Book Review

摘要

The introductory chapter of is full of arresting statistics and stories. Since 2014 South Korea has had the highest suicide rate in the world – at 29.1 people per 100 000 of the population it was more than double the OECD average of 12.5. Barely 15% of South Koreans who have a formal mental health diagnosis seek treatment for it, while the government woefully underspends on mental health. Western treatments such as psychotherapy have so far failed to gain traction, and hi-tech innovations like the interactive suicide prevention panels on Mapo Bridge in Seoul (a famous suicide spot) seem so far not to be working: in the first year or so after their installation in 2012, the number of suicides actually quadrupled. The messages chosen for the panels – including ‘The most shining moment of your life is yet to come’ – suggest a society with a long road ahead of it in discerning real causes and solutions for its mental health crisis.