#but yeah! interesting conversation

[notabled-noodle]

Ok so the whole diagnostic system is a hyperfixation of mine, and I usually will take any chance to talk about it, but I also am rather depressed and stressed atm, so we'll see how much energy I got for for this ask.

I think my main concern about how people talk about/use the dsm/icd has to do with a misunderstanding of what the diagnostic systems are, the basis of their design, and their intended use. And when I say people I don't just mean laypeople, I am definitely including psychologists and psychiatrists etc in there, too. As a matter of fact, I find these misconceptions most concerning when coming from supposed experts.

The modern version of diagnostic manuals has a lot to offer and a lot of practical applications, but its primary downside is that people (including doctors) largely tend towards seeing it as reflecting some universal truth about humans, and thereby to elevate the diagnostic categories of mental disorders to "biological fact", when in fact, they are more readily understood as social constructs (potentially based in biological facts, as are some such constructs). Now, there are also a lot of people who have understood this, but who take it "the wrong way".

Since people will say that if diagnostic categories are "social constructs", this means that 1) they can have no biological basis/component, 2) the symptoms of these disorders are potentially made up/induced, 3) the experience of having X disorder is not real, 4) biological intervention for mental disorders don't make sense/can't be effective/real.. etc. People will make these kinds of wrong statements based off the notion that diagnostic categories cannot be thought of as inherent biological/medical categories.

So naturally, a lot of people who push against these wrong and harmful beliefs, will end up seeing the idea of "mental illness as a social construct" as a red flag/dog whistle for someone very likely being ableist. For this reason, a lot of reasonable people, end up pushing the agenda of mental disorders/diagnostics being based in irrefutable inherent medical/biological categories, to push back against these ideas.

Therefore personally I often feel that it's difficult to discuss these things, esp in an online setting, where many people aren't looking for nuance, but for snappy truths and statements, that signals them to be "the good guys" to their respective ingroup.

Bc personally after years of formal and informal study and reflection, I strongly agree that the categories are very much manmade and to an extent self perpetuating, but at the same time, they are not based in nothing, and they reflect very real experiences of human beings, that have their basis in biological, social and psychological factors.

And ofc this has implications for how we use and talk about these categories, but ultimately, it doesn't make them not real. Me being bi is a social construct, but the experiences that lead me to identify with the term "bi" are not. And being "bi" is very much a real thing. Humans exist in social space. And so on. (Inherently bad example, sorry, but my brain is tired).

One of my major pet peeves with how esp psychiatric doctors as a group misunderstand their own field, has to do with their logic surrounding psychiatric drugs.

A common example is related to the "chemical imbalance" theory of mental illness. Let's use adhd as an example. We have found, pretty much through trial and error as usual, that central simulants affect and alleviate some of the symptoms of adhd for a lot of people. A lot of these drugs esp boost dopaminergic action at certain receptors/sites etc. Great. But then a lot of people take it a step further, arguing that adhd is "not enough dopaminergic action at these sites". (Similarly, this notion posits that depression is a lack of serotonergic action, psychosis is too much/dysregulated dopaminergic action etc etc). Now, there can be some merit to these ideas or not - they are a valid hypothesis based in an observation. But for the most part, we're struggling to prove any such relationship.

This doesn't mean that the drugs aren't helping though. But the way I see it, it indicates that the drugs have ~an effect on the brain~ which happens to alleviate some symptoms associated with this or that disorder. In other words, the drugs aren't treating any specific disorder, but a (set of) symptoms.

That's fine!! We also use pain medication across many different disorders, and in that sense, the psychiatric drugs are pretty specialized, able to alleviate different kinds of psychological pain etc.

What I don't like is, that many psychiatrists have deluded themselves into thinking that they are treating the underlying disorder/issue, that certain drugs "belong" to certain diagnoses, and that this means the same symptom in two different people, who has the symptom "because of" different disorders, is inherently different, and should be treated differently on every level.. which can be true.. but that can equally be true in people with the same diagnosis... People with depression are unlikely to all have the same underlying biological, social and psychological factors..

On a personal note, this kind of thinking meant that despite me -in a stroke of luck that would eventually win me the argument- having been diagnosed with adhd before I got my schizophrenia diagnosis, I had to fight for years upon years to be allowed to get central stimulant medication, which I desperately needed to complete university. Because "all the symptoms of adhd can be attributed to schizophrenia, and we don't believe that we should/can treat this group of symptoms in people with schizophrenia + it carries a statistical risk of triggering psychosis".

The latter is true, and ofc one needs to be careful with any amount of mixing and matching of drugs, but the idea that if symptoms of adhd aren't strictly obviously only caused by "adhd itself", they will never respond to stimulant medication, is simply untrue.

Anyways uhhhh I have ranbled enough.. I'm sorry this is not very coherent or comprehensive, ... My brain is not in an organized mood ^^"

I have likely said shit that can be misunderstood in an unfortunate way, so please ask me "wtf do you mean by that", or ask about my specific take on specific or edge cases (like autism etc), rather than extrapolate what I might mean, and get upset..

I am notoriously good at putting my foot in my mouth when I'm trying to communicate, so I really appreciate the benefit of doubt ❤️

Have a nice day!!

I see where you’re coming from for sure. this is a really difficult conversation to have for sure, because it’s way too easy to push too far in one direction or the other. I grew up hearing that mental illnesses weren’t real, and so I tend to push back against that in a very “worship the science” way (I’m trying to get better at seeing the nuance here!)… so if any of my response seems unnuanced or whatever, that’s probably why

but as someone with a lot of mental illnesses, a lot of neurodivergences, and a lot of physical shit, I can see how it gets messy quickly. I can never know fundamentally if my migraines are different from what people experience with a different disorder, but I do know that the recommended treatments are similar. meanwhile, I can also never know if my anxiety is the same as my sister’s, but I can know that treatment that works for her is not at all working for me

I think this balance has to be struck in all social sciences between the generalisation and the individualism.

so. generally, a combo of drugs and ERP is the gold standard treatment for OCD. but if a psychiatrist/psychologist goes into that with a one-size-fits-all approach, it’s not really going to work that well. as time passes, people are starting to figure out that OCD and GAD aren’t actually super different from each other, and so some people with OCD benefit more from the kinds of treatments typically given to someone with generalised anxiety

I can see how it can get really messy though. you’ve got some people who have OCD because of genetics, and some people who have it because of trauma, and that’s going to end up changing the underlying issue. my OCD is probably going to continue being bad until I sort out the trauma part.

I’ve never been a huge believer in medication in general (for myself), because of some of the reasons you talked about. I don’t want to be treating symptoms without looking at the underlying cause. and maybe that’s pig-headed of me, but what can you do

the biggest thing for me is that I think some people have the tendency to ignore the underlying causes and motivations of different disorders when they talk about anti-psych type arguments. two disorders can look like they have similar symptoms, but then come along with completely different internal experiences, and that’s kind of what matters the most

I don’t know! the DSM/ICD are not pieces of scripture. and I think actually universities and other training facilities need to work with mental health professionals on how to look for the causes, rather than just the symptoms (this work is probably already happening, just definitely not at my uni (I’m not taking psych but I have friends who are, and our program is a dumpster fire))

I’m sorry if this makes no sense, it’s starting to get late here… but I just wanted to get these thoughts out because yeah! it’s complicated! and I understand both sides here

(I am interested in autism as an “edge case” actually! you don’t have to answer straight away, but it would be cool to hear your thoughts)

[naarlar]

Okie so hot take: I don’t think Melinoë is as good of a protagonist as Zagreus. And here’s why.

It all comes down to motivation. Why did Zag go through the events of Hades 1? Because he was living in an abusive and volatile household and had to find some way to make things better for not just himself but his house. Otherwise he surely would have lost his mind having to deal with the abuse he got (remember at the beginning of the game basically only Nyx and Achilles were helping him. Everyone else is either neutral towards him or outright hostile). He needed answers, he needed to find out who and what he was by trying to find Persephone. And in the end he succeeded and was able to create a better life for himself and his house. Hell, even his relationship with his dad improved.

Now let’s look at Mel (yes this criticism is only addressing Early Access Hades 2). Why is she going through the events of Hades 2? Because… she’s been groomed since basically birth to kill Chronos. She doesn’t really have any other motivation than because it is what is expected of her essentially. She even says during her confrontation with Chronos, AFTER HE THREATENS TO HURT HER FAMILY, what do I care I barely know them (yeah sure she could just be bluffing to Chronos but that is still a very chilling thing to say when supposedly all of this is to save them and it makes her reunion with Hades lowkey ring hollow or weak). In another scene she even says the same thing to Hecate and says Hecate is more her mother than anyone else. Heck even in the flashback scene with young Mel and Hecate (which was very cute I’ll admit) she says she would want her mother to come back so Hecate isn’t sad. This makes all her motivations to kill Chronos and save the Underworld seem very… disconnected from the main component of the game? Being saving the house of hades and her family??

Like it’s expected of her and she was raised at birth to basically be prepared for this but she doesn’t have any personal reasons for doing any of this than just not letting Hecate and the others in the Crossroads down. Hell when she comes back from killing Chronos for the first time it honestly feels like Hecate is more interested and invested in what happened than Mel herself.

It makes her a really weird protagonist especially when comparing to her brother and how effective he was as a protagonist. Think about it, with Zag we got really in depth and character revealing moments where as the player we understand why he is doing all of this and so it is easy to go along for the ride because we like Zag and want to help him. Mel says she cares a lot about what is going on and wants revenge, but it all feels surface level (and which is understandable she doesn’t know these people, all she can say is “the titan took my family” when let’s be real she sees the people in the crossroads as more of her family). It honestly just seems like because she is expected to kill Chronos since she could think, she feels she has to do all this. It feels weird how she is disconnected from the core point of the game being to save the house of hades when Zag was so integral to that same core point in the first game.

I dunno, just my thoughts, I’m curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Edit: just fyi cause I feel with the comments I’ve been getting from my posts, I like hades 2 I am excited especially for the official release. I recognize my criticism/analysis could be wrong or out of date since the game isn’t finished yet. These are just my initial thoughts.

[newnevermind-sanity]

Actually I think I do want to ramble a little more on the subject.

While I do love making buzzsaw jokes (especially after completing Path of Pain, like, the fuck?) I do also think the layout of the Dream White Palace wasn't intentional. If he did it after that horrible cry came out of the Black Egg temple the first time when Holly was starting to crack, he must've been in a fucking state.

Like imagine you convinced yourself that what you're doing is for the greater good, that this being that you do love (even if you're denying it to yourself) that you thought was emotionless, a blank slate, only does as is told, has no hopes, thoughts, aspirations, merely exists, suddenly with one cry proves you wrong.

Just imagine that horrible realization that you were wrong about them (you always were, you ignored all of the signs they were alive) and you damned them to a fate worse than death. Eternal imprisonment sucks too, but since they're an unfeeling creature, it's fine, right? Nope. Definitely not. It was not fine, even if they were an unfeeling creature, but now it's even worse because the infection is eating at them now.

All of those children left to die in the abyss? That all happened for nothing.

Those dreamers you made to sacrifice themselves to keep people out? They're now the only thing holding the vessel inside of their prison but they sure as hell are not containing the infection. That too was all for naught. Your daughter lost her mother for no reason.

You did this all to save so many people, your entire kingdom of Hallownest. You choked down the guilt of your decisions because it would save the kingdom. Now you find out it was for nothing.

I think anyone would break, and break the King did.

By that point, there was no one left to stop his spiral. The White Lady was gone, most of the knights too, his council, everyone. No one was left to stop him from making extremely irrational decisions, including putting his palace into the dream realm to flee from the infection along with anyone inside. As he runs into his throne, trying to somehow run from the guilt, the grief, the horror, the palace twists. It becomes extremely hard to follow him, almost impossible. He makes it to the throne, the Kingsmoulds loyally guarding the outside...

It's there he breaks. He spirals. He falls into a deep despair.

I personally think the Pale King died of grief, and with that death, left his surviving children the monumental task of cleaning up the mess left behind.

[roseworth]

comic convos with Comic Dudes are crazy bc we are reading these stupid picture books so differently. when we have a “who’s your favorite robin” convo and i say jason or steph and they say “tim because he’s the best one” i know we are looking for completely different things in these books

[nordic-language-love]

Conversation with my supervisor while at a Japanese restaurant the other day

Supervisor: *translating the menu* ...and then this one here is pig hormones Me: ...hormones? Supervisor: Yeah I know, but it's really popular here Me: You mean... pork meat from pigs fed with hormones? Supervisor: No, I mean like, the hormones Me: ... Supervisor: You know. The innards. Intestines and stuff Me: That's not what hormones means in English

[sbrn10]

C3E23

C3E63

C3E76

C3E85

C3E86

C3E89

[rawliverandgoronspice]

genuinely bewildered at how it's just g@merg@te again. like it's just exactly the same strategy, except now it's a cabal of dark and sinister narrative designers instead of "there are women near my games" but it's like the same fucking thing and I'm so tired honestly

[dream-meltic]

[brittlebutch]

finding a character that grates against your nerves and eventually thinking, well, that's not fair, you haven't done anything; why do i dislike you? and then you dwell on this for a while and discover 'oh! you are like me when i was younger' and decide well, i'll simply learn how to love the both of you. power in this.

[arikad0]

I try not to speak about the LTD but it's been insane on Twitter ever since Rebirth came out so I am just gonna. quickly give my thoughts

(REBIRTH SPOILERS BELOW)

Cloud and Tifa almost kiss in Gongaga

Cloud and Tifa eventually kiss and confess to having feelings for each other

Sephiroth constantly gaslights Cloud into thinking Tifa is dead while emphasizing that Jenova can look like someone he loves

Aerith recreates her first date with Zack with Cloud and it doesn't go nearly as well

Cloud tells Aerith he sees her as a friend in the Japanese version (though tbf if you got Aerith for the GS date he doesn't say this, he just agrees to hang out with her again iirc)

HOWEVER, no matter if you got Aerith for the GS date or not, Aerith says she knows where she and Cloud stand and that, while she likes him, there are two different kinds of liking someone. which. yeah definitely shoves their relationship in a more platonic direction

also people comment that the two do not look or act like a couple during that dream date

ship what you want. ABSOLUTELY ship what you want! who cares if you prefer headcanon over canon? but the fact that people are insisting Cloud and Aerith are canon after Rebirth is??? so weird???????

tbf from what I've seen, pretty much everyone who is neutral on the shipping debate and played Rebirth agrees cloti is the canon one. and tbh while I'm kinda surprised they just straight up had Cloud and Tifa kiss each other this soon, I'm not that surprised it happened at all?? the devs have said countless times that one of their main goals with the FF7R trilogy is to leave the story a lot less up to interpretation, so it makes sense they tried to kill the love triangle this early. unfortunately the English translation team still tried to make it a bit more ambiguous, but if you look at Rebirth's script in literally any other language it's very obvious the love triangle is pretty much confirmed over (and honestly I'd argue it's still pretty obviously over in the English version, especially with that kiss)

and honestly. let's face it. that love triangle died way before Rebirth came out. Cloud and Tifa end up confessing to each other in the og game no matter what choices you made and they live together and have a kid in AC. Rebirth is just moving Cloud and Tifa's relationship along a little quicker, which makes sense considering what is gonna happen in part 3

[shivology]

genuinely kendall and rava making the active decision to adopt sophie and then NOT immediately leaving the racism factory is just something else .. even on the I Didn't Think This Through show . like ... consciously dooming a whole human being to a life of being constantly othered and discriminated against because she's surrounded by nazis and white supremacists is CRAZYYYYY

[smugraccoon137]

Also i genuinely enjoyed Wednesday?

Like yeah that first episode was a little rough script wise, but only here and there.

Enid had the most cringe lines poor kid. Thank God they got better and more fleshed out as her character got more screen time. I'm glad she wasn't just a cookie cutter over saturated Feminine character whose only purpose was to contrast Wednesday and oppose her views. Their relationship was one of the highlights of watching the show. That and Wednesdays friendship with Eugene.

By far the worst parts are the influx of romantic interest in Wednesday for absolutely NO REASON. I felt like I was reading someone's first romance novel at the forced, annoying, and confusing scenes involving her and Tyler as well as Xavier.

Like guys worst part of the show. New goth girl shows up and for some reason everyone is infatuated with her. Why? Genuinely?

If i had to argue with myself I'd say in the original movies no matter how little the Addams family went out into public they always seemed to draw the eye. People did seem to always target them or obsess over them in some way or manner.

So that's accurate to an extent. But that's where the accuracy stops. Interest, obsession, curiosity. Enid, Rowan, Bianca. But why the seemingly random romantics? It's out of nowhere and not at all welcomed by our main protagonist. She rejects it at every stage. Xavier is a dick most of the season, because she's rightly logically suspicious of him...

HE HAS A SHED FILLED WITH MONSTER DRAWINGS. OF COURSE THAT'S THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION. AND HE NEVER ONCE DENIES HE'S THE FUCKING MONSTER. HE JUST GETS MAD. THAT'S FUCKING SUSPICIOUSSSSS

And Tyler who actually starts out nice enough, but then becomes more and more entitled to Wednesdays time and space.

Like dude ever heard of no? It's honestly frightening how both of these guys pin her into a situation where she feels like she can't say no. That's the scariest part of this series. The few times Wednesday finds herself trapped is with two annoying young men put her in a position where she has to spend time with them romantically.

Besides that the characters held there own outside of the plot. And I cared about people outside of Wednesday. Eugenes ma boy

The music direction was really good. Everyone loves a cello

They showed me a really interesting perspective on the Addams family. And it was really interesting, because it felt very real in its own way. I think they did a good job interpretting such classic characters in modern lighting.

And most of all I loved the mystery aspects. It wasn't boring and see through like most shows geared towards teen demographics. They gave me plenty of red herrings to play with. And some strings left untied for next season, which I hope they actually play wuth instead of abandoning.

Honestly I'd watch it again and I'm excited for season 2

[unopenablebox]

look. most people on tumblr, like most people everywhere, are just kind of innumerate, at least in slightly unexpected cases theyre asked to discuss on polls. they can't demonstrate an understanding of probability and they also don't understand compound interest. this is bad, but we can't fix it by explaining on the polls at length why they are wrong, because people on tumblr, in a specific manner but also still pretty much like people everywhere, think you are a fun-ruining evil stemlord who automatically loses the argument and should be put to death as the oppressor if you try to explain math to them

[lesbiangiratina]

Testament and axl bonding over their weapons… btw

[cloud-somersault]

idk man, the epilogue is like this really deep...exploration of interpersonal connections and wants and desires interlaced with the complexity of circumstance and consequence and regret and guilt. and I started it as a like "haha, this is what I want! I want two monkeys being gay, haha!"

but it's so. fucking tragic, actually.

just in chapter 1, we see how defeated Macaque is, how lost he is. how he hesitates and flip flops constantly. how he says or thinks something with certainty, but then goes back on that. he tries so hard to commit to one path, but he truly is fluctuating and has no clue what to do

and wukong is just...certain of himself. he's certain of his wants and desires now after Constellations. He wants to maintain connections and put in the effort no matter what. and that..juxtaposition of them...is just so raw and hurtful in chapter 1 because we see that wukong notices that in Macaque because he knows him better than anyone.

And Macaque admits he's a little lost. he doesn't know what he wants. but he keeps walking. he wants to make his own choices. he wants to think for himself. he wants to see the truth for himself.

and as the days go by, as the weeks and months pass...as they grow and change, it's just sad. because it's not

the epilogue is not this "will they? won't they?" shadowpeach thing.

look at them as individuals. that's why i finally decided to change the perspective. because we needed to see macaque's thoughts. I've shown you wukong's; please give macaque that same level of attention.

when people write romance or relationships, they often misstep when it comes to the characters that are in the relationship. in order for that relationship to be believable and relatable and enjoyed by the audience, you have to develop the characters independently and together.

we cannot have shadowpeach until we know, with certainty, who macaque and wukong are.

[rainymoodlet]

Kiss Me in Komorebi+ 🌸

[Episode One] First Impressions.

introducing Ezra Ruíz by @kawaiishitty!

oh my god i want to pack ezra into a suitcase and steal him away!! he was such a font of delight and mischief the moment he walked up to dan - so much so that he somehow skipped the entire introductions process to scare??? him??? it was adorable, but it also means that we have no idea what ezra’s first impression of dan was! that being said, he definitely made a good one on our bachelor!

dan doesn’t like mischief interactions, so i was really surprised when jester hat after jester hat went off without a hitch!! he did end up getting tense after one too many electric buzzers, though!

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