Disclosed is a self-healing apparatus and method of an optical receiver that is capable of avoiding error due to temperature variation in the optical receiver when determining the bit rate. The apparatus includes an optoelectric converting unit for converting an input optical signal into an electrical signal; an amplifying unit for amplifying the electrical signal outputted from the optoelectric converting unit; a bit rate discriminating unit for exclusively OR'ing the electrical signal with a delay signal that is delayed from the amplified receiving signal by a predetermined time, thereby outputting a recognition signal; a clock/data reproducing unit for receiving the electrical signal, and for reproducing clocks and data based on a reference clock; a bit rate signal generating unit for generating the reference clock in response to a bit rate change signal; a temperature sensing unit for outputting a temperature sensing signal that is indicative of the internal temperature of the optical receiver; and, a control unit for determining the bit rate of the receiving signal based on a value selected from temperature-dependent voltage level variation values that are previously stored, on the basis of the voltage level of the recognition signal outputted from the bit rate discriminating unit and the internal temperature of the optical receiver corresponding to the temperature sensing signal, and for outputting the bit rate change signal based on the determined bit rate.