Seoul - Post Report Question and Answers
Are there any particular mental health issues that tend to crop up at post, such as Seasonal Affective Disorder (winter blues)?
Yes. I mean, I was there during COVID so mental health became a much bigger issues. Like I said, it was fairly easy to ask to see a psychiatrist, on the medication side of things, but services like talk therapy or finding sympathy from people is much more rare. I used an online therapist during that time and paid out of pocket and that wasn't cheap or covered by insurance. I predict therapy will eventually become a big industry in Korea someday... - Jan 2026
The base situation, in my opinion, is a downward force on morale, there's no getting around that, so I'd say that's the biggest mental health challenge here. I feel that singles and anyone who doesn't speak Korean can feel very isolated, even within the embassy community which has a high percentage of Korean-Americans and officers married to Koreans. - Nov 2021
In my opinion: BaseLifeSucks Syndrome, especially among single people. - Feb 2020
