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Interview with Psychiatrist Heo Gyu-hyung
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Psychiatrist Heo Gyu-hyung is a YouTuber who creates content about mental health. His channel is called ‘Noe Bujadeul’ (Brain Rich People). It began in 2017 as a podcast of the same name, created by six classmates from Yonsei University College of Medicine who joined forces. Now expanded to YouTube, it shares mental health stories that the public might be curious about. The channel corrects misconceptions and enhances understanding of unfamiliar concepts, currently boasting 170,000 subscribers. He confesses that the healing, fulfillment, and progress stories from readers at this intersection bring him joy as a doctor. With the desire to communicate with more people, he expanded his reach to a writing platform earlier this year. He started serializing on ‘Millie’s Library’, and the attention quickly grew. Currently, about 50,000 readers have chosen his content, with thousands of short book reviews. Riding on this popularity, his work was recently officially published as a standalone book. He explained, “I organized my words, which had flowed away on the podcast, into writing so they could reach someone more easily,” adding, “I wanted to convey in writing the feelings I couldn’t fully express verbally.” We asked psychiatrist Heo Gyu-hyung, author of the book ‘Why Do I Keep Blaming Myself? (Originals)’, which offers advice to those groaning under sharp barbs from others or themselves and blaming themselves, about mental health.

-You are gaining attention for explaining psychological theories in an easy-to-understand way. Was there a special reason you initially chose psychiatry?

▲I wanted to do it from quite a young age. I have always been very interested in psychology. Economic difficulties and the burden of being the eldest son also played a role. When I was in medical school, I wondered what I could do if I became a doctor, and naturally chose psychiatry. I don’t like repetitive tasks, and psychiatry seemed different from other departments that issue repetitive prescriptions. In fact, the stories of patients who visit are quite diverse.

-Did your expectations when choosing psychiatry match reality?

▲Originally, I imagined psychoanalyzing patients lying on a couch (a sofa you can recline on), but the reality isn’t exactly like that. More emphasis is placed on prescriptions based on neuroscience than on counseling. However, I try to focus as much as possible on the patient’s story. Even with the same depression, the manifestations vary, and listening to patients and giving advice suits me well. It gives me great satisfaction.

-It seems mental health is receiving more attention now than ever before.

▲I think these are difficult times. Even countries like Myanmar or Bangladesh, which previously had high mental health indices in terms of ‘comparison with others,’ have seen their happiness indices drop significantly. From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs perspective, once survival and safety needs are somewhat met, focus shifts to self-actualization needs, which causes stress and mental health issues. The phrase ‘It’s because you’re full. In the past, you would have lived well with this much’ may sound harsh but isn’t entirely wrong. As individuals and society stabilize, more people than before are troubled by problems without clear answers.

-Why is it important to look inside one’s own mind?

▲When your body hurts and you don’t know why, that itself is distressing. Similarly, in mental health, if you understand the context of why you are struggling, whether mild or severe, the frustration lessens. You might think you shouldn’t be troubled by something trivial, but you can consider ‘That could be possible’ in various ways. This lowers the threshold for seeking help before problems worsen.

-But can becoming too absorbed in psychological causality actually make things harder?

▲Yes. It’s not good to link everything to mental problems or try to connect everything to past trauma. Knowing yourself is good, but trying to know too deeply can itself become distressing. Attitude afterward is also important. Thinking ‘Because I’m like this, I can’t do this or that’ is another problem. Knowing is good, but you have to know properly and move on to the next action. Balance is key. In fact, many people who come to the hospital after watching my YouTube show expect clear answers. However, the show provides model answers for specific issues, and actual application requires a complex approach. Healing happens through the process of sharing one’s story, but sometimes it’s difficult when people want only clear solutions from me.

-Are there symptoms that have been especially common among patients visiting recently?

▲Many come suffering from depression due to burnout. Most are exhausted because the rewards don’t match the efforts they put in. In a low-growth society, even if you work hard, results often don’t show. Many come after enduring, persevering, and trying hard until they become very tired.

-What kind of treatment process do such cases undergo?

▲There are two main approaches: finding the cause of energy depletion and restoring the lost energy. Causes of depletion vary. It could be perfectionism or people around them, especially family. In such cases, I sometimes recommend independence.

-Mental illnesses are known to be difficult to cure completely and prone to relapse. Does this cause discouragement?

▲I get most discouraged when I lose a patient. Those who frequently mention death are engaged in long conversations. Some patients talk for 40 minutes in one session, then after seeing other patients, we continue talking. In the early days of my practice, leaving work at 10 p.m. was routine. The emptiness I felt when hearing that a patient had passed away despite such efforts is indescribable. I went through difficult times thinking, ‘I did something wrong,’ or ‘If they had gone to another doctor, the outcome might have been different.’

-Although there are signs of suicide, it seems not uncommon for someone who smiles and hides their struggles to suddenly take their own life.

▲Surprisingly, the risk of suicide is highest during the recovery phase of depression. When depression is severe, patients don’t have the strength to act on their thoughts, but when they improve somewhat, they may carry out suicide. It’s not that they pick a day and plan it; triggers have a big impact, making prediction difficult.

-Your book emphasizes the effect of keeping a gratitude journal, but some argue its effect is limited, with large individual differences that can cause negative perceptions like ‘I’m the only one it doesn’t work for.’

▲Personally, I believe it has clear effects, especially long-term. Even if Pilates doesn’t help in the short term, it cultivates good posture habits over time. Similarly, a gratitude journal corrects thinking habits. Even if there’s no short-term effect, continuing consistently helps recognize what you do well and what you don’t. It helps you understand, ‘So that’s why I did that today.’

-Knowing theory well and putting it into practice are different matters. How is the mental health of doctors?

▲As the saying goes, a monk cannot shave his own head; when it comes to themselves, it’s hard. The suicide rate is even relatively high. We are not perfect beings. But can artificial intelligence (AI) be an alternative? No. AI might give the same responses, but humans build relationships and resolve conflicts, enhancing counseling effectiveness. Our imperfections can actually be strengths.

-Your writings on Millie’s Library received good responses and were officially published. How do you feel about that?

▲I’m very grateful. Since 2017, I started the podcast ‘Noe Bujadeul’ with six university classmates and have done newspaper serializations, but this is my first time writing alone. With the intention to improve understanding of mental illness, I tried to explain it simply, capturing the feeling of actual counseling. I’m thankful for feedback saying it helped people understand their own minds. I feel proud to contribute to broadening understanding of mental health.

Psychiatrist Heo Gyu-hyung

He is the director of Yonsei Gasan Forest Psychiatry Clinic. He graduated from Yonsei University College of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at Severance Hospital. To eliminate misunderstandings and prejudices about mental illness and provide accurate information, he started the podcast ‘Noe Bujadeul’ and runs a YouTube channel of the same name. He communicates with the public through media appearances, column contributions, and lectures.