Mental disorders of idols is not talked about very often in the kpop community, there is kind of an taboo on it. We often forget that kpop idols are human too with extremely stressful jobs! So today I am taking the time to discuss this issue, by explaining the most common mental disorders in among kpop idols.
Note: I will only use examples of idols who admitted they have a mental disorder. There might be a lot more who haven’t officially admitted it!
Depression
A lot of people believe that a single bad day or a little bit of a down mood is a depression, but this is not the case. Real depression is a mental disorder! A person with depression has an extremely down mood for days, weeks or even years. There tons of different types of depression with different symptoms, but they all share a basis of low mood and low energy.
Some popular idols with depression:
Park Bom (2NE1)
Taeyeon (SNSD)
Yoona (SNSD)
Leetuk (Super Junior)
Heechul (Super Junior)
Yesung (Super Junior)
Suzy (Miss A)
G-Dragon (Big Bang)
Onew (SHINee)
Eating disorders
With the pressure idols are under to be “beautiful” and “thin”, it is no surprise that some end up with eating disorders. Eating disorders are about more than just food. For a person with an eating disorder, not eating has become an obsession. People with eating disorders go to extreme measures to eat as little as possible and often starve themselves. This is to create their “ideal” body type, but the truth is that they will never reach this because the brain of a person with a eating disorder will always them they are too fat.
Some popular idols with eating disorders:
IU
Sojung (Ladies code)
Park Gyuri (KARA)
Key (SHINee)
Insomnia
Insomnia is a sleeping disorder in which the person has difficulty falling asleep, wakes up often in the middle of the night, wakes up very early and/or wakes up tired. Almost all people have this sometimes, but people with insomnia experience this over a long period of time which leads to general tiredness, low energy and concentration loss.
Some popular idols with insomnia:
Jonghyun (SHINee)
Amber (F(x))
Lee Joon (MBlaq)
Anxiety
A person who suffers from an anxiety disorder lives in constant worry and/or fear, to the point where it interferes with the ability to lead a normal life. It isn’t clear why people suffer from anxiety disorders, but most times this is because bad past events (like bullying) or stress.
Some popular idols with anxiety
Sunggyu (Infinite)
Jonghyun (SHINee)
Self-harm
Okay, as far as I know there is only one idol who publicly admitted to struggle with self harm, but I did want to mention this disorder real quickly. Self harm is an addiction in which the person is addicted to hurting themselves, usually by cutting themselves. People who do self harm feel like they have no other choice but to hurt themselves, often to forget/deal with emotional pain.
Popular idol who self harms:
Key (SHINee)
The Koreaboo 