CRUSADECORE Orisquirrelking hope you guys don’t mind the ping! I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences with psychiatric wards if you don’t mind, just any details you feel comfortable sharing. I’ve done a bit of research but haven’t gotten super far yet so anything would be super helpful, ty in advance (:
an idea not so subtly stolen from the LGBT discussion thread
Mental illness + disability and the space in between is something I'm interested in as someone with both lol , and outside of various 'share an oc' threads that pop up every so often I thought it'd be neat to have a place to talk about it? Plus I've seen my share of people looking for advice so hey why not.
This is pretty similar to the LGBT thread : share your thoughts about mental illness and/or disabilities in characters or ask for advice, specific or not!
This is not a show me thread ! They got those in char discussion.
For the comfort of others, please either black out (like this, changing both the background AND font) or spoiler sensitive topics like self harm, suicide, and details of trauma.
Only rule here is be civil and don't jump on people's throats...... please.........
While talking about tropes you dislike is fine, vague-posting other users is not
The reason this is posted from my side acc is so I can use blocking as a form of moderation should anything get out of hand.
if you have any problems before i can catch them ping zinnia !
honeydont Sure, would it be okay to send it to you in a DM? Some of it might be too long or upsetting for a public thread comment ^^"
theres him, I think it should be treated with therapy and psychologists instead of pills, obviously it has to be treated as soon as it continues like this, however I only gave him these mental illnesses because I wanted to create a character with some plot
AstroWildcat I think I can give you some advice on how to write Blanche as a character. People with Borderline Personality Disorder are paranoid of being alone or rejected, have tendencies to see themselves as being inferior, and want their relationships to be perfect at all costs. They have lots of paranoid feelings to the point of having suicidal thoughts. They make rash decisions out of desperation from being overwhelmed with feelings of doubt rather than having any malicious intentions. I see that Blanche has an abusive relationship with her husband, which is a sad reality for those who suffer from BPD in the real world as their condition forces them to stay in an unhealthy relationship.
Let me tell you I'm not a super expert in BPD, but I have experience because I think I have several of the symptoms myself, such as having massive self-doubt and being obsessed with my relationships being perfect, I often struggle with the feeling that my friends will forget about me or doubt me. But nonetheless I try as hard as I can to earn my positive relationships rather than force others to be friends with me, and still try to value the relationships I have and make compromises. Perhaps you can write Blanche's characterization in a similar way. Her disorder drives her thinking and leads her to do questionable things, but don't vilify her too much and make it clear that she's mainly motivated by desperation and showcase how her inner thoughts are affecting her. But at the same time, don't let her disorder completely define her character; while she is being abused by her husband and her condition makes her struggle even more, her role shouldn't be limited to just being a victim and you should try to give her a three-dimensional personality which show that she's a person too in spite of her experiences. Hope this helps!
JC1234TheToonist Heya - as someone with severe BPD, I have to applaud you for how you described it all. 🖤 Its very accurate and I appreciate the explanation of icky experiences while also being delicate and considerate :] I genuinely have no critiques! /pos
AstroWildcat I think JC1234 hit a lot of points, and I also wanna mention a few big factors of my own experience with BPD. I’m aggressively shoving chips into my mouth as I type this, so bare with me! xD
The main issues I struggle with are impulsivity depending on your mood, black and white / all-or-nothing style thinking, intense paranoia and delusions, and trust + abandonment issues that make it hard to function in relationships. Also to mention - whenever I’m in an “episode” as I call them, like if I’m feeling very negative, it’s genuinely impossible for me to remember what it’s like to feel happy or positive emotions. All positive moments feel fake or dull compared to the current intense negativity. Likewise, if I’m in a good state of mind, it’s hard to recall major negative emotions and events. It makes it very hard to get help due to the disconnect, and is also why easily triggered mood swings are so scary and dangerous.
The exact “cause” of BPD is unknown, yet a common pattern is repeated abuse from someone you love, parental figures being a good example. That’s where the common fear of abandonment and rejection come into play. Plus just never feeling “good enough” and being so untrusting of people. It definitely can result in some negative behaviors towards oneself or others, which is where the nasty stigmas come into play, but that does NOT define the disorder. A lot of that is a result of folk not getting help and/or being negatively influenced.
I hope this helps! :D Thank you both for being so respectful about it. It means more to me and many others than you know <333
speaking of autism, i think allistic people really should consult with autistic people beforehand as to make sure they're not portraying us in a stereotypical way, say, the autistic genius. most autistic people aren't geniuses and i shouldnt feel like i have to live up to that stereotype. what CAN make us seem geniuses is the fact we have special interests and in turn we have lots of knowledge upon that interest.
i would also like to mention learning disabilities - mostly dyscalculia as thats the only learning disability i have. it gives me the ick when/if people would sum it up to just "math issues" because this affects our whole lives, not just in the classroom.
HUGE pet peeve of mine is that even though characters with mental illness and nuerodivergencies have become more embraced, physically disabled characters are still so continuously left in the dust. Even then, 90% of the disabled characters you see are people who ended up with their disability through some sort of injury or event- which is still very much needed rep- but I feel like people don't realize the VAST world of invisible disabilities that people just have naturally, and even limb differences/ "disfigurements" that people are BORN with. I need to see more ocs with narcolepsy, lupus, fibro, ME/CFS, EDS, Cerebral palsy, epilepsy, FAS, genetically occurring deafness and blindness, down syndrome, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, ANYTHING.
Honestly I don't like the people who try to gatekeep people writing about characters with disabilities/mental illness bc their argument is usually "well most of the time no one does their research and you've also never been in our shoes so you can't possibly depict this accurately."
Like yeah some people do depict that incorrectly and spread stereotypes but you can't say that because a lot of people do then no one is allowed to write about it? Like, I'm not a murderer but I can write one pretty accurately if I do my research. But saying that no one can write about murderers because everyone portrays them as evil souless people is just?? Silly.
It's the whole "write what you know" thing. I don't know where that comes from, because I don't know anyone who can fly around like Superman, but no one gets upset about someone portraying that incorrectly from irl.
Also, the weird patient x doctor thing is just.... ew! From someone who was sexually assaulted by both a patient in a psych ward and a nurse in a hospital setting... the power imbalance from that is not okay and a toxic relationship!! Do not romanticize that please I beg of you.