Ryu Hye-young shares how writing helped her manage severe anxiety

Actress Ryu Hye-young revealed on Instagram on the 28th that she manages severe anxiety by writing down unstructured thoughts, a habit she developed after once spending 2 hours and 30 minutes filling a notebook to calm herself.

Actress Ryu Hye-young has revealed her personal method for managing anxiety. During times when she struggled with persistent worries that made it difficult to sit still or even breathe, she chose a surprisingly simple solution: pouring her thoughts onto paper without any particular order. This practice of writing has since become a habit for managing her anxiety. Her personal account of mental health management has drawn attention as criticism continues to target the film 'The Assassin(s)' and its cast over allegations of historical distortion.

On the 28th, Ryu Hye-young shared a video on her Instagram Stories discussing how she deals with anxiety. In the video, she confessed to having suffered from anxiety so severe that she once could not sit still at home. "I couldn't just sit still at home. I was wandering around the house constantly," she explained, revealing the difficulty she faced in trying to calm her mind.

She found a breakthrough by putting her anxiety into words. "When it was hard to just sit still and breathe, I thought, 'Let's just vent. Let's write down why I am so anxious,'" Ryu said. Rather than trying to organize her thoughts or polish her sentences, she began writing exactly as they came to her. Even when it was difficult to clearly explain the cause of her emotions, she focused on simply transferring them to paper.

The writing had a more powerful effect than expected. "I wrote without any particular order, and I ended up filling an entire notebook right then and there," Ryu recalled. "I was engaged in the act of writing for 2 hours and 30 minutes, and only then did I realize I had been sitting still for a long time." She realized that she had inadvertently managed to stay in one place for an extended period, despite her previous inability to remain still due to anxiety.

She emphasized that the content of the writing did not need to be special or logically organized. "Even if there was no content, I felt refreshed," Ryu said. "From then on, I developed a habit of keeping a diary whenever things were difficult." She explained that the act of externalizing the tangled emotions in her mind was helpful to her. Rather than solving the cause of the anxiety instantly, she learned to care for herself by recording her emotions instead of ignoring them.

The method introduced by Ryu aligns with recording habits that people experiencing psychological difficulties have recently shown interest in. Transferring repetitive thoughts into writing can provide an opportunity to view vague emotions more concretely. While writing cannot solve all causes of anxiety or replace professional help, Ryu's experience resonates in that the small act of expressing and observing one's emotions can serve as a starting point for organizing one's mind.

The attention on Ryu's current status is also fueled by the controversy surrounding the film 'The Assassin(s)'. In the film, Ryu plays Seo Yoon-hee, a social affairs reporter for Dongseong Daily who quickly grasps the context of events. The film is based on the 1974 assassination attempt on Yuk Young-soo and depicts the stories of detectives and reporters tracing the mastermind behind the incident. Using clues such as the gunfire heard at the scene and the shell casings found, the film raises possibilities that differ from the officially known circumstances of the event.

In particular, some characters in the work suggest the hypothesis that powerful institutions, such as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, may have planned the incident for political purposes. In response, political circles and some conservative groups have raised criticisms, claiming the film presents content that deviates from historical facts. The production team has been sued regarding the historical distortion controversy, and the dispute has extended beyond the film, including a protest held in front of actor Yoo Hae-jin's residence. However, it is necessary to distinguish between the hypotheses presented by the film and actual historical facts, and the controversy itself does not necessarily signify the personal stance or responsibility of the individual actors.

The task of reconstructing historical events cinematically simultaneously raises issues of creative freedom and historical responsibility. Especially in cases where political conflict and social memory are complexly intertwined, debates surrounding the interpretation of a work can intensify. In this process, actors participating in the work may become targets of criticism, but it is also noted that the lines spoken by characters in a film should not be equated with the personal views of the actors. Ryu Hye-young's video is not a direct statement regarding the 'The Assassin(s)' controversy, and caution is needed when interpreting her anxiety management method as being directly linked to the film's controversy.

Ryu Hye-young met audiences this year through the films 'The Intern' and 'Killing Time', and has confirmed her upcoming projects, the drama 'Moving 2' and 'White Scandal'. Having portrayed various characters through her works, she has now shared a way to manage anxiety based on her own experience. Her confession that a small habit, started by pouring out enough writing to fill a notebook, continues to this day shows that grand answers are not always required to organize a complicated mind.

Read the original (Korean)