So many of us go through the motions of what we’re supposed to do and getting to the next milestone without really appreciating what we have. This patient is teaching us to stop and do what you love.

Kim Seo Wan was Da Eun’s favourite patient he suffered from psychosis as well. I mean was he really suffering during his psychoatic episode? This was obviously a way to protect himself. He kept failing his exam and the pressure finally got to him. The psychoatic episode protected Seo Wan from the awful feeling of failure. A common thing to watch out for when patients get “better” is suicide ideation. After Christmas the suicide rates are the highest, because people who suffer from depression will come down for the high of being with family and the holidays. They don’t want to feel the pain of depression again and assume the best way is to leave while things are still good.

The not so obvious or not listed in the DSM

Let’s talk about our nurse Min Deul Re. She is a beautiful and self made woman who comes a rough family life. Min Deul Re translates into dandelion. Dandelions are weeds that people try to get rid of on their lawns but children also use them to make rings and they are still beautiful to look at. She suffered from low self esteem to the point where she did not think she was good enough to date a doctor. She only became a nurse because she wanted job security but it never sparked joy.

She finally got rid of her toxic mother, found a nice boyfriend, and went after the job she wanted. Everything fell into place when her boyfriend told her, it’s okay to let go of your mother. In rare cases, letting go of family members is better for your health.

Depression

The darkness finally hit our beloved nurse, Da Eun. She grieving of the death of someone she cares about. She does everything a good nurse does, keeps working and ignores her pain. Healthcare workers are always the worst patients. Her depression reaches a point where she needs help and ends up admitted. As a nurse, she is so ashamed that she is admitted and tries to hide it from her coworkers. Hiding it from coworkers made her develop anxiety. The anxiety of getting caught and not being able to be a nurse was a big irrational fear that haunted her.

This love triangle was just full of green flags! Both Go Yoon and Yoo Chan were perfect. I would not be mad with either choice. Thank you for showing us what healthy dating looks like. Both actors are adorable.

Sometimes the symptoms of mental health issues are not obvious. Sometimes it’s just something small like chronic fatigue. I am so glad that a show like this exists, as mental health is still very taboo in Korea. No one should ever feel bad about asking for help.