Biopolitics of Depression in Korea

<Abstract> Biopolitics of Depression in Korea

As Korea has experienced rapid modernization, patients of depression have dramatically increased for the last 50 years. This has led, tragically, to a rapid increase in the rate of suicides. This study attempts to understand the reasons why Korea as one of the most successful countries in modernization has shown such high rates of depression and suicide. It also attempts to analyze the process of medicalization of depression in Korea and how the doctors and patients accept anti-depressants as a cure for depression.