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Daily Dose of Sunshine: Episode 1 (First Impressions)
by Unit
With bright scrubs, vibrant hospital walls and surroundings, and a cheerful central character, Daily Dose of Sunshine is here! But make no mistake: the subject we’re dealing with here is quite heavy. Through a series of stories, we follow a psychiatric nurse as she navigates the world of mental health, and what it entails for patients, their families, the staff handling these cases, and society in general.
EPISODE 1
The drama opens with our heroine, JUNG DA-EUN (Park Bo-young), charting into unfamiliar territory on her first day as a nurse in the psychiatric ward of her hospital. And as we’ll come to learn, Da-eun made the switch to psych after the head nurse at her previous department (internal medicine) convinced her that she’ll be a better fit in psychiatry.
While the switch might have been involuntary, Da-eun is willing to put her best foot forward and learn all that there is to know about her new department. And just like Da-eun, we also pick up a few tidbits about the psychiatric ward along the way. For instance, when the head nurse SONG HYO-JIN (Lee Jung-eun) gives Da-eun a brief tour of the psych ward, she mentions how the ward was designed with the safety of suicidal patients in mind — with built-in shower heads, no knobs or locks on the doors, no curtains, etc.
And it’s not just the ward; there are rules for the staff themselves. The use of silicone pens and ID clips rather than straps, no earrings, no footwear with laces, no carrying of scissors, and a general avoidance of the use of things that patients can self-harm with.
Da-eun might be inexperienced as a psych nurse, but ready or not, it’s time to receive patients. The patient of the hour is RI-NA, who insists that she is fine despite her mom’s decision to place her under protective admission. Two guardian signatures are required to apply for protective admission, but Mom is reluctant to inform Ri-na’s husband of the situation on ground. Why? Ri-na is convinced that she’s in love with someone else. But in reality, she has been stalking the other guy up till the point of a restraining order being filed against her.
Ri-na is diagnosed with bipolar personality disorder — with symptoms including: a sudden overflow of energy, a personality switch, unusual sexual behaviors, obsession, among others. Ri-na goes from manic episodes to a depressive state, and as we go on, we see that Ri-na cracked under pressure from Mom to live the perfect life that had been laid out for her.
Da-eun wonders how a person like Ri-na could be sick despite being born with a silver spoon — a seemingly common misconception about mental health patients. But as one of the doctors tells her, mental disorders are not forged out of deprivation; neither are they prevented by abundance. We are all human, and any of us could find our minds in a weakened mental state.
Ri-na doesn’t believe that her hospitalization will change anything. But after a conversation with Da-eun and nurse Song, she learns that it’s not too late for things to change for her. The nurses are there to support her, and it’s all up to her to choose what to do with their support. This conversation gives Ri-na the push she needs to finally stand up for herself to her mom.
In a tearful confrontation with Mom, Ri-na explains that she never had a chance to be herself. From what to eat, down to the husband she married, she went along with Mom’s choices because she felt like she owed her for all the privileges she had. Mom said going along with everything meant that she’d be happy. “So, Mom… why do I hurt so much?” Ri-na asks. At 43, Ri-na has no control over her life. And sadly, the happiest memory she can think of was taking off her clothes and dancing during one of her maniac episodes. When everyone around looked at her like she was crazy, that was the first time she could properly breathe. “I am not happy when I am with you,” Ri-na concludes.
Da-eun can empathize with Ri-na’s situation because she also has a version of an overbearing mom at home. While both moms hover over their daughters’ lives seemingly out of love, a domineering expression of love can become stifling real fast. In Da-eun’s experience, she and her mom get along best when her mom supports her no matter what she does. And drawing from this experience, Da-eun cautiously advises Ri-na’s mom to support whatever it is that Ri-na wants to do. In the end, Ri-na’s mom takes baby steps to relinquish her control over Ri-na’s life, and the mother-daughter duo can finally get started on the path to healing.
With Ri-na’s case, Da-eun learns that people tend to affect each other in various ways. And sometimes, “the stone we cast to change ourselves can start a ripple that doesn’t stop at us but goes on to reach those around us as well.” Through this lesson, the bubbly Da-eun finally finds her purpose in psych. She decides that she’s going to be that stone to change others from now on.
In a case of “doctors can be patients, too,” DONG GO-YOON (Yeon Woo-jin), a doctor in the colorectal unit of the hospital, suffers from an OCD that manifests in the constant cracking of his knuckles. Go-yoon’s OCD is kinda played up for laughs, and at some point, his psychiatrist lies about volunteering for doctors without borders to escape his persistent visits — only for said psych doctor to end up as Go-yoon’s patient at colorectal. Lol.
When Da-eun brings one of her patients up to the colorectal ward for an examination, Go-yoon is fascinated by the smooth and quick-thinking way she handles the patient. As he watches her, he realizes that he hasn’t cracked his knuckles throughout the duration of her interaction with the patient. And it looks like Da-eun’s wind of change is not limited to her patients alone.
As Da-eun slowly finds her footing in the psych ward, she gets a reality check courtesy of her former head nurse. Da-eun overhears a conversation between the head nurse and nurse Song, where she’s referred to as a “burden.” According to her former head nurse, being a good nurse means more than just having a good heart. And while Da-eun is overly sweet, she’s a nuisance to the other nurses as they often have to pick up her slack. Ouch!
“The smallest of ripples is enough to cover us in cuts and bruises. That’s how weak we really are,” Da-eun thinks to herself, as it becomes clear to her that the head nurse’s recommendation to switch to psych was just an act to get rid of her. It is on this note that the premiere episode of the drama draws to a close.
From the synopsis, Daily Dose of Sunshine aims to address various facets of mental health, and based on the first hour, it seems to be on the right track. The drama is doing a good job at being informative and empathetic towards the plight of the patients — without making them appear totally helpless and pitiful.
The drama highlights the stigma attached to people who seek out psychiatric assistance, and sets out to correct misconceptions, and break biases and the stereotypes surrounding mental illnesses. It’s also an eye-opener as to how certain factors — like family background, pressure, and the like — can contribute to the breakdown of a person’s mental health. I’m all for positive conversations and heightened awareness about the subject of mental health, but I’m aware that it is a sensitive topic. As a non-professional in the field, I can’t tell if the drama is a hundred percent accurate in its portrayal of these mental health issues, but I think this is a good start.
While all the episodes are out already, the drama might be a lot to take in all at once. And if you’re like me, it might be helpful to watch this in small doses. To wrap up, here’s a message of hope from nurse Song.
“No one is born as a patient, and no one stays a patient until the end. The darkest nights make way for sunlight. The light will shine on you.”
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