[ SECRET POST #5129 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5129 ⌋

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


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03.
[Kathy Rain]


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05.
[Wonder Egg Priority]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 12 secrets from Secret Submission Post #734.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

06. https://i.imgur.com/ky88VzT.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

Big ouch. I haven't had much personal experience with people in the psychiatric ward, but my feelings are similar, OP.

[(Anonymous)]

Idk

I get where you're coming from. For me I'm able to draw a line between those things. But, the parallel is definitely there to be made.

[tabaqui]

I just really hate that in general. Would anyone *really*, who wasn't already having mental issues, *immediately* leap to that conclusion? It seems so totally weird to me and certainly not the first thing *i* would think.

[(Anonymous)]

Um, if I was seeing and hearing things other people weren't, mental issues would be pretty high on my list of possibilities. Physical illness or injury would also be on my list, yes, but if I thought I was hallucinating something, I would definitely be wondering if it was caused by something like schizophrenia.

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking as someone, who has experienced delusions before, this isn't really how this works. Delusional people can't rationalize their episodes away, because your sense of logical thinking is one of the first things that's gone during an episode. When I saw and heard things other people didn't, I turned to forums and websites about psychics, witches, and mediums, and told myself that of course other people can't see the same things I do - they're not special like I am.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, but healthy people don't know that. So if they do experience apparent delusions, their first thought is mental illness, not magic.

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Okay, but, in this case, they wouldn't actually be delusions, so I don't see why I wouldn't approach it logically. I was replying to tabaqui's question: Would anyone *really*, who wasn't already having mental issues, *immediately* leap to that conclusion? And, yes, I, never having experienced a delusional episode or hallucination or anything like it, would think that mental health issues were a possible cause. And you, having experience, might immediately recognize that whatever was going on wasn't delusions.

I have to say that unless superpowers were known in the universe I was in, they probably wouldn't be on my list. Psychic or medium or something might make my list, at some point, but not before considering a physical or mental issue.

[(Anonymous)]

da

Delusions and hallucinations aren't the same thing, though the former often include the latter. Someone who is experiencing hallucinations without a delusional component may well be able to recognize them as hallucinations, because their issue has to do with sensory processing and/or false sensory input, not with logical reasoning. It wouldn't be at all surprising for them to assume mental illness, or even to jump immediately to schizophrenia given media saturation.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

My thoughts exactly. Like if you're in Asch's conformity experiment and think the plants know better than you do. I'd rationalize it to myself as mental issues too.

[tabaqui]

Unless there was a history of that in my family, I really would not.
*shrug*

[(Anonymous)]

There’s a fic I like that features the main character sort of gradually turning into a dragon (I think it’s executed better than that probably sounds). But I particularly liked that he seriously and calmly entertains the idea that he might be delusional and/or schizophrenic (b/c of hearing a sort of “dragon voice” in his head). I know those conditions aren’t an easy thing to live with, but I liked that the fic avoided a kind of us/them <=> sane/crazy dichotomy.

[(Anonymous)]

I’ve been institutionalized before myself (like, was stuck at residential for months) and honestly feel the same, LOL. Or, I don’t know exactly why it bothers you, but I don’t like that line either. It always comes across kind of weirdly.

My favorite rare trope is when a character is both mentally ill and has magical powers, though it really is rare to see that handled well.

[(Anonymous)]

Try Daredevil, maybe? He has enhanced senses apart from sight because he loses that in an accident at the same time he gains the other powers. When he wakes up in hospital and things are loud and scary he's upset and traumatised, but he gets past it and doesn't think he's crazy at any point (in the comics, the Ben Affleck movie or the Netflix series).

[(Anonymous)]

Ironically, Matt also has genuine hallucinations

[(Anonymous)]

The book "17 and Gone" by Nova Ren Suma has a subversion of this that might interest you.

It doesn't become apparent until the end that it's a subversion, so hopefully I didn't spoil too much just by mentioning it, but I did because it would be easy to read most of the book and ask "Where's the subversion?!" if you went in expecting one.

[meadowphoenix]

for me, it's because mental illness is usually defined by negative impact on life, and so if someone's powers are having that kind of negative impact...it doesn't make sense to be relieved that the source is mildly different (if it is. a lot of time the powers are from the same occurrences that trigger mental illness, like physical or mental trauma or genetics). life if i'm seeing ghosts, and it's negatively impacting my life enough that I think something's wrong, I'm not going to be thrilled I am actually just seeing ghosts. it's still negatively impacting my life. obviously there's a difference, but it's not necessarily a helpful one.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, but the difference (in most people's minds, whether rightly or wrongly) is that superpowers/magic, when explained contextually, has clear parameters, whereas our idea of mental illness is that it can be unpredictable and really keep getting worse until you lose your sense of self. So it's believable that someone with no mental illness would be relieved it's [supernatural plot device], not mental illness.

[meadowphoenix]

I agree that there's a doyalist convention, but I don't think the text actually always or mostly supports the idea that there are parameters with the powers, and in fact the relevant powers sometimes explicitly are an allegory for mental illness (this is not helped by the common implication that drugs can impede powers for obvious reasons). I also think that both mental illness or physical illnesses are often the impetus for hallucinatory issues, and it's far less likely for this to the relief to be directed at physical illness (like a brain tumor or cancer) than mental illness which is often controllable too. So it might be believable, but it's ableist, which is exacerbated when it comes to super powers.