Over 500,000 copies sold in South Korea
No. 1 Non-Fiction Book on the Korean Public Libraries’ Top Loan List in 2019
Selected as the Book of the Year by nine cities in Korea in 2019
A simple yet solid ‘home-cooked’ psychology from the South Korean affectionate warrior, built with the skills of empathy and vigilance. A perfect book for everyone suffering from chronic ‘I Shortage’ – also translated at self-esteem famine – and conflict in relationships
In this long-standing bestseller, Chung Hye-shin explains that we are suffering from a “self-esteem famine” that has pushed our sense of self to the brink of extinction. In a society obsessed with efficiency and measurable success, our individuality is often overlooked or even maliciously disregarded. As uncertainty within us rises, so do cases of anxiety and depression. A mental health pioneer who is well-known for her coining of the phrase “appropriate psychology”, Hye-shin argues that what we need now is not “a blowhard expert’s version of psychology, but rather an appropriate psychology that can actually change lives.” Inspired by the concept of appropriate technology, which relies on small yet powerful technological innovations to address some of the world’s most fundamental yet pressing problems, appropriate psychology is about the power of simple, genuine connections that can bring about remarkable transformations. She says right from the get-go, “I will not be quoting Freud, Jung, or Adler—these psychoanalysts you see in all the textbooks. I don’t feel the need. I’m going to speak from my experience and tell the stories of the people I’ve met over the years.”