Psychology & Mental Disorders

Mixture of good and mediocre depictions of mental illness in fiction. Mixture of realistic to dramatic and fantastical. 


This is a list of different representations of mental illnesses along with their diagnoses and symptoms. 

These are all speculation on my part, but I thought it'd be interesting to share more of the psychology behind different characters. 

Minor spoilers below

noona Oct 20, 2022
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  • PTS Original: The Silent Forest

    1. PTS Original: The Silent Forest

    Taiwanese Special - 2020, 1 episode

    8.5

    This movie is pure trauma. It also shows how the same thing can affect people in different ways. Ex, the victim turned perpetrator, the victim left with scars but can still heal

  • Yurigokoro

    2. Yurigokoro

    Japanese Movie - 2017

    9.5

    FL has an antisocial personality disorder-may be classified as more severe with psychopathy

    Symptoms- lack of remorse and empathy, self harm, boredom/general discontent

  • Alice, the Final Weapon

    3. Alice, the Final Weapon

    Korean Drama - 2022, 8 episodes

    8.5

    Depression-suicide attempts/ purposely tries to get beat up/that way he doesn't have to inflict the pain upon himself, others can do it for him

    PTSD

  • It's Okay to Not Be Okay

    4. It's Okay to Not Be Okay

    Korean Drama - 2020, 16 episodes

    8.0

    FL has antisocial personality disorder and another lead character has autism spectrum disorder

    Symptoms-lack of remorse and empathy, hostility, manipulative, risk taking behaviors, impulsivity/lack of restraint 

  • Project S: Skate Our Souls

    5. Project S: Skate Our Souls

    Thai Drama - 2017, 8 episodes

    9.0

    Depression-suicide-self harm

  • Orange

    6. Orange

    Japanese Movie - 2015

    10

    Depression and suidcide

  • One Week Friends

    7. One Week Friends

    Japanese Movie - 2017

    9.0

    Anterograde amnesia 

  • I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK

    8. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK

    Korean Movie - 2006

    10

    Delusion & hallucinations

    Transference & replacement

    OCD

  • Good Doctor

    9. Good Doctor

    Japanese Drama - 2018, 10 episodes

    8.5

    Autism Spectrum Disorder-Savant syndrome

  • Mars

    10. Mars

    Taiwanese Drama - 2004, 13 episodes

    8.0

    Every character in this show needs therapy oh my goodness

    Ptsd-panic attacks, hallucinations both auditory and visual

    Antisocial personality disorder/sociopathy/psychopathy

  • Extraordinary Attorney Woo

    11. Extraordinary Attorney Woo

    Korean Drama - 2022, 16 episodes

    8.0

    Autism Spectrum Disorder-Savant syndrome

  • Flower of Evil

    12. Flower of Evil

    Korean Drama - 2020, 16 episodes

    7.5

    Antisocial Personality Disorder

  • Sachiiro no One Room

    13. Sachiiro no One Room

    Japanese Drama - 2018, 10 episodes

    10

    Depression, Trauma, obsession

  • Strangers from Hell

    14. Strangers from Hell

    Korean Drama - 2019, 10 episodes

    9.5
  • Drama Special Series Season 1: White Christmas

    15. Drama Special Series Season 1: White Christmas

    Korean Special - 2011, 8 episodes

    9.0

    This show is all about psychology and it's amazing. If y'all watch anything on this list, watch this one.


    Psychotic depression-induced by childhood trauma, substance abuse, visual hallucinations, disconnect with peers and reality, hard to express emotion

    Histrionic Personality Disorder-(not as sure for this one) Constant violence, aggressive outbursts,  the thought of being loved is scary so being hated is his goal

    Antisocial Personality Disorder- really the only symptom shown is the inability to feel much emotion

    Other psychological aspects included in the show: Self-harm, suicide, compulsive gossiping, inferiority complex

  • 3 Nen A Gumi: Ima kara Mina-san wa, Hitojichi Desu

    16. 3 Nen A Gumi: Ima kara Mina-san wa, Hitojichi Desu

    Japanese Drama - 2019, 10 episodes

    9.5
  • Gakkou no Kaidan

    17. Gakkou no Kaidan

    Japanese Drama - 2015, 10 episodes

    9.5
  • The Bad Kids

    18. The Bad Kids

    Chinese Drama - 2020, 12 episodes

    8.5
  • It's Okay, That's Love

    19. It's Okay, That's Love

    Korean Drama - 2014, 16 episodes

    9.0

    A beautiful drama that covers many psychological concepts.

    Schizophrenia-Auditory & visual hallucinations, self-harm tendencies, childhood trauma induced issues, etc

    Tourettes Syndrome, conduct disorder, dissociation, shared psychosis,  etc

  • We're Not Trash

    20. We're Not Trash

    Korean Drama - 2022, 8 episodes

    7.0

    Bad representation for bipolar, but a pretty good representation of depression

    Loss/grief induced depression-brain fog, lack of interest, fatigue, sudden outbursts of sadness/uncontrollable crying

  • Only You

    21. Only You

    Korean Drama - 2022, 2 episodes

    8.0

    Depression

    Agoraphobia 

  • Lost

    22. Lost

    Korean Drama - 2021, 16 episodes

    9.0

    Depression/trauma induced

  • Dear Liar

    23. Dear Liar

    Chinese Drama - 2023, 27 episodes

    8.5

    Sociopathy-inability to feel emotion pertaining to others/no empathy or sympathy, emotion manipulation, aggression, mood swings/outbursts, childhood trauma (intense bullying), & pathological lying

  • Beyond the Dream

    24. Beyond the Dream

    Hong Kong Movie - 2019

    7.5

    Schizophrenia-Delusions (being watched), auditory and visual hallucinations


    Erotomania- Believing someone is in love with you when they're not (impossible imagined romance such as with a celebrity, teacher, etc) 

  • Another Way

    25. Another Way

    Korean Movie - 2017

    7.0

    Depression

  • Undo

    26. Undo

    Japanese Movie - 1994

    8.0

    OCD- compulsion of tying knots


    TW: animal abuse

  • Shoot My Heart

    27. Shoot My Heart

    Korean Movie - 2015

    9.5

    Schizophrenia

  • Will Love in Spring

    28. Will Love in Spring

    Chinese Drama - 2024, 21 episodes

    8.5

    How grief and trauma affect the way we view love and life. 

  • Weak Hero Class 1

    29. Weak Hero Class 1

    Korean Drama - 2022, 8 episodes

    8.5

    Each character's psychology is represented in their fighting styles. Si-Eun fights for revenge and pays back double. Beomseok fights to "prove" that he's not cowardly due to his inferiority complex. Suho fights just to end things.

    Si-Eun likely has severe depression due to his constant lows, lack of emotion and expression of emotion due to parental neglect and isolation.

  • We Are Little Zombies

    30. We Are Little Zombies

    Japanese Movie - 2019

    9.0

    We are Little Zombies is about a group of kids who grew up in a dark world, not knowing what healthy parental love looks like. Domestic abuse, parental neglect, parental insertion and jealously, bullying, and no support lead these kids to close themselves off. When their parents die, they don't really know how to feel, display their feelings, or what right they have to certain feelings. With parents they hate, but can't help but love, how can they decide what to feel? Instead the shock, the tragedy, the lack of tragedy cause them to become "zombies."

  • The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

    31. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

    Korean Drama - 2018, 16 episodes

    8.5

    ASPD symptoms that he has include: lack of empathy and remorse, an inability to understand or feel emotions, manipulation, an ability to act and lie, etc.

    So him saying "teach me" in the show is him truly saying teach me how to feel and act like "normal" people. Because for him, those things aren't natural.

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