Some other commenters have brought this up but I think Dr K misunderstood Gi-hun's character a little bit. Before entering the games he absolutely has a gambling addiction, but after he wins he doesn't show any signs of his gambling addiction at all, and instead seems to demonstrate depression or PTSD. For a whole year he didn't touch ANY of his winnings. If he was still addicted to gambling then surely he would have spent some of that cash. Also when he turns away from the plane in the ending I don't think he plans to re-enter the games, instead I believe he is planning to investigate them and try to stop them, which is evident by how he reacts in his final conversation with Il-nam, and how he stops the man at the train station from being recruited like he was a year prior.
PTSD after such a gruesome game is a perfectly expected response tbf. He also has a lot of survivors guilt I believe. But even though he might not be still gambling he is still impulsive in his decisions. Like the red hair, turning from the gate last minute etc.
What annoys me a little bit is why didn't he go and help the homeless man freezing himself? I know he wanted answers but it almost seemed like that was Il-Nams point. He didn't help the homeless person because he was too caught up in his own shit to do the right thing.
Did Dr. K skip over Gi-Hun's factory job, the PTSD of the Barricade, not being able to find work again because of what happen at the job PLUS his coworker/friend getting killed; the friend that was dying WHILE his wife (at the time) was in labor with his daughter (whom he loves very much), and Gi-Hun being depressed/survivor's guilt for a year then has that final bet with #1 where a red hair lady saves the homeless man. Which then encourages him to get the red hair symbolizing the need for change. Sure impulsiveness is a factor but it wasn't the only defining factor.
fun fact about min yong, the engish subtitles always translate to her saying "I'm good at everything except that which I'm not." but she actually says something closer to "I'm very smart but I never got a chance to study." (ie she's street smart)
Gihun turns back to fight and stop the games, after realising a year later he is still being followed every second and this immoral game will happen again, the idea is that he isnt comfortable being a happy winner if more people will fall in the trap of these games and he puts his happiness aside to fight it. Its not about addiction to gambling and him wanting to gamble with his life again even tho he won. Thats just not fitting his character that was willing to stop the games at the last second when he could easily win - and gave up the prize just to save his childhood friend's live.
Yeah idk why would Dr. K say that he's still gonna play, when he cleary has other plans, I guess he distorted the ending to support his narrative about addiction...
I think that's still part of the gambling/addiction mentally. He can't just walk away from things even at the risk of great personal loss. He was willing to cheat the old man in the marble game to live and he didn't sacrifice himself to save the old man either because it's not about self-sacrifice for him, it's about risk and reward and his inability to objectivly weigh them. The reward is always worth the risk for Gi-Hun. Imo, what do I know.
@@nikola8140 his motive at the end is pretty clear but i guess dr.k got confused about it. Him taking the playstation card from the dude near the train and the people on the phone telling him not to get "absurd ideas" im sure he is gonna try to sabotage the games if there is a second season. Kinda like jennifer in the hunger games that won and than joined the resistance
yes this is exactly what my interpretation was initially but also it makes sense if he turned back bc of his gambling addiction since its hard to overcome addiction in a short period of time but then again its a fictional story and I doubt the author cared more abt his gambling addiction than abt showing the audience that after losing ppl in the game Gihun didn't felt like it was right to let more ppl die so it was more abt trying to give a msg to the audience maybe
I have borderline personality disorder and I always say that dating an emotionally healthy person has been one of the best things for me. It was hard at times but in really different ways to dating someone else who was broken. They force you to calmly challenge your broken vision of the world every day and they hold you to a higher standard than someone who is also broken and finds your toxic traits "normal" but will argue to death with you. So that was super interesting to hear that having a stable relationship with a healthy person is a recognised form of treatment.
yeah, dated somebody with bpd and i was super unstable, things were amazing at first but the early cracks turn into whole on earthquakes by the end because I thought I was ready for the relationship but clearly I was not, would only date somebody with bpd again if I was in a stable state, it would only be fair to the both of us
he didnt go back to play round 2 because he just wanted to gamble. he went back because he wants to stop the games its obvious thats his goal, thats why he got angry with the other guy right before that last scene
Yeah I was confused as well that Dr.K understood it the way he did, but maybe he watched the dubbed version and something got lost in translation in it.
sorry, havent watched whole video? timestamp? if youre talking about Gu Han, it was not about stopping the games.... Edit: oh i see now. "round 2" as in the second season of squid game. lol round 2 made me think like after Red Light Green Light. I dont think Dr K. meant it that way. youre interpreting that way. He just said he was going to join. yeah gu han def seems like he wants to stop it in season 2 tho.
Its representative of his gambling addiction, or at least connected to it because it still keeps him away from his daughter. I was so pissed when he didn't get on that plane.
I swear im sometimes so scared of the human brain. "Oh you had a traumatic experience? No worries I'll bury this stuff so deep into a complicated network you'll probably never understand and make you miserable, but hey you're alive right?"
About Sangwoo sometimes helping people despite being a sociopath, the creator of the show mentioned in an interview that Sangwoo helped Ali with the bus fare out of feeling a need to remain superior to those who're unfortunate and in need, some sort of superiority issue.
I think Sangwoo was straight up not a sociopath at all, This entire personality analysis failed to acknowledge that they were in a life and death situation. Same logic does not apply to gangster guy because it was clearly shown that he was on a killing spree outside of the game
@@LittleSparklingStars Well the pushing on the bridge was indeed a life and death situation, there was seconds left on the clock and there was no way to be sure if that guy was ever going to jump or not. It was a fair decision under those circumstances. Though I'll give it to you about the Sae Byeok killing, that seemed uncalled for and I see it as more of a error in scenario, as Sang Woo didn't give me the vibe of someone who would kill just because. I guess they tried to go with the "Putting her out of misery" explanation but it was rather weak.
Funny thing about the bridge, it mathematically makes way more sense to not push anyone at all, unless there is only 1 glass left after the guy in the front. Because if you let the person decide, there is a 50% chance that person will show u the result of two more glasses. However if you push, only the next glass will be checked, and even if the glass doesn't break, the person will probably still trip over and die before getting the chance to check the next glass. Now I don't remember if there was only 1 glass left when Sang Woo pushed the guy in front, but either way, It was an extreme stress scenario so pretty much any decision can be explainable at that point
I don't think Gi Hun still has a gambling addiction at the end. It's not that he doesn't care about his daughter (who by the way is safe and cared for by 2 parents who aren't suffering from PTSD) so he can play games again to fill a void. Gi Hun went back because he realized he was being a bystander and wanted to investigate and confront the system that handpicked the most desperate people who would kill and betray each other for entertainment. The whole story's message is about how destructive capitalism is but we all play along, but Gi Hun confronts it at the end, at the cost of his own comfort and happiness.
I think he does have a gambling addiction. There are many ways you could investigate and confront the system but he appears to be choosing to gamble with his life. He is addicted to the feeling of winning against all odds while playing according to his own morals.
I wouldn't say the message of the show is about how bad capitalism is, but rather how terrible human beings can be in total desperation, but I understand what you mean.
"Gihun wanted to go back and play the squid game again" when he said his name, he only wanted to catch his attention. I'm pretty sure he is going back to DESTROY the squid game, he want it gone. when he said his name, he only wanted to catch the mysterious man's attention. he is disgusted by the host of squid game and he wants to destroy the game makers 'empire'.
The creator is a liar because he claimed the inital idea of using the "Red Light Green Light" game in a battle royal plot, while clearly "As the Gods Will" manga(2011) has used the same plot way before this. Honestly, I think referencing a similar setup and plots are acceptable as long as the creator give enough credit to the origin, but the way director Hwang Dong-hyuk claiming credit out of the blue is just plagiarising. I hope people who are praising this series are just unaware, sometime the fantasitc k-drama they are watching are originated from some weeb stuff they dislike.
@@hulawdl9355 As the gods will manga is blatant plagiarism of skydoesminecraft's jail break game in where the goal is to jailbreak while playing the games of the warden smh. People are too blinded by Japanese art and too fanboyish.
Sae-Byeok reminded me a lot of myself. I wouldn’t say I have trust issues per-say, but I’ve always been socially anxious and had difficulty forming connections with new people. The part that really sounded familiar was poor emotional mirroring growing up. I don’t want to diagnose them, but my dad seems pretty alexithymic and my mom’s mood changes very quickly, so I got used to paying close attention to how people react to me. Now I overthink every interaction and have difficulty acting authentically. I also have ADHD, which was treated as a moral failing when I was young so I feel anxious at work when I get distracted. I know I’m not lazy and my performance is good, but I worry my superiors won’t see it that way.
I see comments saying Dr. K misunderstood Gi hun's character right at the end, but I think he was pretty spot on What I think Dr K meant is that him reentering squid game is a form of subconscious exertion of his gambling addiction. Sure his consciousness thinks it's to "do the right thing", but is it really the right thing though? Is it more important than being a reliable and providing father, fixing his relationships( that HE was responsible for destroying btw, not squid game) Aren't there other ways of stopping squid game now he has a boatload of money? He's just convinced himself of having a good reason to go back to the peak form of gambling that is squid game. I'll also add i think his empty feeling after the squid game IS sign of his gambling addiction. It was never about the money, it was about the high. It was the lack OF money that pressed him to gamble, but it's the high that makes it so pleasurable to him. And after the high of gambling with your life, everything else paled in comparison, thus the post-squid depression
Life is a gamble, and I don't think it is the cause of his addiction. I'm sure there are other factors that gave him a choice to stop the game rather than just letting it go and have someone else take it down.
In that case I can agree that he might be "half-on" rather than spot on, lol. He did indeed say Gi hun was going back to re-enter the game, to my understanding as a contestant. And what actually happens is the continuation of the theme from the last bet with the old man, that makes Gi hun realise that there is good in the world and he has the power to make it a better place. Yeah, you can argue that he still is addicted to some sort of rush and escaping his responsibility to his family but I'd still say that's very different from the bog standard gambling addiction. Because we don't even really know what he is going to do, will he go to the police, use his money somehow or buy a bunch o weapons and go rambo? I didn't like the ending for what it's worth, but reading it as he is going back to replay the game bc he is so addicted still after all the time living as a hobo doing nothing is far from spot on.
We gotta stop with the subconscious analysis and reductionism when it doesn't make sense. Don't you think that there's a better reason to explain his depression/PTSD, like the fact that hundreds of people got killed in the game and that he cares so much about the others that he was even ready to give up the cash prize at the very end, even to save ONE player which already betrayed him? To him it feels so dirty, so inhuman that he doesn't even wanna touch it the money. He went back in because he saw that other people were getting reeled in, so he did this to try to protect people and with a feeling of righteousness rather than because he is addicted to gambling. It's not because he can "lose his life" that he is "gambling his life (for money)". But I think the worse argument by far is the fact that he could stop the game because he has a "boatload of money". Like bro, it's such a small amount compared to the VIPs (which have infinitely more resources). Plus he is alone and they know he's coming back to "play".
"Sometimes people who are broken are attracted to other people who are broken" Yeah this sums up all my connections outside of my family. Thank you for taking time to talk about this.
Trauma bond indeed is serious. When I look back at my childhood friends, we were all fuck ups from shit family. We were drawn to each other, but because we were all fuckups from shit family, we ended up doing bad things, getting in trouble, and generally making everyone who was involved and their family's lives got worse as a result. I had to walk away from them and as I did so a decade ago, I called our friendship like tumor. The longer we stay with each other, more likely it will kill us prematurely.
Sang Woo is obviously depressed. He literally tries to Kill himself ep 2 and doesn’t smile once in the whole show. He’s often very distant and appears in his own world, and his expression is always stoic
Not every person who tries to kill themselves does so because they are depressed. Sangwoo saw no way out of the ridiculous amount of debt he was in. Death would have been easy way to escape his debts. And not smiling and being distant? No sane person would be smiling while inside a death tournament and trying to get close to people who might be trying to kill him lol
@@willjhonathan5844 I agree that not everyone who tries to kill themselves is depressed. But your argument that his emotional distance and stoicism can be attributed to the games and not his personality refutes the entire video. If you’re saying that “no sane person would be smiling during a death tournament”, the same could be said about Deoksu : “no sane person would have high empathy in a death tournament.” The whole stipulation of this video is that we’re ignoring the fact they’re in a death game. If we are counting the fact they’re in a death game, then sang woo looking out for himself is no longer sociopathy, instead it’s just smart tactics. One of the biggest diagnostic tools in psychology is “deviance”: if behavior is deviant from the context of the situation , then it’s diagnosable. In squid game, killing isn’t deviant, so it’s not diagnosable as sociopathy. So let’s put that death tournament shit to the side. Outside of the games, and inside the games, Sang Woo is clearly depressed. Suicidal attempts, mixed with stoicism throughout the show, is enough for a “Netflix“ diagnosis. If you want to get all technical, we could refute every diagnosis in this video; each of which has only been proved by 1 or 2 symptoms presented
@@rohankataria8414 It doesn't refute anything of what was said in the video. It only refutes your weird baseless claim that Sangwoo was depressed because of being "stoic and distant" lol. Sangwoo is still a sociopath because of the ease and swiftness with which he made morally questionable choices that would make non-sociopaths stop and think ten times before they did the same. Being "stoic and distant" because of the circumstances does nothing to refute the diagnosis of sociopathy. Your reasoning is full of holes.
That's actually a roller. Funny thing is I'm an electrical engineer and some of the machines I work on have rollers and I keep telling people that those things are the most dangerous part of the machine but people don't listen because these machines have knives and clamps and things that LOOK more dangerous so they are more concerned about those haha.
well he did go unpaid for six months. we don't know how many times he's confronted his boss but it's signifcant that he stayed in a job that didn't pay him for half a year despite having a family he needed to feed. at that point i think he was just so desperate he didn't think of what he was doing.
That last bit was full of gems. "The more ignorant you are of something, the more simple it seems and the quicker you are to have an answer" "Our brain is wired to construct the illusion of certainty out of ignorance" "Human beings confuse objective correctness with the value system that they grew up in"
I interpreted Gi Hun final backing away from the plane to be a resolve to end the squid game and save lives. I believed he was traumatized by seeing unjust death at his first job and his subsequent loss of functioning (job loss/marital breakdown) was a manifestation of PTSD. He then became desperate and developed a gambling addiction wherein he was highly impulsive and conditioned for short term benefit. I think he dyed his hair red to demonstrate he was “red pilled” or aware of a disturbing truth about the world. Saybyok also appeared like PTSD and attachment disorder. She must have been exposed to tremendous trauma and gaslighting in NoKo. NoKo dictator also takes the place of the parent for all citizens and has severe Antisocial Personality/ Narcissistic Personality and paranoid personality traits. Her affect was pretty blunted. She was also a parentified child, unhealthily flung into parental role for her own parent and having to rescue her and care for brother. Thank you this was fascinating!!!
To me it seems it's another Casa de papel situation. Non-English series has a spur of success and they want to capitalize on it. It was a nice idea, a nice execution but they want to cash on it with a S2. I really don't see S2 going anywhere good
This was a super neat insight into seeing how these mental illnesses might manifest irl! Very juicy! Ofc I’m not trying to diagnose anything, but I will say I found it helpful to better digest some of these specific behaviors, coping mechanisms, reasoning, backgrounds, or what have you, and then be able to understand how all that stuff could stem from a mental health condition! Explaining these concepts via the Squid Game characters was a great approach since (for me anyway) psychology has always been a pretty confusing topic. So seeing bits and pieces of mental health components displayed through storytelling (especially in a story i felt invested in!) made so much more sense to me than usual! Thanks for making your videos!
I have cPTSD, and you're right; I do have a healthy friend and have known her for years and she did make me healthier. I also have a buddy who I've known for years and who I'm pretty sure has got cPTSD as well (he never talks about it) and we do have similar behavioural issues: And that is actually one of my general life-problems, the trauma is always there, real life and relationships are also there, and stuff adds up, the trauma might add up and at some point I want to be alone but at the same time don't want to be alone - and that's when I flip. My 'outburst' aren't violent, mean or anything, but they always come out of the blue. My friends know how to handle it, people who don't know me well walk away. Maybe it's the same with 2 friends who both have PTSD.
Your channel is a gold mine of information about mental health and self reflection. This wasn’t an easy video to sit through but I’m glad I did. Really interesting stuff at the end too couldn’t click off the video!
It’s interesting that when I talk to ppl about when they cried during the show, most mentioned the marble game. But NO ONE talked about the few seconds before the MC pulled the opposite team to their death in the tug of war game. The look on the opposite team’s face triggered my empathy and all the war history I studied.
My guess is that the marble episode is about characters you know more about and care about in a way. That does leave a stronger emotional response most of the time. I personally though also think about game 5, where you also can feel alot of dread from the minor characters. The situation for all of them - including the Tug of War team that lost - is so bad that it hits the mark in some way. But if something happens to characters (fictional or not) you feel a closer bond since you "know" them... thats why it hit even harder.
After the final meeting with Oh Il Nam, Gi Hun realizes that what the old man said was true in a way.. that the extremely rich and the extremely poor are both dissatisfied with their position. When he decided not to take his flight it's not only gambling addiction, it's pursuing what he finds meaningful, namely waging war on the squid games.
I would love more videos like this analyzing other pop culture shows like "The Boys" and "Breaking Bad" hell even add anime or video game characters too, this stuff is facinating.
Countries comprising the subcontinent absolutely share a long history, including the caste system (which I have some idea of, but don't know much about). However, from a sociological perspective, since the character of Ali is from Pakistan (separated from India 74 years ago), I personally think his behaviour and self-worth are more likely the result of socioeconomic class, and potentially the remnants of colonialism. In the latter there's this sense of believing yourself as lesser than people from more developed countries. The caste system has existed for far longer than colonialism, but since Islam is against the caste system and Pakistan considers itself a Muslim country, the caste system doesn't really exist in the same way. There are, however, certainly inequalities based on socioeconomic class, religion, sect, subculture, and province (among many others). Remnants of colonialism combined with racism, xenophobia, and him being a foreigner makes for a scared, gullible, trusting, and overly accomodating individual. There's more to be said about his character; this is my opinion through a surface level sociological lens. I'm not an expert. I just grew up in Pakistan.
I think Dr K may have mistaken when he said Gi Hun was going back for just round 2, but in a way the idea that his addiction keeps him from being happy can still be felt in a way, because that scene at the end didnt feel like a “hero” going in to save the world from these games, it definetly felt more on the lines of “i still need to find out more about these people” thats just my opinion of course.
I think that's the front image the show wanted to portray to its viewers, but Dr. K is looking a lot more deeply into it. The whole "hero" thing could just be an excuse in his head for him to return to the game because he is addicted to gambling. People with addictions will always make some sort of excuse to justify their habits. In the beginning of the show, we know that he loves his daughter very much. But he ends up choosing gambling over buying her a gift. At the end of the show, he had the choice to see his daughter, but yet again. He chose to put his daughter second which could be a subliminal message that it was gambling yet again he chose over his daughter
@@nightseeker226 yeah he was traumatized for an entire year after having so many bonds brutally and unfairly broken, and ur telling us its all related to his gambling addiction? LIterally anything but that xD.
the hair change wasnt random. it was signifying that he took the "red pill" in the beginning of the movie he wore a blue hat and chose the blue paper from the stranger when he played that original paper toss game, it was a reference to the matrix. I believe the characters even mentioned the matrix at some point in the show. (Note he dyed his hair pretty much immediately after learning the truth of the squid games which further backs up this theory)
@@moriderschowitz5020 Thank you for telling me about this, i looked it up and in the interview he only really shuts down the theory that the colors correspond to where the players end up. He said the game was chosen because red or blue references an old Korean ghost tale about a ghost that would offer red or blue toilet paper and then kill you either way but he doesn't address the theory that Gi Hun's individual color choices were a reference to the matrix.
Sang-Woo is by far the best character in Squid Game. He's the most complex and interesting IMO. People only hate him cuz he killed their favorite character, which is not that good of a reason cuz it was a situation where it was him or Ali
Definitely. Honestly I was rooting for him until he killed Ali, but that made him even more interesting. You watch him slowly devolve into this killer but one who still has empathy, and has just convinced himself he has the most noble cause until Gihun proves him wrong, in which he kills himself.
I understood Sang-woo differently. At the shapes game i recognized something from myself. He ended up telling them to split because he was afraid of being wrong. Something that can be traced back to how he earlier in his life also thought he had a good idea and brought his mother into it. Notice how Gihun immidiately puts him on the spot just after he realised what game it was, to tell them what to do. (Also an example of Gihuns impulsiveness having an impact.) He decides in the moment to play it safe and tell them something he knows is true. That in investment, there is a saying that you should try to not put all your eggs in the same basket. Notice how he continues to think afterwards. First confirming his suspension about what game it is, then there is a change in his expression as he turns to trying to figure out a way to take back what he said. He comes up with something to tell Gihun in the end. But then when he sees Gihuns face, he imagines that Gihun will judge him for "lieing" with his earlier advice. He once more is in that situation where he is put on the spot and must decide in the moment if he is really sure. This time about wether he found a good way to say what he needs to say. Again he avoids the situtuation. In the next game, we see the situation happen again. He gets the idea to take 3 steps forward to make the enemies fall. You can see on his face that it takes a few seconds from the moment he has the idea untill he pressents it. His mind is once more telling him to be careful because he could be wrong. But this time he has had an experience where he followed his minds distrust in himself and remained passive, yet he still felt responsible. So he has that tool to contradict what his mind is telling him and is able to act on time.
It must be incredibly difficult to navigate the world if you have a gambling addiction, especially with stuff like gacha games and microtransactions. Same if you have a drinking problem. In my state, there's a shitton of alcohol billboards and commercials for beers and it must be so hard to avoid temptation when corporations that don't care about you are constantly trying to pull you back in to make a buck
Seeing alcohol in entertainment is definitely my trigger. I'm obviously not saying we should ban depictions of alcohol, just that for recovering addicts it's something you quickly realize the world is not going to accommodate you for, you need to learn to deal with it.
That fact I relate the most to Jeoung is a little upsetting, since my counselor said I had ptsd, but I just couldn't wrap my head around that. It still hasn't quite hit me. PTSD is for other people to have, not me, you know? I've just convinced myself it never was a big deal, that my self worth is how it is because I really am worthless, not because of any outside factors that caused it. It's just... strange.
I hope that you get well and are feeling better with your journey! But, isn’t attributing your feelings of worthlessness entirely to you, and undermining so much external factors to the point of denying them, a sign of ptsd in itself? I have Asperger’s and I’ve denied it so much once I was diagnosed, saying that I’m weird and shy because is just what I’m and That’s it, so I kinda feel similar in a way. Anyway, hope you are well wherever you are!
I feel kind of ashamed to admit my brain doesn't work properly and that I need medicine to fix it while others don't need any help. Like it's unfair that something I didn't do makes me the one that needs help
@@vegetableoil4391 yep, that is the exact same feeling, knowing where is the fault of my own and when is it due to my condition is difficult, and I can’t even start imagining how hard it will be for other conditions
17:25 my neighbor was pullin his kid in a wagon and the kid (whom definitely has special needs) ended up standing up and fell out and smashed his head. Instead of love and condolence the kid was met with "WHY WOULD YOU STAND UP!?!?! WHY WOULD YOU STAND UP?!?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!?!" In a screaming shrill tone. Too much to get into, single guy with special needs of his own really shouldn't have kids... upsets me a lot
Thank you for another brilliant video/stream, Dr. K! There are so much valuable information, knowledge, viewpoints, and lessons in your videos that I just love them!!!
I dated someone with BPD for ~2 years. I'm still recovering from the extreme amount of manipulation and abuse. As someone who is very agreeable and already has a low sense of self worth, the relationship really destroyed me. She would blow up and yell at me over random things that I had no control over, she cheated on me, she would constantly play the victim and try to make me out to be a terrible person. I know what she was doing wasn't really her fault because she came from a broken home and had a challenging living situation. So I stayed with her and hoped that therapy and letting her live with my parents when she was kicked out of her house and treating her as best I could would eventually help her get better. I hoped that through all that she would start treating me better. Like if I invested in her then things would get better. But they actually got worse overtime and she destroyed what other relationships she had with her friends, coworkers, roommates, landlords and siblings. I'm really glad I got out of that relationship and into therapy. The relationship was definitely good at times, great even. It did an extreme amount of damage to me, though. 100% I think Dr.K is right about pointing out that Mi-nyeo isn't representative of everyone with BPD. At the same time, I had a nightmare situation with someone with BPD. You just have to be careful is all. And also set boundaries despite how they react. Everytime I would set boundaries she would explode at me or manipulate me into making exceptions. I learned in therapy that I needed to stick to boundaries, especially as someone with depression and low self worth and all that.
Great video, but a few corrections: Ji-Yeoung was imprisoned for killing father after he had murdered her mother. She likely doesn't have a boyfriend or anyone else in her life because he has just been incarcerated. I agree that she likely has PTSD.
I don't know, I think Gi Hun turns around at the end to go put an end to the Squid Games. Without any sort of narrative cue it's just speculation, but it's sort of inferred by him stopping that one guy at the end from joining by taking away the SG business card, and his final phone call to the number right before he was about to board the pain.
I don't gamble at all but the impulsivity, repeating things that I know are bad for me, short term gain, etc... I do all those things. Damn dude. Okay so after watching this whole video basically I relate to Gihun's behaviour and I have Ali's personality... epic
Hey man, you’re not alone. I’m a depressed ADHD med student, so I can absolutely relate. (I also gamble on sports, overeat, play video games like an addict, and vape.) What’s helped me more than anything is therapy. EMDR helped me figure out just how much my past shapes my thought processes. I highly recommend it.
Wow thank you, I guess I once had a girlfriend that had undiagnsed BPD. At the start of the relationship I tried to break it up and she called me at 3Am saying theres blood everywhere. She cut a wrist. Being with her was like being swept up by a tornado, it was both my best and worst relationship by far.
I’m trying to overcome my built in anxiety when meeting strangers. I notice I automatically start to sweat when talking to someone. I’m also struggling with my own mental disorder (adhd) and this makes it harder for me. Any advice? I’m not scared of new people but I’m not easy to open up to so nor am I used to it so my body acts on its own
I was at the same place as you before. You have to be aware that porn and masterbation induces ADHD. The thing that helped my social anxiety was meditation (also being aware of my anxiety when it kicks in and not judging it, just observing), and quitting porn and masterbation (gave me confidence and stopped my brain fog), and exercise (it helps with ADHD. Porn ruins lives, it also builds anxiety in my experience.
@@speedfastman it's not my word, it's from Dr. Trish Leigh. She has a youtube channel if you want to check it out, but all she said about porn checks out from what Ive personally experienced, I found it hard to believe aswell atfirst since I don't believe all the crap in the internet. I was a porn addict, it made my life hell, having someone that tells me exactly what Ive experienced is exactly what porn does to the brain is very weight lifting.
1. Be aware of your body when it reacts and let it feel what it feels. 2. Don't beat yourself up for feeling the way you are feeling. 3. "Sit" with your feelings. 4. Don't try and suppress your reactions. The harder you push them down, the stronger they fight back. 5. ??? 6. Profit.
omg Yes DBT is amazing. Im diagnosed with BPD and C-PTSD and The dialectical behavior therapy helped me so much. And thanks for the disclaimer, that not all BPD people are this extreme.
Amazing content. Not sure why it showed up on my TL but glad it did. I think I learned my friend fits on the Border Personality Disorder that he described (the extreme case), fits like a glove, I was shocked as I was listening as he was describing him perfectly. I am no psychologist so I don’t know this stuff. I also agree that inequality is a complex issue.
As someone with BPD the one thing that always seems to be understated or not mentioned at all is the brutally intense negative emotions we feel and the near inability to self soothe said emotions. Those attempts to "manipulate" people is out of a desperate attempt to not be abandoned and it is the only methods in which we know work ( therapy, cbt and medication greatly helps with these symptoms). And the threats of suicide are often done to completion, as BPD has one of the highest suicide rates.
Sae-Byeok burning the guy wasn't due to unstableness, she was being taken advantage of and she knew he was bull***ting. When he asked for more money to take more advantage of her, the burning with the coffee was a distraction so she could pickpocket him AND get him to give her real information without bull***t.
I am really curious if a second season will be coming. I think Gi-Hun's plan is to stop them. But at the same time, he got baited into betting on a human being as well - so even if he "won" the bet, he still kinda lost because he was baited into it in the first place. Not that I expect him to turn into a new front man or anything, but this series is pretty smart I think, so I am really looking forward how they go on. I like most characters because they seem to be relateable to some part. Meaning: they feel like actual human beings. And act like alot of humans might act in those situations.
This is great, love to these someone talking about this show that actually knows what they are talking about, instead of just some random movie review channel farming views.
@@nomad_89 Wow dude, take it down a notch. I'm not even talking about capitalism, I'm talking about character study, human behavior, psychological complexes and such. It's rare to find a movie reviewer (which is obviously not Dr. K's case) that can go deep down into a character's psychological profile, with actual real life examples and knowledge to pull from. Just a thought, no need for toxic comments.
@@nomad_89 Yes, I criticized other creators (I'm talking about the clickbaity ones, in case you haven't figured that out yet) for jumping onto the hype train and delivering very shallow takes on tv shows and movies that have much more to offer. This has nothing to do with whether Dr. K cares about views or not. I'm not belittleling, I criticizing the lack of quality a lot of channels have, which is pretty apparent everytime some hype like this happens. You're making this about me, instead of about the content itself.
In Squid Game episode 6, I don't think you need to have an addiction issue to do what Gi-Hun in order to survive. It's about life or death, and the old man was already losing his marbles (pun intended). Thoughts?
Yeah G-Hun is very complex character and to reduce him to just an addict is not fair. G-hun was not always gambler or deadbeat dad. He had a stable job were he worked for more than a decade. Not only did he lose that job but he lost someone that was close to him, that had his head bashed right in front of him G-hun. He turned into gambling as way to maximize whatever money he had at any given moment. Of course that turned into somewhat addiction, however he clearly overcame those feelings after winning because he didn't touch his price money over a year and spent that whole year in grief and depression. At the end he went back to the game to infiltrate and revenge the good friends be made in that place. Well, that was my understanding anyway.
We have DID and are in a two year relationship, lving together and engaged with another system/person with DID. It´s working out really great so far! But we definitely also had very unhealthy relationships with fellow traumatized peeps before. I think the core difference is that we´re both / all very actively working on our trauma patterns. We never had a partner who was as dedicated to healing before.
Is it possible to have Borderline Personality Disorder but sort of "sedate" it via conscientiousness and self reflection? When I was struggling with heroin addiction, my therapist thought I was "borderline" BPD lol. I kind of dismissed it at the time because I assumed most of my darker feelings were primarily rooted in my addiction. Having now been sober for 5+ years and hearing Dr. K's description of the mood fluctuations, fear of abandonment, etc. is making me re-evaluate. I have described it to my therapist as feeling that my self esteem and identity is determined extrinsically rather than intrinsically, which concerns me, but she dismissed it as normal behavior. I would never try to hold someone emotionally hostage or purposfully attempt to manipulate someone into feeling a certain way about me, but I think I do that consciously and I'm not sure if others need to hold themselves back from that or does it come more naturally to a "normal" person? Idk Dr. K is making me feel some things lol
If you cycle through extreme emotions in a matter of minutes and have a hard time identifying feelings and have outbursts despite best efforts of conscientiousness then it may be an avenue to explore but BPD has a stigma and most don’t try to diagnose it as it’s believed to be incurable. I was pseudo diagnosed with BPD by my therapist and proceeded with Cognitive Behavior Therapy. It was incredibly effective for me. Since CBT isn’t drug based you may propose it to your therapist and see if they believe it could assist you.
@@UnDefinedLegacy Thanks for your reply! I do cycle through emotions rather quickly in MY opinion, but is there some objective metric to gauge how much is considered "regular" and how much is abnormal? For instance, I wake up in the morning and feel crappy, I don't have drive or direction, look like shit etc. and then my day gets moving and I feel more purposeful, happy, and can almost verge on a bit narcissistic at times. But by the end of the day I generally feel more depressed and lonely, inadequate, etc. Repeat ad nauseum. I'm so disconnected from my feelings that I'm not even sure if these are considered emotions? Or just like general moods that other people shift through on a daily basis as well. I definitely do not have outbursts, though. From an outside perspective, everyone thinks I'm well adjusted, which causes me issues when talking to doctors or therapists as they tend to just handwave this stuff as "normal" and think I'm doing fine. Maybe I'm just neurotic and moody and it truly isn't a disorder, I dunno lol. And I have done some CBT myself with a prior therapist with whom I got along much better, but he has since moved to a different state and I haven't found anyone I could connect with nearly as well yet. I'm glad you found something that works for you, though!
In the depths of addiction sometimes these traits can become more prominent. Important to remember people are just trying to get their needs met and can have varying degrees of Borderline traits which in my opinion is an attachment/trauma issue. I would say try not to worry about labels too much. Keep getting help and keep doing tho work to form your identity, work on healthy boundaries, and establish healthy social skills/relationships.
Hi everybody I don't really have time to figure out how to get close to Dr. K to ask the question but I'd really like to watch him speak on "Talking to yourself whenever you are physically alone in a space."
You can try asking on the Healthy Gamer subreddit, he does a few streams where he answers reddit questions if they get popular or are interesting enough. I think it's a unique enough question to make it on.
"Seek the true meaning of happiness through introspection, meditation and exploration as opposed to create a game where people have to kill each other to survive" -- Dr. K Truly Buddhist monk meets Harvard levels of insight right here. In all seriousness this was a super fascinating video and I learned a lot. Thanks Dr. K!
I know you’ve done a BPD video already explaining what it was a year ago, but I would really be interested in a stream meeting with someone with BPD or interviewing or talking with them. I’m a 21 year old female who just recently within the last year and half been diagnosed with BPD and have been trying my best to educate myself; but I would love to see what it looks like from a third person what it’s like to talk with a person with BPD. It’s hard for me to empathize sometimes and see what my interactions may look like to other people. There’s also been an increase on social media (TikTok) about BPD and I’m afraid that there is a large stigma and undermining the diagnosis. Thanks! Love the video
Good luck with everything Taby! I was diagnosee with BPD first time 4 years ago and I received in different country the same diagnosis 2 years later. I finished therapy 1,5 months ago and I live now very happy and fullfilling life. I was declared not suffering from personality disorder anymore ☺️
@@kristamariau thank you! I it has been encouraging to know that one day when and if I keep working hard that I’ll also go into remission and hopefully not show any or as many symptoms ! That’s so amazing congrats to you too ❤️
Yeahhh... I understand this video was for the purpose of exploring different kinds of mental illness, but Gi-hun representing just addiction is reductive at best and erroneous at worst (especially in the context of the ending when he decides he wants to stop the Games). He's also a good representative for PTSD considering his flashbacks to the strike where he was fired from his old job and people died. It's possible that addiction arose from the emptiness from that trauma and the just repeated 'L's thereafter.
Dr.k and other mental professionals have said that just because someone had a traumatic event, doesn't maen they have ptsd. For some reason people on the internet love to say that traumatic experience= ptsd which can be wrong.
@@BreakstarYT I guess I must be imagining the time Gi-hun blew up on his ex-wife that a man was killed in front of him at the strike/protest, or that nasty flashback he had when the contestants were building the bunk-bed barricades. But by all means, please feel free to defer to credentials and accolades without actually having an analysis of your own. All respect to Dr.K, his breakdown of Gi-hun seems to be ignoring important characterization in the story and I'd like to agree to disagree about it.
@@paulogaspar8295I'm just a bit surprised that Dr.K is ignoring certain points of Gi-Hun's characterization and misinterpreting his choice at the end of Season 1. If he mentioned these as part of his attempt to profile him, I wouldn't be as bothered.
It's so funny how Dr K talks about two people not caring about forming connections feeling connected to eachother, when my favorite two characters are Ji Yeoung and Sae-Byeok
Opening up is something I’m doing more of now. I sadly have negative experiences in the past and that I realize now caused me to put up a mask. I joke constantly because that’s how I know to communicate. If I show my real self I will be called “lame” or “virgin” etc and that caused me to put up walls. Learning to communicate is my goal.
one thing that really stuck out to me about Gihun in the first episode was that the guy really loves the thrill of winning. That might be what makes him a loser most of all.
Ali reminds me a lot of my parents, they would always let themselves get spat on, used, and overworked my whole life, which is ironic considering I have the opposite approach to life and especially jobs, my parents would rather work for free to keep their jobs than like quit and find something else, meanwhile i’ll happily get as much as I can from somewhere I work at and do things for myself no matter if it inconveniences my work or not
I have no experience on the field but your analysis made me rewatch the show. I think you misdiagnosed Sang-woo. I truly don't think he is a sociopath, instead I feel like he might be depressed and willing to anything to make things right. He is at a point of no return and this is his only way of making things right for himself and her mom. Would love to hear your professional opinion on this considering I have no education when it comes to psychology.
23:45 hurts in a good way, I am not alone in feeling like this. To people who haven't felt this, it hurts so bad to feel like you're inherently less than other people. To feel like your emotions are either non existent or so extreme that they seem like a caricature.
I think Gi-Hun has PTSD from seeing his friend shot to death by police for peacefully protesting a layoff without compensation for 10+ years of service employees. I think he primarily has PTSD from living in extremely unfair economic conditions for decades. His gambling is a cover to help him deal with it on a daily basis.
Yeah I feel like he's just ignored that tbh. It's bizarre he's being typed as just a degenerate gambler constantly thrill seeking from beginning to end. It completely ignores his character development or the very obvious flashback he has when the players use their bunks as a barricade followed by the explanation moments later, or that the man watched people he had grown attached to being murdered followed by his friend's suicide and finding his mother's dead body. I'm not denying the fact that he's implusive or flawed, but he's one of the more complex characters on the show. He makes poor decisions, but he also tries to do what he believes is morally right several times, even at his own expense i.e missing his daughter's birth to protest injustice for all the people he worked with, pairing up with Il-nam to spare his life knowing that it'll put Gi-hun at at disadvantage and deciding not to board the plane so he can try to save other people's lives. I really relate to his experiences of trauma exacerbating his addiction whilst he tries to maintain his humanity, so seeing him being constantly reduced to just a gambling addict looking for his next fix is disappointing to see.
My ex is 100% light BPD + abandonment issues. I thought so before we split after taking a very crash coursey psych class for police academy, and I am more convinced that she actually is. I think she was on the upswing though on figuring out how to be aware of and manage it, had a really awful relationship after me (which for better or worse mirrored her behavior in past relationships, which I think was very eye opening for her), and I think and hope now she's doing much better. Lost contact at some point along the way.
Undersung profession for some amount of sociopathy: Online Moderator. I've managed moderator teams for years and I can always tell when the 'too good' ones are in the interviews and I try to be VERY clear what they'll see. The couple that heard about that side and actually opted out are the people that I have the most respect for. Other managers, I notice, don't seem to really screen in this way. :\ And have the turnover to show it. As far as myself, I see some traits in myself but never to the point where it would be a threat to anyone or anything. But I also know my childhood set me up to be a little less affective than most, so might as well cash in on those gifts. Maybe someday (soon?) moderators will get the hazard pay they deserve.
My sense is that Sang Woo does care about others, but is compelled to sacrifice if the gamble is worth it. He is distant, yes, but he second guessed himself with telling Gi Hun in honeycomb, he felt terrible at what he did to Ali, and he killed Sae because he feared because it would cost him the game. In a way, his actions are completely driven by the addiction and he feels the weight of what he's done, but still can't stop. Gi Hun is the antithesis, he has a somewhat clear breaking point, even where he was willing to stop at the end. There are a good number of scenes where he is being kind, him giving money to Ali, him warning Ali with the hand. I don't say this to excuse his behaviour, certainly most everything he did was bad, but more to say he is pained but what he feels he has to do, whereas Jang is delighted with it.
Some other commenters have brought this up but I think Dr K misunderstood Gi-hun's character a little bit. Before entering the games he absolutely has a gambling addiction, but after he wins he doesn't show any signs of his gambling addiction at all, and instead seems to demonstrate depression or PTSD. For a whole year he didn't touch ANY of his winnings. If he was still addicted to gambling then surely he would have spent some of that cash. Also when he turns away from the plane in the ending I don't think he plans to re-enter the games, instead I believe he is planning to investigate them and try to stop them, which is evident by how he reacts in his final conversation with Il-nam, and how he stops the man at the train station from being recruited like he was a year prior.
I agree., That's the feelings I got too.
Yep. Well said.
Facts
PTSD after such a gruesome game is a perfectly expected response tbf. He also has a lot of survivors guilt I believe. But even though he might not be still gambling he is still impulsive in his decisions. Like the red hair, turning from the gate last minute etc.
What annoys me a little bit is why didn't he go and help the homeless man freezing himself? I know he wanted answers but it almost seemed like that was Il-Nams point. He didn't help the homeless person because he was too caught up in his own shit to do the right thing.
Did Dr. K skip over Gi-Hun's factory job, the PTSD of the Barricade, not being able to find work again because of what happen at the job PLUS his coworker/friend getting killed; the friend that was dying WHILE his wife (at the time) was in labor with his daughter (whom he loves very much), and Gi-Hun being depressed/survivor's guilt for a year then has that final bet with #1 where a red hair lady saves the homeless man. Which then encourages him to get the red hair symbolizing the need for change. Sure impulsiveness is a factor but it wasn't the only defining factor.
fun fact about min yong, the engish subtitles always translate to her saying "I'm good at everything except that which I'm not." but she actually says something closer to "I'm very smart but I never got a chance to study." (ie she's street smart)
Min young*
**Mi-nyeo?
huh well i like both
Gihun turns back to fight and stop the games, after realising a year later he is still being followed every second and this immoral game will happen again, the idea is that he isnt comfortable being a happy winner if more people will fall in the trap of these games and he puts his happiness aside to fight it.
Its not about addiction to gambling and him wanting to gamble with his life again even tho he won. Thats just not fitting his character that was willing to stop the games at the last second when he could easily win - and gave up the prize just to save his childhood friend's live.
In a dramatic sense, sure. But practically speaking...
Yeah idk why would Dr. K say that he's still gonna play, when he cleary has other plans, I guess he distorted the ending to support his narrative about addiction...
I think that's still part of the gambling/addiction mentally. He can't just walk away from things even at the risk of great personal loss. He was willing to cheat the old man in the marble game to live and he didn't sacrifice himself to save the old man either because it's not about self-sacrifice for him, it's about risk and reward and his inability to objectivly weigh them. The reward is always worth the risk for Gi-Hun. Imo, what do I know.
@@nikola8140 his motive at the end is pretty clear but i guess dr.k got confused about it. Him taking the playstation card from the dude near the train and the people on the phone telling him not to get "absurd ideas" im sure he is gonna try to sabotage the games if there is a second season. Kinda like jennifer in the hunger games that won and than joined the resistance
yes this is exactly what my interpretation was initially but also it makes sense if he turned back bc of his gambling addiction since its hard to overcome addiction in a short period of time but then again its a fictional story and I doubt the author cared more abt his gambling addiction than abt showing the audience that after losing ppl in the game Gihun didn't felt like it was right to let more ppl die so it was more abt trying to give a msg to the audience maybe
I have borderline personality disorder and I always say that dating an emotionally healthy person has been one of the best things for me. It was hard at times but in really different ways to dating someone else who was broken. They force you to calmly challenge your broken vision of the world every day and they hold you to a higher standard than someone who is also broken and finds your toxic traits "normal" but will argue to death with you. So that was super interesting to hear that having a stable relationship with a healthy person is a recognised form of treatment.
O___O
@@assortedlunatics4381 ?
yeah, dated somebody with bpd and i was super unstable, things were amazing at first but the early cracks turn into whole on earthquakes by the end because I thought I was ready for the relationship but clearly I was not, would only date somebody with bpd again if I was in a stable state, it would only be fair to the both of us
he didnt go back to play round 2 because he just wanted to gamble. he went back because he wants to stop the games its obvious thats his goal, thats why he got angry with the other guy right before that last scene
Yeah I was confused as well that Dr.K understood it the way he did, but maybe he watched the dubbed version and something got lost in translation in it.
sorry, havent watched whole video? timestamp? if youre talking about Gu Han, it was not about stopping the games....
Edit: oh i see now. "round 2" as in the second season of squid game. lol round 2 made me think like after Red Light Green Light. I dont think Dr K. meant it that way. youre interpreting that way. He just said he was going to join.
yeah gu han def seems like he wants to stop it in season 2 tho.
Its representative of his gambling addiction, or at least connected to it because it still keeps him away from his daughter. I was so pissed when he didn't get on that plane.
@@steverogers6572 6:00
@@frogery yup, that impulse comes from addiction. that one actual hits home with me honestly lol.
I swear im sometimes so scared of the human brain. "Oh you had a traumatic experience? No worries I'll bury this stuff so deep into a complicated network you'll probably never understand and make you miserable, but hey you're alive right?"
If you're having children, then it's all fine and dandy I guess
@@AR15ORIGINAL We should all stop having children. Stand up to Brains everywhere
@@AR15ORIGINAL how so
This lines up with something Dr. K said a while ago about the brain. It's not meant to do what's best for us, it's meant to keep us alive.
Yeah...
About Sangwoo sometimes helping people despite being a sociopath, the creator of the show mentioned in an interview that Sangwoo helped Ali with the bus fare out of feeling a need to remain superior to those who're unfortunate and in need, some sort of superiority issue.
I did not get that at all from watching the show so if that’s what he was getting at with that scene then he failed.
I think Sangwoo was straight up not a sociopath at all, This entire personality analysis failed to acknowledge that they were in a life and death situation. Same logic does not apply to gangster guy because it was clearly shown that he was on a killing spree outside of the game
@@katanaswing3082 He cut open sae byok's neck and pushed a guy on the bridge. He did some killing that was not necessary.
@@LittleSparklingStars Well the pushing on the bridge was indeed a life and death situation, there was seconds left on the clock and there was no way to be sure if that guy was ever going to jump or not. It was a fair decision under those circumstances. Though I'll give it to you about the Sae Byeok killing, that seemed uncalled for and I see it as more of a error in scenario, as Sang Woo didn't give me the vibe of someone who would kill just because. I guess they tried to go with the "Putting her out of misery" explanation but it was rather weak.
Funny thing about the bridge, it mathematically makes way more sense to not push anyone at all, unless there is only 1 glass left after the guy in the front. Because if you let the person decide, there is a 50% chance that person will show u the result of two more glasses. However if you push, only the next glass will be checked, and even if the glass doesn't break, the person will probably still trip over and die before getting the chance to check the next glass. Now I don't remember if there was only 1 glass left when Sang Woo pushed the guy in front, but either way, It was an extreme stress scenario so pretty much any decision can be explainable at that point
I don't think Gi Hun still has a gambling addiction at the end. It's not that he doesn't care about his daughter (who by the way is safe and cared for by 2 parents who aren't suffering from PTSD) so he can play games again to fill a void. Gi Hun went back because he realized he was being a bystander and wanted to investigate and confront the system that handpicked the most desperate people who would kill and betray each other for entertainment. The whole story's message is about how destructive capitalism is but we all play along, but Gi Hun confronts it at the end, at the cost of his own comfort and happiness.
exactly!
yea tell em
I think he does have a gambling addiction. There are many ways you could investigate and confront the system but he appears to be choosing to gamble with his life. He is addicted to the feeling of winning against all odds while playing according to his own morals.
agreed
I wouldn't say the message of the show is about how bad capitalism is, but rather how terrible human beings can be in total desperation, but I understand what you mean.
"Gihun wanted to go back and play the squid game again"
when he said his name, he only wanted to catch his attention.
I'm pretty sure he is going back to DESTROY the squid game, he want it gone.
when he said his name, he only wanted to catch the mysterious man's attention.
he is disgusted by the host of squid game and he wants to destroy the game makers 'empire'.
the show didn't even imply him re-entering, just that he wants to stop it.
The creator of this game is clearly a compulsive liar, there were no squids playing.
"Sir, you're thinking of Splatoon"
@@poposterous236 They were neither squids nor kids
The creator is a liar because he claimed the inital idea of using the "Red Light Green Light" game in a battle royal plot, while clearly "As the Gods Will" manga(2011) has used the same plot way before this.
Honestly, I think referencing a similar setup and plots are acceptable as long as the creator give enough credit to the origin, but the way director Hwang Dong-hyuk claiming credit out of the blue is just plagiarising.
I hope people who are praising this series are just unaware, sometime the fantasitc k-drama they are watching are originated from some weeb stuff they dislike.
this is actually a clever criticism of contemporary armchair-psychology
@@hulawdl9355 As the gods will manga is blatant plagiarism of skydoesminecraft's jail break game in where the goal is to jailbreak while playing the games of the warden smh. People are too blinded by Japanese art and too fanboyish.
Sae-Byeok reminded me a lot of myself. I wouldn’t say I have trust issues per-say, but I’ve always been socially anxious and had difficulty forming connections with new people.
The part that really sounded familiar was poor emotional mirroring growing up. I don’t want to diagnose them, but my dad seems pretty alexithymic and my mom’s mood changes very quickly, so I got used to paying close attention to how people react to me. Now I overthink every interaction and have difficulty acting authentically.
I also have ADHD, which was treated as a moral failing when I was young so I feel anxious at work when I get distracted. I know I’m not lazy and my performance is good, but I worry my superiors won’t see it that way.
I see comments saying Dr. K misunderstood Gi hun's character right at the end, but I think he was pretty spot on
What I think Dr K meant is that him reentering squid game is a form of subconscious exertion of his gambling addiction. Sure his consciousness thinks it's to "do the right thing", but is it really the right thing though? Is it more important than being a reliable and providing father, fixing his relationships( that HE was responsible for destroying btw, not squid game) Aren't there other ways of stopping squid game now he has a boatload of money? He's just convinced himself of having a good reason to go back to the peak form of gambling that is squid game.
I'll also add i think his empty feeling after the squid game IS sign of his gambling addiction. It was never about the money, it was about the high. It was the lack OF money that pressed him to gamble, but it's the high that makes it so pleasurable to him. And after the high of gambling with your life, everything else paled in comparison, thus the post-squid depression
this
Life is a gamble, and I don't think it is the cause of his addiction. I'm sure there are other factors that gave him a choice to stop the game rather than just letting it go and have someone else take it down.
Thanks for this
In that case I can agree that he might be "half-on" rather than spot on, lol. He did indeed say Gi hun was going back to re-enter the game, to my understanding as a contestant. And what actually happens is the continuation of the theme from the last bet with the old man, that makes Gi hun realise that there is good in the world and he has the power to make it a better place. Yeah, you can argue that he still is addicted to some sort of rush and escaping his responsibility to his family but I'd still say that's very different from the bog standard gambling addiction. Because we don't even really know what he is going to do, will he go to the police, use his money somehow or buy a bunch o weapons and go rambo? I didn't like the ending for what it's worth, but reading it as he is going back to replay the game bc he is so addicted still after all the time living as a hobo doing nothing is far from spot on.
We gotta stop with the subconscious analysis and reductionism when it doesn't make sense. Don't you think that there's a better reason to explain his depression/PTSD, like the fact that hundreds of people got killed in the game and that he cares so much about the others that he was even ready to give up the cash prize at the very end, even to save ONE player which already betrayed him? To him it feels so dirty, so inhuman that he doesn't even wanna touch it the money. He went back in because he saw that other people were getting reeled in, so he did this to try to protect people and with a feeling of righteousness rather than because he is addicted to gambling. It's not because he can "lose his life" that he is "gambling his life (for money)". But I think the worse argument by far is the fact that he could stop the game because he has a "boatload of money". Like bro, it's such a small amount compared to the VIPs (which have infinitely more resources). Plus he is alone and they know he's coming back to "play".
"Sometimes people who are broken are attracted to other people who are broken" Yeah this sums up all my connections outside of my family. Thank you for taking time to talk about this.
Trauma bond indeed is serious. When I look back at my childhood friends, we were all fuck ups from shit family. We were drawn to each other, but because we were all fuckups from shit family, we ended up doing bad things, getting in trouble, and generally making everyone who was involved and their family's lives got worse as a result. I had to walk away from them and as I did so a decade ago, I called our friendship like tumor. The longer we stay with each other, more likely it will kill us prematurely.
Well done that you were able to identify it.
Sang Woo is obviously depressed. He literally tries to Kill himself ep 2 and doesn’t smile once in the whole show. He’s often very distant and appears in his own world, and his expression is always stoic
Not every person who tries to kill themselves does so because they are depressed. Sangwoo saw no way out of the ridiculous amount of debt he was in. Death would have been easy way to escape his debts. And not smiling and being distant? No sane person would be smiling while inside a death tournament and trying to get close to people who might be trying to kill him lol
@@willjhonathan5844 I agree that not everyone who tries to kill themselves is depressed. But your argument that his emotional distance and stoicism can be attributed to the games and not his personality refutes the entire video. If you’re saying that “no sane person would be smiling during a death tournament”, the same could be said about Deoksu : “no sane person would have high empathy in a death tournament.” The whole stipulation of this video is that we’re ignoring the fact they’re in a death game. If we are counting the fact they’re in a death game, then sang woo looking out for himself is no longer sociopathy, instead it’s just smart tactics. One of the biggest diagnostic tools in psychology is “deviance”: if behavior is deviant from the context of the situation , then it’s diagnosable. In squid game, killing isn’t deviant, so it’s not diagnosable as sociopathy. So let’s put that death tournament shit to the side. Outside of the games, and inside the games, Sang Woo is clearly depressed. Suicidal attempts, mixed with stoicism throughout the show, is enough for a “Netflix“ diagnosis. If you want to get all technical, we could refute every diagnosis in this video; each of which has only been proved by 1 or 2 symptoms presented
@@rohankataria8414 It doesn't refute anything of what was said in the video. It only refutes your weird baseless claim that Sangwoo was depressed because of being "stoic and distant" lol. Sangwoo is still a sociopath because of the ease and swiftness with which he made morally questionable choices that would make non-sociopaths stop and think ten times before they did the same. Being "stoic and distant" because of the circumstances does nothing to refute the diagnosis of sociopathy. Your reasoning is full of holes.
@@willjhonathan5844 that’s fair. You’re right about the non-sociopaths stopping to think argument.
I think that a depressed person would not have done so much effort to live like Sang Woo did.
Dr. K: "He kind of is a doormat."
Ali: *steals a bunch of money from his boss while his hand is stuck in a shredder*
Well, boss stole from him technically.
😂
That's actually a roller. Funny thing is I'm an electrical engineer and some of the machines I work on have rollers and I keep telling people that those things are the most dangerous part of the machine but people don't listen because these machines have knives and clamps and things that LOOK more dangerous so they are more concerned about those haha.
but that's the shadow coming out
well he did go unpaid for six months. we don't know how many times he's confronted his boss but it's signifcant that he stayed in a job that didn't pay him for half a year despite having a family he needed to feed. at that point i think he was just so desperate he didn't think of what he was doing.
That last bit was full of gems.
"The more ignorant you are of something, the more simple it seems and the quicker you are to have an answer"
"Our brain is wired to construct the illusion of certainty out of ignorance"
"Human beings confuse objective correctness with the value system that they grew up in"
Doctor K has the best hair on twitch for SURE.
Furiously agrees.
the trick is no hair cut 😉
only because the DOC is gone :(
Looks like buttercup from powderpuff girls
Kripp omegalul
I interpreted Gi Hun final backing away from the plane to be a resolve to end the squid game and save lives. I believed he was traumatized by seeing unjust death at his first job and his subsequent loss of functioning (job loss/marital breakdown) was a manifestation of PTSD. He then became desperate and developed a gambling addiction wherein he was highly impulsive and conditioned for short term benefit. I think he dyed his hair red to demonstrate he was “red pilled” or aware of a disturbing truth about the world.
Saybyok also appeared like PTSD and attachment disorder. She must have been exposed to tremendous trauma and gaslighting in NoKo. NoKo dictator also takes the place of the parent for all citizens and has severe Antisocial Personality/ Narcissistic Personality and paranoid personality traits. Her affect was pretty blunted. She was also a parentified child, unhealthily flung into parental role for her own parent and having to rescue her
and care for brother. Thank you this was fascinating!!!
to me, it didnt seem like Gi-hun wanted to go play again. I caught the impression that he wanted revenge and to avenge the fallen
Or he got insulted remember master was like u bet on horses and we bet on humans.
@@sethkang4410 whatever the case, to me, it didn't seem like he was going back there to play again
@@0mniG0D He'll try to stop it by playing again is my assumption
@@naunau311 yeah I imagine that would be his approach. It would make for an interesting season 2
To me it seems it's another Casa de papel situation. Non-English series has a spur of success and they want to capitalize on it. It was a nice idea, a nice execution but they want to cash on it with a S2. I really don't see S2 going anywhere good
This was a super neat insight into seeing how these mental illnesses might manifest irl! Very juicy!
Ofc I’m not trying to diagnose anything, but I will say I found it helpful to better digest some of these specific behaviors, coping mechanisms, reasoning, backgrounds, or what have you, and then be able to understand how all that stuff could stem from a mental health condition!
Explaining these concepts via the Squid Game characters was a great approach since (for me anyway) psychology has always been a pretty confusing topic. So seeing bits and pieces of mental health components displayed through storytelling (especially in a story i felt invested in!) made so much more sense to me than usual!
Thanks for making your videos!
I'm really interested how would dr K analyze Neon Genesis Evangelion characters
Hooo id love to see that
Can we make this a thing
Please we’re the internet it’s possible
It would be a very.....very long stream
Yeah that would be cool
I wasn't expecting to learn so much from this video, it's majorly educational, thank you!
I have cPTSD, and you're right; I do have a healthy friend and have known her for years and she did make me healthier. I also have a buddy who I've known for years and who I'm pretty sure has got cPTSD as well (he never talks about it) and we do have similar behavioural issues: And that is actually one of my general life-problems, the trauma is always there, real life and relationships are also there, and stuff adds up, the trauma might add up and at some point I want to be alone but at the same time don't want to be alone - and that's when I flip. My 'outburst' aren't violent, mean or anything, but they always come out of the blue. My friends know how to handle it, people who don't know me well walk away. Maybe it's the same with 2 friends who both have PTSD.
Your channel is a gold mine of information about mental health and self reflection. This wasn’t an easy video to sit through but I’m glad I did. Really interesting stuff at the end too couldn’t click off the video!
It’s interesting that when I talk to ppl about when they cried during the show, most mentioned the marble game. But NO ONE talked about the few seconds before the MC pulled the opposite team to their death in the tug of war game.
The look on the opposite team’s face triggered my empathy and all the war history I studied.
My guess is that the marble episode is about characters you know more about and care about in a way. That does leave a stronger emotional response most of the time.
I personally though also think about game 5, where you also can feel alot of dread from the minor characters. The situation for all of them - including the Tug of War team that lost - is so bad that it hits the mark in some way.
But if something happens to characters (fictional or not) you feel a closer bond since you "know" them... thats why it hit even harder.
I cried when the old man yelled to the group he was scared when they were fighting. Old people always get me crying.
@@Chotibunder77 empathy gang
The cop is so good at hiding, everyone is forgetting him :D
After the final meeting with Oh Il Nam, Gi Hun realizes that what the old man said was true in a way.. that the extremely rich and the extremely poor are both dissatisfied with their position. When he decided not to take his flight it's not only gambling addiction, it's pursuing what he finds meaningful, namely waging war on the squid games.
Exactly, well said
HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE DR K CONTENT I DIDNT KNOW I NEEDED
FOR REALS, YO
I found myself in two of these categories :(
I would love more videos like this analyzing other pop culture shows like "The Boys" and "Breaking Bad" hell even add anime or video game characters too, this stuff is facinating.
Countries comprising the subcontinent absolutely share a long history, including the caste system (which I have some idea of, but don't know much about). However, from a sociological perspective, since the character of Ali is from Pakistan (separated from India 74 years ago), I personally think his behaviour and self-worth are more likely the result of socioeconomic class, and potentially the remnants of colonialism. In the latter there's this sense of believing yourself as lesser than people from more developed countries. The caste system has existed for far longer than colonialism, but since Islam is against the caste system and Pakistan considers itself a Muslim country, the caste system doesn't really exist in the same way. There are, however, certainly inequalities based on socioeconomic class, religion, sect, subculture, and province (among many others). Remnants of colonialism combined with racism, xenophobia, and him being a foreigner makes for a scared, gullible, trusting, and overly accomodating individual. There's more to be said about his character; this is my opinion through a surface level sociological lens. I'm not an expert. I just grew up in Pakistan.
Good comment.
To be honest, I didn't think I would make it until the end of the video but it was so fascinating and entertaining! Thank you! Subscribed!
The new thumbnails and video ideas are great! Whatever you're changing is super- keep up the great work!
I think Dr K may have mistaken when he said Gi Hun was going back for just round 2, but in a way the idea that his addiction keeps him from being happy can still be felt in a way, because that scene at the end didnt feel like a “hero” going in to save the world from these games, it definetly felt more on the lines of “i still need to find out more about these people” thats just my opinion of course.
I think that's the front image the show wanted to portray to its viewers, but Dr. K is looking a lot more deeply into it.
The whole "hero" thing could just be an excuse in his head for him to return to the game because he is addicted to gambling. People with addictions will always make some sort of excuse to justify their habits.
In the beginning of the show, we know that he loves his daughter very much. But he ends up choosing gambling over buying her a gift. At the end of the show, he had the choice to see his daughter, but yet again. He chose to put his daughter second which could be a subliminal message that it was gambling yet again he chose over his daughter
@@nightseeker226 yeah he was traumatized for an entire year after having so many bonds brutally and unfairly broken, and ur telling us its all related to his gambling addiction? LIterally anything but that xD.
@@nightseeker226 lol no. Dr k just missed the mark on this one
the hair change wasnt random. it was signifying that he took the "red pill" in the beginning of the movie he wore a blue hat and chose the blue paper from the stranger when he played that original paper toss game, it was a reference to the matrix. I believe the characters even mentioned the matrix at some point in the show. (Note he dyed his hair pretty much immediately after learning the truth of the squid games which further backs up this theory)
The director has already dismissed the red pill blue pill theory
@@moriderschowitz5020 Thank you for telling me about this, i looked it up and in the interview he only really shuts down the theory that the colors correspond to where the players end up. He said the game was chosen because red or blue references an old Korean ghost tale about a ghost that would offer red or blue toilet paper and then kill you either way but he doesn't address the theory that Gi Hun's individual color choices were a reference to the matrix.
Sang-Woo is by far the best character in Squid Game. He's the most complex and interesting IMO.
People only hate him cuz he killed their favorite character, which is not that good of a reason cuz it was a situation where it was him or Ali
Definitely. Honestly I was rooting for him until he killed Ali, but that made him even more interesting. You watch him slowly devolve into this killer but one who still has empathy, and has just convinced himself he has the most noble cause until Gihun proves him wrong, in which he kills himself.
I thought you meant the girl 😅. I guess he killed the top 2 characters
hmm im spoiled
@@chryzos3091 Oh yeah that too. I mean she was already pretty much dead.
@@oscarwong4201 You literally clicked a video about a dude talking about the characters. You shoulda been watched the show. Your fault dude
I understood Sang-woo differently. At the shapes game i recognized something from myself.
He ended up telling them to split because he was afraid of being wrong.
Something that can be traced back to how he earlier in his life also thought he had a good idea and brought his mother into it.
Notice how Gihun immidiately puts him on the spot just after he realised what game it was, to tell them what to do. (Also an example of Gihuns impulsiveness having an impact.)
He decides in the moment to play it safe and tell them something he knows is true. That in investment, there is a saying that you should try to not put all your eggs in the same basket.
Notice how he continues to think afterwards. First confirming his suspension about what game it is, then there is a change in his expression as he turns to trying to figure out a way to take back what he said.
He comes up with something to tell Gihun in the end. But then when he sees Gihuns face, he imagines that Gihun will judge him for "lieing" with his earlier advice. He once more is in that situation where he is put on the spot and must decide in the moment if he is really sure. This time about wether he found a good way to say what he needs to say. Again he avoids the situtuation.
In the next game, we see the situation happen again. He gets the idea to take 3 steps forward to make the enemies fall. You can see on his face that it takes a few seconds from the moment he has the idea untill he pressents it. His mind is once more telling him to be careful because he could be wrong. But this time he has had an experience where he followed his minds distrust in himself and remained passive, yet he still felt responsible. So he has that tool to contradict what his mind is telling him and is able to act on time.
That was interesting and a perspective I hadn't considered.
It must be incredibly difficult to navigate the world if you have a gambling addiction, especially with stuff like gacha games and microtransactions. Same if you have a drinking problem. In my state, there's a shitton of alcohol billboards and commercials for beers and it must be so hard to avoid temptation when corporations that don't care about you are constantly trying to pull you back in to make a buck
Seeing alcohol in entertainment is definitely my trigger. I'm obviously not saying we should ban depictions of alcohol, just that for recovering addicts it's something you quickly realize the world is not going to accommodate you for, you need to learn to deal with it.
That fact I relate the most to Jeoung is a little upsetting, since my counselor said I had ptsd, but I just couldn't wrap my head around that. It still hasn't quite hit me. PTSD is for other people to have, not me, you know? I've just convinced myself it never was a big deal, that my self worth is how it is because I really am worthless, not because of any outside factors that caused it. It's just... strange.
I hope that you get well and are feeling better with your journey! But, isn’t attributing your feelings of worthlessness entirely to you, and undermining so much external factors to the point of denying them, a sign of ptsd in itself? I have Asperger’s and I’ve denied it so much once I was diagnosed, saying that I’m weird and shy because is just what I’m and That’s it, so I kinda feel similar in a way. Anyway, hope you are well wherever you are!
I feel kind of ashamed to admit my brain doesn't work properly and that I need medicine to fix it while others don't need any help. Like it's unfair that something I didn't do makes me the one that needs help
@@vegetableoil4391 yep, that is the exact same feeling, knowing where is the fault of my own and when is it due to my condition is difficult, and I can’t even start imagining how hard it will be for other conditions
17:25 my neighbor was pullin his kid in a wagon and the kid (whom definitely has special needs) ended up standing up and fell out and smashed his head. Instead of love and condolence the kid was met with "WHY WOULD YOU STAND UP!?!?! WHY WOULD YOU STAND UP?!?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!?!" In a screaming shrill tone.
Too much to get into, single guy with special needs of his own really shouldn't have kids... upsets me a lot
Thank you for another brilliant video/stream, Dr. K! There are so much valuable information, knowledge, viewpoints, and lessons in your videos that I just love them!!!
This was really awesome to watch right after finishing the series, helped me to better understand the motivations of some characters, brilliant video!
I dated someone with BPD for ~2 years. I'm still recovering from the extreme amount of manipulation and abuse. As someone who is very agreeable and already has a low sense of self worth, the relationship really destroyed me. She would blow up and yell at me over random things that I had no control over, she cheated on me, she would constantly play the victim and try to make me out to be a terrible person.
I know what she was doing wasn't really her fault because she came from a broken home and had a challenging living situation. So I stayed with her and hoped that therapy and letting her live with my parents when she was kicked out of her house and treating her as best I could would eventually help her get better. I hoped that through all that she would start treating me better. Like if I invested in her then things would get better. But they actually got worse overtime and she destroyed what other relationships she had with her friends, coworkers, roommates, landlords and siblings.
I'm really glad I got out of that relationship and into therapy. The relationship was definitely good at times, great even. It did an extreme amount of damage to me, though.
100% I think Dr.K is right about pointing out that Mi-nyeo isn't representative of everyone with BPD. At the same time, I had a nightmare situation with someone with BPD. You just have to be careful is all. And also set boundaries despite how they react. Everytime I would set boundaries she would explode at me or manipulate me into making exceptions. I learned in therapy that I needed to stick to boundaries, especially as someone with depression and low self worth and all that.
you are amazing, thank you for your videos!
please keep doing this dr k!!! we love you so much
I’m so excited watching this I love this kind of content. Hope you do more in the future.
Great video, but a few corrections: Ji-Yeoung was imprisoned for killing father after he had murdered her mother. She likely doesn't have a boyfriend or anyone else in her life because he has just been incarcerated. I agree that she likely has PTSD.
Really loved your analsis Dr K
Wow. I love this guy!
DR K ! im glad u enjoyed this show too i wasnt feeling it in the beginning but after finishing it, its so great
absolutely loved dr. K's monologue about BPD. Very empathetic and insightful.
I don't know, I think Gi Hun turns around at the end to go put an end to the Squid Games. Without any sort of narrative cue it's just speculation, but it's sort of inferred by him stopping that one guy at the end from joining by taking away the SG business card, and his final phone call to the number right before he was about to board the pain.
I don't gamble at all but the impulsivity, repeating things that I know are bad for me, short term gain, etc... I do all those things. Damn dude.
Okay so after watching this whole video basically I relate to Gihun's behaviour and I have Ali's personality... epic
Hey man, you’re not alone. I’m a depressed ADHD med student, so I can absolutely relate. (I also gamble on sports, overeat, play video games like an addict, and vape.)
What’s helped me more than anything is therapy. EMDR helped me figure out just how much my past shapes my thought processes. I highly recommend it.
Wow thank you, I guess I once had a girlfriend that had undiagnsed BPD. At the start of the relationship I tried to break it up and she called me at 3Am saying theres blood everywhere. She cut a wrist. Being with her was like being swept up by a tornado, it was both my best and worst relationship by far.
Amazing analysis! Thanks for the video, very in depth!
Excellent video, love it!
I’m trying to overcome my built in anxiety when meeting strangers. I notice I automatically start to sweat when talking to someone. I’m also struggling with my own mental disorder (adhd) and this makes it harder for me. Any advice? I’m not scared of new people but I’m not easy to open up to so nor am I used to it so my body acts on its own
I was at the same place as you before. You have to be aware that porn and masterbation induces ADHD. The thing that helped my social anxiety was meditation (also being aware of my anxiety when it kicks in and not judging it, just observing), and quitting porn and masterbation (gave me confidence and stopped my brain fog), and exercise (it helps with ADHD. Porn ruins lives, it also builds anxiety in my experience.
Use deodorant and keep talking to people until it feels natural.
@@bikboi3292 This doesn't sound like it has anything to do with porn? Sounds like you're just spouting anti-porn bs.
@@speedfastman it's not my word, it's from Dr. Trish Leigh. She has a youtube channel if you want to check it out, but all she said about porn checks out from what Ive personally experienced, I found it hard to believe aswell atfirst since I don't believe all the crap in the internet. I was a porn addict, it made my life hell, having someone that tells me exactly what Ive experienced is exactly what porn does to the brain is very weight lifting.
1. Be aware of your body when it reacts and let it feel what it feels.
2. Don't beat yourself up for feeling the way you are feeling.
3. "Sit" with your feelings.
4. Don't try and suppress your reactions. The harder you push them down, the stronger they fight back.
5. ???
6. Profit.
(not flaming) listening to Dr. K pronounce "Sangwoo" reminds me of ProZD's clip 😂😂😂
The English word “sang” and the number “one” now put it together “sAnGe-WiN!?!?” 😂😂
omg Yes DBT is amazing. Im diagnosed with BPD and C-PTSD and The dialectical behavior therapy helped me so much.
And thanks for the disclaimer, that not all BPD people are this extreme.
Amazing content. Not sure why it showed up on my TL but glad it did.
I think I learned my friend fits on the Border Personality Disorder that he described (the extreme case), fits like a glove, I was shocked as I was listening as he was describing him perfectly. I am no psychologist so I don’t know this stuff.
I also agree that inequality is a complex issue.
As someone with BPD the one thing that always seems to be understated or not mentioned at all is the brutally intense negative emotions we feel and the near inability to self soothe said emotions. Those attempts to "manipulate" people is out of a desperate attempt to not be abandoned and it is the only methods in which we know work ( therapy, cbt and medication greatly helps with these symptoms). And the threats of suicide are often done to completion, as BPD has one of the highest suicide rates.
I love analyzing films and characters, please do more! 😀
Sae-Byeok burning the guy wasn't due to unstableness, she was being taken advantage of and she knew he was bull***ting. When he asked for more money to take more advantage of her, the burning with the coffee was a distraction so she could pickpocket him AND get him to give her real information without bull***t.
I am really curious if a second season will be coming.
I think Gi-Hun's plan is to stop them.
But at the same time, he got baited into betting on a human being as well - so even if he "won" the bet, he still kinda lost because he was baited into it in the first place. Not that I expect him to turn into a new front man or anything, but this series is pretty smart I think, so I am really looking forward how they go on.
I like most characters because they seem to be relateable to some part. Meaning: they feel like actual human beings. And act like alot of humans might act in those situations.
This is great, love to these someone talking about this show that actually knows what they are talking about, instead of just some random movie review channel farming views.
@@nomad_89 Wow dude, take it down a notch. I'm not even talking about capitalism, I'm talking about character study, human behavior, psychological complexes and such. It's rare to find a movie reviewer (which is obviously not Dr. K's case) that can go deep down into a character's psychological profile, with actual real life examples and knowledge to pull from. Just a thought, no need for toxic comments.
@@nomad_89 seek help and stop coming here. you dont even know how redundant your comment is.
@@steverogers6572 lol call the comment police
@@nomad_89 Yes, I criticized other creators (I'm talking about the clickbaity ones, in case you haven't figured that out yet) for jumping onto the hype train and delivering very shallow takes on tv shows and movies that have much more to offer. This has nothing to do with whether Dr. K cares about views or not. I'm not belittleling, I criticizing the lack of quality a lot of channels have, which is pretty apparent everytime some hype like this happens. You're making this about me, instead of about the content itself.
@@nomad_89 thats ironic coming from you fascist
In Squid Game episode 6, I don't think you need to have an addiction issue to do what Gi-Hun in order to survive. It's about life or death, and the old man was already losing his marbles (pun intended). Thoughts?
Yeah G-Hun is very complex character and to reduce him to just an addict is not fair. G-hun was not always gambler or deadbeat dad. He had a stable job were he worked for more than a decade. Not only did he lose that job but he lost someone that was close to him, that had his head bashed right in front of him G-hun. He turned into gambling as way to maximize whatever money he had at any given moment. Of course that turned into somewhat addiction, however he clearly overcame those feelings after winning because he didn't touch his price money over a year and spent that whole year in grief and depression. At the end he went back to the game to infiltrate and revenge the good friends be made in that place. Well, that was my understanding anyway.
Agreed
We have DID and are in a two year relationship, lving together and engaged with another system/person with DID. It´s working out really great so far!
But we definitely also had very unhealthy relationships with fellow traumatized peeps before. I think the core difference is that we´re both / all very actively working on our trauma patterns. We never had a partner who was as dedicated to healing before.
You know the acting is good when a Harvard Psychologist uses them like real world examples
Can this guy just go ahead and run for President. You got my vote brother, love your insight and general view on life!
I love to hear what Dr. K thinks of the show Mindhunter
Is it possible to have Borderline Personality Disorder but sort of "sedate" it via conscientiousness and self reflection? When I was struggling with heroin addiction, my therapist thought I was "borderline" BPD lol. I kind of dismissed it at the time because I assumed most of my darker feelings were primarily rooted in my addiction. Having now been sober for 5+ years and hearing Dr. K's description of the mood fluctuations, fear of abandonment, etc. is making me re-evaluate. I have described it to my therapist as feeling that my self esteem and identity is determined extrinsically rather than intrinsically, which concerns me, but she dismissed it as normal behavior. I would never try to hold someone emotionally hostage or purposfully attempt to manipulate someone into feeling a certain way about me, but I think I do that consciously and I'm not sure if others need to hold themselves back from that or does it come more naturally to a "normal" person? Idk Dr. K is making me feel some things lol
If you cycle through extreme emotions in a matter of minutes and have a hard time identifying feelings and have outbursts despite best efforts of conscientiousness then it may be an avenue to explore but BPD has a stigma and most don’t try to diagnose it as it’s believed to be incurable. I was pseudo diagnosed with BPD by my therapist and proceeded with Cognitive Behavior Therapy. It was incredibly effective for me. Since CBT isn’t drug based you may propose it to your therapist and see if they believe it could assist you.
@@UnDefinedLegacy Thanks for your reply! I do cycle through emotions rather quickly in MY opinion, but is there some objective metric to gauge how much is considered "regular" and how much is abnormal? For instance, I wake up in the morning and feel crappy, I don't have drive or direction, look like shit etc. and then my day gets moving and I feel more purposeful, happy, and can almost verge on a bit narcissistic at times. But by the end of the day I generally feel more depressed and lonely, inadequate, etc. Repeat ad nauseum. I'm so disconnected from my feelings that I'm not even sure if these are considered emotions? Or just like general moods that other people shift through on a daily basis as well. I definitely do not have outbursts, though. From an outside perspective, everyone thinks I'm well adjusted, which causes me issues when talking to doctors or therapists as they tend to just handwave this stuff as "normal" and think I'm doing fine. Maybe I'm just neurotic and moody and it truly isn't a disorder, I dunno lol.
And I have done some CBT myself with a prior therapist with whom I got along much better, but he has since moved to a different state and I haven't found anyone I could connect with nearly as well yet. I'm glad you found something that works for you, though!
In the depths of addiction sometimes these traits can become more prominent. Important to remember people are just trying to get their needs met and can have varying degrees of Borderline traits which in my opinion is an attachment/trauma issue. I would say try not to worry about labels too much. Keep getting help and keep doing tho work to form your identity, work on healthy boundaries, and establish healthy social skills/relationships.
Extremely informative, and great lecture afterward
Hi everybody I don't really have time to figure out how to get close to Dr. K to ask the question but I'd really like to watch him speak on "Talking to yourself whenever you are physically alone in a space."
You can try asking on the Healthy Gamer subreddit, he does a few streams where he answers reddit questions if they get popular or are interesting enough. I think it's a unique enough question to make it on.
@@SirFakeyMcfakealot Thanks for the compliment and the advice, honestly. Might do that
"Seek the true meaning of happiness through introspection, meditation and exploration as opposed to create a game where people have to kill each other to survive" -- Dr. K
Truly Buddhist monk meets Harvard levels of insight right here.
In all seriousness this was a super fascinating video and I learned a lot. Thanks Dr. K!
Lezz goooo I needed a video like this rn
I know you’ve done a BPD video already explaining what it was a year ago, but I would really be interested in a stream meeting with someone with BPD or interviewing or talking with them. I’m a 21 year old female who just recently within the last year and half been diagnosed with BPD and have been trying my best to educate myself; but I would love to see what it looks like from a third person what it’s like to talk with a person with BPD. It’s hard for me to empathize sometimes and see what my interactions may look like to other people. There’s also been an increase on social media (TikTok) about BPD and I’m afraid that there is a large stigma and undermining the diagnosis.
Thanks! Love the video
Good luck with everything Taby! I was diagnosee with BPD first time 4 years ago and I received in different country the same diagnosis 2 years later. I finished therapy 1,5 months ago and I live now very happy and fullfilling life. I was declared not suffering from personality disorder anymore ☺️
@@kristamariau thank you! I it has been encouraging to know that one day when and if I keep working hard that I’ll also go into remission and hopefully not show any or as many symptoms !
That’s so amazing congrats to you too ❤️
Yeahhh... I understand this video was for the purpose of exploring different kinds of mental illness, but Gi-hun representing just addiction is reductive at best and erroneous at worst (especially in the context of the ending when he decides he wants to stop the Games). He's also a good representative for PTSD considering his flashbacks to the strike where he was fired from his old job and people died. It's possible that addiction arose from the emptiness from that trauma and the just repeated 'L's thereafter.
Dr.k and other mental professionals have said that just because someone had a traumatic event, doesn't maen they have ptsd. For some reason people on the internet love to say that traumatic experience= ptsd which can be wrong.
Sure dude, you understood the character way better than a Harvard-trained mental heatlh professional
@@BreakstarYT I guess I must be imagining the time Gi-hun blew up on his ex-wife that a man was killed in front of him at the strike/protest, or that nasty flashback he had when the contestants were building the bunk-bed barricades.
But by all means, please feel free to defer to credentials and accolades without actually having an analysis of your own. All respect to Dr.K, his breakdown of Gi-hun seems to be ignoring important characterization in the story and I'd like to agree to disagree about it.
@@paulogaspar8295I'm just a bit surprised that Dr.K is ignoring certain points of Gi-Hun's characterization and misinterpreting his choice at the end of Season 1. If he mentioned these as part of his attempt to profile him, I wouldn't be as bothered.
@@paulogaspar8295 he clearly is depicted as having some form of PTSD from his time as a factory worker
that was very interesting, thanks
It's so funny how Dr K talks about two people not caring about forming connections feeling connected to eachother, when my favorite two characters are Ji Yeoung and Sae-Byeok
Opening up is something I’m doing more of now. I sadly have negative experiences in the past and that I realize now caused me to put up a mask. I joke constantly because that’s how I know to communicate. If I show my real self I will be called “lame” or “virgin” etc and that caused me to put up walls. Learning to communicate is my goal.
one thing that really stuck out to me about Gihun in the first episode was that the guy really loves the thrill of winning. That might be what makes him a loser most of all.
Ali reminds me a lot of my parents, they would always let themselves get spat on, used, and overworked my whole life, which is ironic considering I have the opposite approach to life and especially jobs, my parents would rather work for free to keep their jobs than like quit and find something else, meanwhile i’ll happily get as much as I can from somewhere I work at and do things for myself no matter if it inconveniences my work or not
great video Dr. K! Honestly the best part of squid game was the different personality traits of the players :)
I don't understand how I relate to most every part of this video. well done
the sae-byeok and ji yeoung part really hits home, i didn't really look at them in that way when watching
1:18:00 The ending of this video warmed my humanist and rationalist heart.
This is really cool. I love to see Dr. K branching out and trying new things like this!
Beautiful video dr k
Dam I’m so excited for healthy gamer to analyze the show
I have no experience on the field but your analysis made me rewatch the show.
I think you misdiagnosed Sang-woo. I truly don't think he is a sociopath, instead I feel like he might be depressed and willing to anything to make things right. He is at a point of no return and this is his only way of making things right for himself and her mom. Would love to hear your professional opinion on this considering I have no education when it comes to psychology.
I would like to take a minute to thank Dr. K's parents, even though his father cannot hear this anymore
It would be really cool if he’d do other shows, there are so many great and complex characters out there and people love in-depth character studies
Gi-hun clearly has PTSD as well from his strike at the factory that he relived during the barricade.
23:45 hurts in a good way, I am not alone in feeling like this.
To people who haven't felt this, it hurts so bad to feel like you're inherently less than other people. To feel like your emotions are either non existent or so extreme that they seem like a caricature.
I think Gi-Hun has PTSD from seeing his friend shot to death by police for peacefully protesting a layoff without compensation for 10+ years of service employees. I think he primarily has PTSD from living in extremely unfair economic conditions for decades. His gambling is a cover to help him deal with it on a daily basis.
Yeah I feel like he's just ignored that tbh. It's bizarre he's being typed as just a degenerate gambler constantly thrill seeking from beginning to end. It completely ignores his character development or the very obvious flashback he has when the players use their bunks as a barricade followed by the explanation moments later, or that the man watched people he had grown attached to being murdered followed by his friend's suicide and finding his mother's dead body. I'm not denying the fact that he's implusive or flawed, but he's one of the more complex characters on the show. He makes poor decisions, but he also tries to do what he believes is morally right several times, even at his own expense i.e missing his daughter's birth to protest injustice for all the people he worked with, pairing up with Il-nam to spare his life knowing that it'll put Gi-hun at at disadvantage and deciding not to board the plane so he can try to save other people's lives.
I really relate to his experiences of trauma exacerbating his addiction whilst he tries to maintain his humanity, so seeing him being constantly reduced to just a gambling addict looking for his next fix is disappointing to see.
My ex is 100% light BPD + abandonment issues. I thought so before we split after taking a very crash coursey psych class for police academy, and I am more convinced that she actually is. I think she was on the upswing though on figuring out how to be aware of and manage it, had a really awful relationship after me (which for better or worse mirrored her behavior in past relationships, which I think was very eye opening for her), and I think and hope now she's doing much better. Lost contact at some point along the way.
Undersung profession for some amount of sociopathy: Online Moderator.
I've managed moderator teams for years and I can always tell when the 'too good' ones are in the interviews and I try to be VERY clear what they'll see. The couple that heard about that side and actually opted out are the people that I have the most respect for.
Other managers, I notice, don't seem to really screen in this way. :\ And have the turnover to show it.
As far as myself, I see some traits in myself but never to the point where it would be a threat to anyone or anything. But I also know my childhood set me up to be a little less affective than most, so might as well cash in on those gifts. Maybe someday (soon?) moderators will get the hazard pay they deserve.
My sense is that Sang Woo does care about others, but is compelled to sacrifice if the gamble is worth it. He is distant, yes, but he second guessed himself with telling Gi Hun in honeycomb, he felt terrible at what he did to Ali, and he killed Sae because he feared because it would cost him the game. In a way, his actions are completely driven by the addiction and he feels the weight of what he's done, but still can't stop. Gi Hun is the antithesis, he has a somewhat clear breaking point, even where he was willing to stop at the end.
There are a good number of scenes where he is being kind, him giving money to Ali, him warning Ali with the hand.
I don't say this to excuse his behaviour, certainly most everything he did was bad, but more to say he is pained but what he feels he has to do, whereas Jang is delighted with it.
Hey Dr. K! Could you please upload this to Spotify? Would love to listen to this on my daily commute!