Mental Health

Mental health is a central theme in I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki. The purpose of the book itself is to try and relate to those with similar mental health struggles as Sehee and bring awareness to these often taboo topics. Sehee notes in the prologue that there is little representation of the type of depression she experienced, and therefore she felt incredibly alone because of it. “The world tends to focus too much on the very bright or the very dark; many of my own friends find my type of depression baffling. But what’s an ‘acceptable’ form of depression?” (x). She explains that she deeply hopes people will connect to her experiences and realize they are not alone.

Building further off the previous quote, a major part of Sehee’s therapy is learning that she is not the only person in...