[ SECRET POST #4262 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4261 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #610.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

06. https://i.imgur.com/w5Ad3HJ.png

[(Anonymous)]

"inflicted" seems like a reallllly weird word choice when we're talking about fictional characters. I get where you're coming from somewhat, but I don't think there's anything wrong if a fan notices something that they relate to in a fictional character, and then takes that interpretation and runs with it. And a lot of mental disorders are probably underdiagnosed - it's not out of the question that someone could have a mental health issue even if it's not explicitly named as such in the fiction.

People go too far sometimes I guess but I just don't see the problem. Especially when we're talking about fictional characters.

[(Anonymous)]

I can see what you mean with this.

I mean, I'll be honest - my fandoms are so small, I haven't really encountered this trend - but it seems to have become very trendy IRL to all of a sudden 'develop' one of these conditions and, quite frankly, I think it's offensive to those who really do suffer. Mental difficulties are horrible things to live with - it's not that those people are 'chosen' or 'special' - they're flawed but mostly beautiful people and like everyone else - but everyone has this obsession with being bloody 'special' these days, and this seems to have extended to fic.

It annoys me too. I agree.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know how much it's actually "trendy", though. I think the reason more people talk about having mental illness is because there's much more awareness and much better diagnosis. At least, I think that's the *biggest* reason, it's probably not true in every single case, but

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed on all points.

I would also add that this trend would be more tolerable if a larger (meaning, more than a tiny) percentage of authors did more than just a cursory skim of a wikipedia article for "research," and actually put some thought into how whatever they want to portray would manifest in a character's life.

[(Anonymous)]

I SHARE YOUR PET PEEVE SO HARD. I WILL BACKBUTTON EVEN IF I'M 20 CHAPTERS INTO A 21 CHAPTER FIC. IT'S NOT CUTE. MAKE IT STOP.

[feotakahari]

This secret is phrased as if mental disorders are some kind of moral failing.

[dani_phantasma]

Yeah I got that vibe from it too. It also reminds me of the people who act as if mental illness is so terrible anyone who has it must have a shit life not worth living.

I have issues with my autism,ocd,adhd AND bipolar.(all diagnosed as of recently) Plenty. But I would still resent implications that my life must be awful, and pitiful because I have them.

[(Anonymous)]

I have a couple of mental disorders myself and I agree completely. It's one thing if the character shows signs of having a mental illness/disorder in canon, especially if the canon setting is one where that sort of thing wouldn't necessarily be picked up on or diagnosed - for instance, there's a character in one of my canons who shows unmistakable symptoms of PTSD after experiencing a trauma (flashbacks, exaggerated startle responses, emotional numbing/lability), but the character never goes to see a therapist to get diagnosed or anything because canon circumstances make that impossible. In that case it's very clear that the canon's creators intended to signal that this character is suffering from PTSD even if it's never stated outright in the canon.

But a lot of people seem to go "this character did X thing once, so they must have Y mental disorder!" even if there's nothing else in canon to indicate that's the case and that bugs me a lot because it feels... fetishistic, almost? Like I'm all for wanting more representation and all, but I want more actual canon representation, not people self-inserting things onto characters that aren't really meant to be there in canon.

[(Anonymous)]

People never unintentionally voice a thought? Ever? Well, I guess I'm fucked.

[(Anonymous)]

I do the opposite a lot. I think that I've said something and I say something else related to it and then the person I'm talking to had no idea what I'm on about.

[(Anonymous)]

Guess I'm fucked too. I sometimes say what I mean to only think in my head.

[(Anonymous)]

everyone better stop shipping all those non-canon m/m ships then because those dudes are 100% straight and would never want to bang their male friends.

or maybe people can have fun in fandom? a novel idea.

and i don't even care for some of the mental illness fic i see sometimes but i just back-click out if it's not working for me.

[(Anonymous)]

honestly, right?

[(Anonymous)]

I think within reason that people should be able to do what they want with fic. But for me it's more the RL trend of making mental illness some kind of cool status symbol that worries me and seeing it in fic is a bit of an eyeroll.

[erinptah]

not OP, but I assumed they were talking about the kind of people who go "I have decided this character has this condition, not based on any canon tendencies, but if you disagree you're denying me representation."

Which does have its equivalent in shipping -- "I have decided that these characters are queer representation, not based on any canon tendencies, but if you disagree you're a homophobe." And that's not exactly great either.

(If OP is talking about any kind of "how canon would change if character X has condition Y" fic, though, then I'm with you, that stuff is fine.)

[nightscale]

Unless people are forcing others to agree with them(and getting nasty about it) I don't see the harm? It's just people playing with an idea, and yeah sometimes they aren't written with as much care as they could but tbh I see that shit all the time in mainstream media, and that reaches far more people.

And arguably could be the reason why the fan-writing of certain MI's can be completely off.

An estimated 26% of American adults suffer from a diagnosabl

[(Anonymous)]

According Johns Hopkins. That's 1 in 4 and that doesn't even take teenagers in account.

And no, occasionally talking aloud without realizing it right away is not a mental disorder, it is more than likely to do with being distracted. Some people talk to themselves when alone, which can help them process things in a slightly different way, and that can spill over pretty easily. If you've never talked to yourself, I'd be surprised.

All that aside, I'm all for people exploring mental health issues and not stigmatizing it. If I don't want to read it, I can scroll.

^^An estimated 26% of American adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

[(Anonymous)]

That's what it was supposed to say, but got cut off

[(Anonymous)]

In theory I think it's fine (and even beneficial) for people to write characters as having mental illnesses. It can be therapeutic for the writer and reader.

In practice, it usually ends up being at least borderline offensive.

[digitalghosts]

OP, speaking to yourself on accident as you are distracted is fairly common. I know plenty who do that and are immediately confused when asked about something they said, then often cannot recall what or why. I am probably the only one I know who doesn't and has extensive list of buggered brain things.

[(Anonymous)]

Yoooo fuck that attitude.

I'm a multiply-disabled writer. In both fanfic and my original work, I write about characters who are disabled, visibly or invisibly.

Some people might hamhandedly jump in and write about disability/mental illness in a way that shows they don't understand what they're talking about, and might go OOC with it, but most of us are looking at characters and seeing subtle signs that we identify with, and saying 'if this then that'.

You can't 'inflict' mental illness on a fictional character, because they're... fictional. You can write about them dealing with it either well or poorly, but you're not hurting a real person. You're not removing depictions of those characters without mental illness or disability. Hell, plenty of people write canon-disabled characters without their disabilities.

I get pissed off when people portray these things insensitively, but I think it's a good thing that people are feeling free to try and that there's wider acceptance for people to use fanfiction to explore their own experiences with disability, and when you act like this is a stupid trend, and that people shouldn't see X character as disabled, that's an attitude that harms already-marginalized fans who rarely have the kind of visibility in canon that abled people have.

[(Anonymous)]

It doesn't bother me. Sometimes it can be done well, but if it starts to bug me, I just backbutton outta there.

[(Anonymous)]

This is how I feel about trans headcanons.

[(Anonymous)]

yeah cause mental illnesses are always super obvious

fuck you with a train spike, honestly

Do I show signs of being depressed or anxious at work? I do the fuck not, I hide them religiously so I don't get fired for being lazy or crazy. Do I show signs of being depressed around my family? Almost never, because it makes them sad and they don't really know how to help.

Are workplaces of varying drama levels and family situations, like, 90% of all TV situations? WOW LOOK AT THAT

Do people with lots of mental illnesses suffer silently for years, struggling to act "normal", thinking maybe it's just this hard for everyone, because they don't know that it isn't? Yeah, that for sure happens.

Not everyone with mental illnesses IRL is clearly labeled for your convenience. Characters don't need to "show the signs" according to your amateur criterion in canon for a mental illness to be a perfectly reasonable and plausible interpretation.

Like, you can hate the trend if you want to, but your attitude is based on shitty attitudes that are flat out incorrect.