Actress Sa Kang, who lost her husband, was diagnosed with ‘97.7% burnout syndrome’ at a psychological counseling center.

On the 8th episode of the SBS Plus/E Channel jointly produced entertainment show ‘Because I‘m Solo’ on the 17th, Sa Kang will be seen visiting a psychological counseling center for insomnia treatment.

On this day, Sa Kang said, “I used to sleep very well, but I recently developed insomnia” and “I came to the psychological counseling center to get help”. Afterwards, Sa Kang met with a counselor and confessed, “It’s been about 10 months since I‘ve been able to sleep well”, and when the counselor asked, “Can I ask you about the hardships you had back then?”, he replied, “Just let it go”.

MC Shin Dong-yup, who was watching this from the studio, said, “There aren’t many opportunities to meet and talk to an expert. In times like that, you need to talk honestly about everything,” he says, giving her worried advice. Hwang Jung-eum also says, “I used to sleep really well, but I suddenly got insomnia in November last year and it was driving me crazy. Fortunately, these days, I just need to put my head down to sleep,” and livens up the mood.

After a while, the counselor looks at the test results and says, “(Sa-gang) suffers from insomnia and the quality of his sleep is not good. In particular, his ‘suppression index’, which suppresses negative emotions such as depression, pain, and anger, was high. He also diagnoses that he has a ‘burnout syndrome’ at 97.7%, meaning that he is psychologically and physically discharged due to excessive stress or burden.”

Surprised by this, Sa-gang says, “It’s hard, but I thought I was overcoming it well…” and then his eyes turn red as he cannot continue speaking. ‘Solo sister’ Chae-rim advises Sa-gang, “Moms need to be strong. That‘s because we don’t have dads and only have moms,” while also shedding tears with her, moving the studio.

After explaining all of Sa-gang‘s test results, the counselor advises her, “Put your burden down and take some time for yourself.” Sa-gang says, “(After the counseling), I have some homework to do for myself,” and “I’m going to take some time for myself and try out things I like.”

The next day, Sa-gang meets his close friend, actor Oh Man-seok. Sa-gang, who went to see Oh Man-seok for advice ahead of his return to acting, shows him the script for the drama he‘s about to start filming. Oh Man-seok then begins special acting training for Sa-gang.

In the meantime, Sa Kang also mentions the whole story of the 2008 ‘retirement rumor’ that once made a big fuss in the entertainment industry. Sa Kang confesses, “The ‘retirement rumor’ from the entertainment industry’ was unintentionally made into an article in 2008. On the day I was going to the US, reporters at the airport took my picture, and because of a comment I made without thinking, an article about my retirement was even made.”. People are curious about what Sa Kang said to the reporter at the time and the whole story of the ‘retirement rumor’ from 2008.

You can meet Sa Kang’s true feelings that made everyone sad and the tiki-taka best friend chemistry with Oh Man-seok on the 8th episode of the SBS Plus·E Channel jointly produced entertainment show ‘Because I‘m Solo’, which will air on Tuesday the 17th at 8:40 PM.

Jeon Hyo-jin, Donga.com reporter jhj@donga.com