#diagnosing nigel

[gali-in-distress]

Diagnosing Nigel Colbie

This is going to be a long post

In an attempt to gain a better understanding of Nigel as a character, I decided to find a Psychopathological diagnosis that, in my opinion, would fit him, because to me it's very obvious that he's not what you would call a neurotypical individual.

Here is my diagnosis FOR NOW:

Disclaimer: I'm a psychology student, I didn't just made this up. That being said, I am only a student and lack the experience to be certain that this diagnosis is accurate. Secondly, Nigel is a fictional character, aka not a real person therefore it's impossible to truly diagnose him as you would do to a real person. I advice against using this as a guide to diagnose anyone irl, obviously.

CW: mentions of psychiatry terms, personality disorders and mental illnesses.

Semiology:

Qualitative disorders of affective nature

Indifferent behavior.

Incongruity : refered to having opposed emotional reactions to events that would normally have a different effect on people.

Irritability: exaggerated response to frustrated psychological needs.

In many instances Nigel shows almost no response to violent acts against himself or others. He acts coldly and is apparently unaffected by events that would at the very least upset anyone.

At the same time he reacts very intensively to being rejected by Alex at the very end.

I am almost 100% certain that when he went after Alex with the shotgun he was having a psychotic episode.

Cognitive disorders in relation to the Thinking Process:

Autistic thinking: presents itself as disconnected from reality.

Note: (Autistic thinking doesn't mean he's autistic, that's just the scientific term for that particular symptom)

Fixations.

Delusions of grandeur.

Delusions of reference: refered to an egocentric psychological development responsible for making the patient think that some things that happen in real life are directly related to them, gifting personal significance to unrelated events.

Nigel has very strong beliefs that he does not hide from Alex. He thinks they both are part of a line of great men destinated to bigger things. He finds connections in stories that, in his mind, ultimately lead to him and Alex, putting them both in the center of a prophecy of sorts. He is obsessed about this narrative he has created and eventually also obsesses over Alex and their relationship.

Conative disorders:

Altered social behavior manifested as reticence and homicidal and necrophiliac impulses.

Disordered relationship with self and others.

Nigel is presented as an introverted character who rarely speaks at the beginning of the story. Once he begins pulling Alex inside of his narrative, it's when we can see him be more open and sociable, but otherwise he doesn't seem to have any friends or relationships outside of Alex and his family. He doesn't seem interested in having them either. This itself wouldn't necessarily be a sign of a disorder, but, in addition to his violent and harmful behavior, it does create a pattern.

So far the final diagnosis I'm going for is Schizoid Personality Disorder.

Might elaborate on that later.

Update: Diagnosing Nigel Colbie Part II

[currentlyonstandbi]

I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive.

[adobe-outdesign]

Nigel: The Muppets' Most Interesting Uninteresting Character

(This was supposed to be a fun little post about an obscure Muppet character but now I fell down a hole doing too much research and sunk cost fallacy won't let me live it down unless I include all of the useless information I've learned so enjoy knowing more about this character than you ever have or ever will want to know)

Nigel was created to be the host of the Muppet Show's Sex and Violence pilot instead of Kermit (who only appears in the pilot for like 30 seconds)

He was originally puppeteered by Jim Henson himself, giving him a vaguely Kermit-esq voice initially

Nigel Voice Count: 1

Nigel is a yellow... something. You’d assume he’s just a stylized human Muppet but in S4E18 Sam refers to him as a “thing”

He actually looks near-identical to a Fraggle minus the tail. I don’t know what to do with this information

Nigel was diagnosed with terminal Boring Personality disease due to the following attributes:

He’s very meek. Unlike Kermit, who will freak out and tell people they suck to their faces, Nigel raises his voice one (1) time and mostly relies on Sam the Eagle and Crazy Harry to deal with the assorted chaos

His face is flexible like Kermit’s, but he has permanently partially-lidded eyes that leave him looking exhausted in every scene he’s in

He’s generally unenthusiastic and seems like he wants to go home constantly

Jim Henson: The Works describes him as "lacking in spunk and charisma," which is hilariously cruel yet 100% accurate

What’s surprising at this point is that instead of scrapping him, he instead took on the role of orchestra conductor on the show proper, where he proceeds to do almost nothing for five seasons

The Muppets Character Encyclopedia actually provides a canon reason for this: Nigel lost the job of host due to his “shy manner”, and Kermit, feeling bad for replacing him, gave him his new job

He can technically be seen in basically every episode during the theme song, but aside from that, he often pops up in the chorus during songs

Which is funny when you consider he should be in the pit Doing His Job during those sequences

A quick list of his more important (if you can even call them that) appearances:

S1E2: He has Zoot play a song called “Sax and Violence” b/c pilot references

It’s actually implied the Mayhem falls under his jurisdiction as he threatens to fire Zoot, but this never comes up again

S1E24: Playing the part of a library patron noisily chewing gum (despite not having teeth. idk you figure it out). This one’s only notable because he’s wearing the same outfit from the pilot

S3E16: Nigel’s eyelids are not connected to the rest of his body and he’s facing backwards through the entire backstage segment so you’re uncomfortably aware of this

S1E23 has Floyd complaining that the theme song is cringe(TM), at which point it’s casually revealed that Nigel wrote it?? how is this character so important and unimportant at the exact same time

If you’ve seen this episode and aren’t deaf you might have noticed he has a completely different voice here. This is because John Lovelady has taken over as his puppeteer, presumably because Jim was busy Running The Entire Show

Nigel Voice Count: 2

Nigel has a talent for whistling, which is shown off in S2E18 during a performance with Floyd (this is the only time he comes on stage to perform that isn’t with a crowd)

He shows this off again in S4E18 to participate in the age-old sport of Annoying Sam the Eagle backstage

As of the 2011 movie Walter takes over as the show’s resident whistler because Nigel isn’t allowed to have character traits

He briefly shows up during the credits of The Muppet Movie (now puppeteered by Dave Goelz). Because of this, in the UK version of the end credits, he has another completely different voice

Nigel Voice Count: 3

After a brief background appearance in The Jim Henson Hour (S1E12), Nigel proceeded to completely disappear for 20 years

I’m guessing the reason was that his puppet was becoming unusable. The foam used for the muppets disintegrates over time, and his puppet was ~15 years old at this point

Things were particularly bleak for him in the 90s because Muppets Tonight came out with a new unrelated TV director character named... Nigel. Because Jim had passed away at this point and I think everyone working on the show literally Forgot they already had a character named that

Not that it would be that big of a problem, seeing as the chances of yellow Nigel returning were bleak. who was gonna spend time and money rebuilding an incredibly minor background character like him

TRICK QUESTION because he was rebuilt for The Muppets (2011), which is pretty amazing when you consider that he does Nothing during this movie

The new puppet looks pretty similar to the old one. I think the face is a bit rounder/more structured but I could also be losing my mind

(Side note: shoutout to whoever decided to give him a scarf in this scene. that’s such an unnecessary detail)

What’s great is that now that the puppet’s been rebuilt he’s shown up in a lot of stuff because they have no reason not to include him. Some of the more notable examples include:

The music video for OK Go’s cover of the theme song (which I certainly hope he would show up in I mean. it’s his song)

In the live shows (The Muppets Take the Bowl and The Muppets Take the O2) there’s a parade of overlooked characters, which includes Nigel. I just find it funny that:

A) The writers fully acknowledge that he’s King of the Background Characters

B) The in-universe implication that Kermit was like “no one knows who you are, wanna be in a parade celebrating that fact” and Nigel was like “okay”

His most recent appearance was in Muppets Haunted Mansion, where he’s dead (don’t worry about it). More importantly, he gets an entire shot to himself conducting some skulls, which I think is the first time the camera’s been focused solely on him in literally 40 years. Good job, buddy!

Here’s some other misc appearances that I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

He appears alongside Jim and a few other Muppets in a 1977 commercial for American Express (once again wearing his pilot outfit), which is particularly strange considering he’s the only character there that used to be puppeteered by Jim

In 2010 he got a somewhat important role in the first issue of Muppet Sherlock Holmes, playing the part of a butler suspected of poisoning the head of the house

He gets one whole page in The Muppets Character Encyclopedia from 2014 (right next to other Nigel). In addition to the aforementioned info bridging the gap between the pilot and the show proper, it also states that he’s susceptible to hypnosis and he trained at the Tommy Newsom Academy for Music and Charisma

In terms of future projects: there is both a Jim Henson biopic and documentary coming in the future (side note: why???), so it’s possible he might be discussed briefly in one of those

I have no thesis statement or reason for writing this, but I guess I’ll close out by saying that I find it fascinating that a failed main character from a pilot episode is still appearing in recent Muppet productions but solely as a background character. I hope that in 2073 I can put on some Muppet media and Nigel will still be there still doing absolutely nothing

thanks for coming to my TED talk

[laurelwen]

Like Minds Masterpost - Main

Analysis

Who Killed Susan?

Nigel Colbie Birth Chart

Alex Forbes Birth Chart

Jack Birth Chart

Brief Note: The real Maraclea

Breakdown and Comparison of the Books

Alex Forbes' Father

First Paragraph of WIP Essay re: Gothic in Like Minds (I swear I'm still working on this--I have 18 pages written now!)

Rambling about Sally and Martin

Response re: Read quote about Frankenstein and sociopaths

Ask/Answer: What Denomination is the School

Annotations

Nigel's Notes about Alex

Texts: Nigel's Reading in Class

Texts: Nigel's Essay Notes for Alex

Texts: My Beloved Maraclea

Texts: Compulsory Miseductation

Texts: Alex's Essay (deleted scene)

Insolent Young Man

Interview with Gregory Read, Writer/Director/Numpty

Leopold and Loeb

Filming Location: Secret Rendezvous

Templars and Friday the 13th

Alex's Bulletin Board - Music

Still Photography from Set

The Battle of Forbie

Like Minds Masterpost - Aesthetic

Like Minds Masterpost - Humor

Playlists

I'll Take You To My Grave, a Canon Playlist (play in order!)

Nigel Colbie's iPod on Spotify, and on Youtube: a dark academia vibe

Like Minds AU (they both live, inspired by He Stings Like He Means It) on Spotify and Youtube

Not My Fic

He stings like he means it (He's mean and he's mine) - again, I don't write this, but I do beta for it and it's amazing!

My Fic

"And the sun won't resign (until you're by my side)" Post; Direct AO3 link

All posts/reblogs which I have tagged:

#like minds #nigel colbie #alex forbes #nigel colbie x alex forbes

Misc Other Stuff I Need to Keep Around

My Encounter with Eddie Redmayne One Year Anniversary Diagnosing Nigel Colbie Part 1 and Part 2 Demian/Like Minds similarities posts Part 1 and Part 2 Reincarnation Seed Idea Discussion re: Nigel's Bag

[spicedwatermel0n]

Teen designs ‼️

Feel free to ask questions about them, I'll answer a few that might've already come up in your head here but if I didn't answer them here feel free to send an ask!

- Nigel quickly began growing facial hair, which he originally liked because it made him look tough, but it became clear that it just ended up making him scarier. Hoagie also has gone through puberty a bit faster than everyone else, and has quite the hairy body. He shaves his face, but tells people the arm hair and leg hair needs to stay because it makes him look "like a dad". They all just assume he wants to look like a father figure because he doesn't have one in his life and hasn't since he was six. Rest in peace, Sr.

- the high school is very strict with dress code (no hats is the biggest) and is also under transphobic protocols. Although Kuki managed to fool the system with her gender being displayed as female in the system, Wally didn't get that luxury. He had his name changed in the system, but his gender still says female. Due to dress code, he isn't allowed to bind. He doesn't pass very well, and it means he has to use the girls restroom and is referred to as "she" by teachers and students. He still has his name change in, thankfully, so they only know him as Wally.

- at the beginning of high school, Wally was diagnosed as autistic and suffering from dyslexia (ADHD was diagnosed a year before). This gave him anxiety about his image, which causes him to freeze up when he's being bullied. He's a fighter, sure, but the names he's called causes his body to lock itself up and just let people treat him like a punching bag. He's frequently assaulted, sometimes even in front of staff, but no one does anything besides his friends, girlfriend, and boyfriend. This led to him stealing stuff like weed and cigarettes from stores and smoking it as a coping mechanism.

- Hoagie goes to smoke with Wally all the time. They run off into the forest and get REALLY high. Hoagie gets even more romantic than he already is when he's high so the two spend more time locking lips than actually smoking. They've accidentally left marks on each other's shoulders, necks, and cheeks from holding onto them for too long during their red eyed kissing sessions. They always get bullied for that the next day because high schoolers sexualize anything.

- Kuki finds Wally after school and takes him to her house to spoil him. She knows school is hell for him. He usually cries a bit, eats a small bag of chips, and falls asleep cuddling with Kuki during a TV show she put on for him.

- Abby has gotten in trouble a lot because she ends up getting physical with Wallys bullies. No matter how many times she teaches them a lesson, they don't learn. They still assault him. Wally appreciates it, though, since Abby is usually a good student, and her breaking it just to stand up for him makes him feel loved.

- Nigel only makes it to school once or twice a week. During those days, he'll try to stick around Hoagie and Wally so they don't get bullied. Nigel intimidates everyone, so their bullies just watch them from their lockers, knowing what will happen if they try anything.

- Nigel is feared because he supposedly ended the life of another student with his bare fists. Did he? No. It's a rumor everyone believes. The "dead" student in question was brought to the KND Arctic Prison, which is why they haven't been seen.

- Wally got the name "freak" in many ways. Some call him that for being autistic. Some call him that for being transgender. Some call him that for being bisexual. Some call him that for being polyamorous. Some just think he's ugly. The school was practically made for bigoted students, so he doesn't do very well there.

- Hoagie learned he wasn't going to escape the bullying very quickly, so he just started dressing as he wanted within the dress code. Many, many piercings. Wally can't get over the piercings. He thinks it's "super duper extra handsome of him".

- Kuki has the best reputation of Sector V. This is really only because every boy wants to date her, and every girl wants to be her best friend. Some of these people started poking at her after learning who she's dating.

[hyperfixingfr]

"Kenny why didn't Nigel end up in prison in their middle aged years? Hoagie being the one locked up sounds stupid" okay but have you considered that Nigel is 100% just as much in trouble as Hoagie is (which says a lot) and is simply reeeeally good at running? Because he's ended over a dozen oppressive cops for abusing power and hurting minorities. He's pretty high profile. He just runs all the time which is exactly why he doesn't even HAVE a house and kinda just randomly shows up at the Lincoln or Beetles residencies and leaves just as randomly.

Hoagie could be released without further incident as long as he is given proper treatment but because what he tried to do would have devastated dozens of families including his own had he succeeded, he landed in jail. He isn't far gone - and never really was - he just uh. Made a pretty bad mistake when he decided to lie about his active diagnoses a decade prior just to get a piloting job.

[allaboardtheindignityexpress]

happy birthday flying scotsman you 101 year old son of a fucking bitch wooohoooooo grandpa

to celebrate here's a scotsman design-

tbh i was actually excited for this one. i was too lazy to draw his entire body. i mean, i do have full body refs but they're pretty shit.

UPDATE AS I AM TYPING THIS OUT I FOUND ONE FROM AUGUST THAT I ACTUALLY LIKE

now with that out of the way

🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

-full name: scotsman nigel ramssey, but doesn't mind scot for short

-height: 9'2". is the tallest man to exist in his universe, and a majority of his fame comes from his gargantuan stature

-sexuality: aroace

-personality: paternal, protective, doting, has an unhealthy interest in trains (why am i saying as if this is a bad thing i suffer from the same thing 💀), knowledgeable, can be stern and grumpy but he's surprisingly gentle when angered. but when scotsman's at home he's a completely different person. he's vulnerable, melancholic, and agonizingly lonely.

🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

okay, we're gonna get a bit dark here, so be warned.

-scotsman has a chronic fear of anything to do with the medical field. sure, he's an expert when it comes to human biology and can diagnose any type of illness, but his own knowledge of it makes him scared of how complex humans are.

-he hasn't seen henry and gordon in 16 years. most of his relatives are dead, and he's one of only 6̶ 5 family members left. he feels like he's going to die soon because of his age.

-he was famous from birth for being the son of a popular scat singer, being a part of a set of quintuplets (the other four died in a shooting), for being the largest baby in england to survive, and for having all sorts of medical abnormalities. as time progressed, he began to quickly loathe his fame as he constantly had cameras shoved in his face every time he went out in public, and he had to face both exploitation and harassment from the media. he lives in an ordinary neighborhood because he so longs to feel like a normal human being.

okay with all that bad stuff outta the way-

-he's a great artist, both musically and visually. he loves making mandalas, and loves to play classical pieces of beethoven's on a piano even though his preferred instrument is the harpsichord.

-he's also a great cook. it'll always be his pleasure to make something like a soup or biscuits for a fellow friend of his.

-scotsman can be a hard worker as well. even though he's only supposed to work for 8 hours, he works for 12 as he helps the newcomers at the locomotive works repair and build engines.

-lovee teasing gordon and henry about how they're his 'little brothers.' he got a kick out of it whenever gordon argued that he wasn't since he was indeed shorter AND younger than him.

-surprisingly muscular for his age. can still lift over 2000 pounds.

-driver of the flying scotsman itself. he was actually named after it.

🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

anyways that's all

happy birthday bitch!!!!

[machtwehr]

By analyzing a large number of nuances, it is possible to diagnose Nigel and Alex and add one more for differential diagnosis. But it makes me laugh, I want to say that these two teenagers are just fucking sick.

[queermediastudies]

Wait, Stanley Tucci is straight?! Starring in a movie with Mr. Darcy. *Supernova*

*Trigger Warning: Suicide*

Supernova came out in 2021, starring Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth. The movie is about a long-term couple, in the movie does not say if they were married, Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci). Sam is a Pianist and music composer, and Tusker, an American and well-known writer as well as an amateur astronomer, they are both on a road trip in their camper van, driving around countryside England and visiting family along the way.  We find out that Tusker is diagnosed with early-onset dementia. One of the scenes they have to show their chemistry is at a diner, and Tusker tells the waitress, “You can ask for an autograph if you want to.” But Tusker wants Sam to have one last performance of him playing the piano before he starts to lose memory. Sam wants Tusker to write again.

In Sam’s childhood home, visiting his siblings and their family, they all know Tusker has dementia. While they all the dinner together, family and friends, Tusker has a speech he wants to talk about, but he forgets, and Sam steps in. While everyone is talking, Sam talks to a friend and tells him, “Tusker cannot write anymore.” A bit hurt, Sam, goes to their camper van and discovers Tuskers is not taking his medicine, and something about Tusker later in the film is shown. While driving, Sam keeps talking about places they could go live and medicine to help him get better. In a heated argument, Sam pulls out a cassette tape they talk to and plays it. It is a goodbye note that Tusker made he planned on committing suicide. Tusker caves in and say he wants to do this because he is losing control and does not want that for himself or Sam. They both agree, while Sam does not want him to leave, that Tusker will commit suicide. Ends the film with Sam playing on the piano, with a piece Tusker loves. Supernova shows that a queer film could talk about the sad realities of many straight couples. deal with from old age. Does this movie also cross lines of straight cis men playing gay roles, whilst the queer production behind the camera was not coming from queer people?

The movie doesn’t talk about coming out. This movie gives a perspective of older long-term couples and making decisions that could affect both. We see movies like “Me Before You” where the main character dies because it was his choice, and we feel how sad the female character loved him and is sad. In an article called them, they had an article talking about Supernova “This isn’t a film about “coming out” or the struggles of being gay, and thus, there is less of a need for that “lived experience” to provide authenticity” (Michael Cuby, N. K. 2021). We know how in Hollywood it’s hard for queer actors to find LGBTQ+ roles, but then we see Hollywood cast straight cis-gendered people to play those roles. Again, this movie goes through the hard time's Sam and Tusker must go through together as a couple. The writer and director of this movie, Harry MacQueen, stated that he envisioned a gay couple for the film. As we don’t have many movies like that now. Tusker starts to feel like he is losing control of his life he tells Sam, “I don’t want to lose control.” It shows the ‘honeymoon’ era of a relationship where it’s just them being themselves. It’s sad that Sam did not want to lose Tusker like that, but in the end, it was his choice. He wanted them to grieve when he was dead, not alive, but his mind was dead. Although this movie is rated R, there are no sex scenes, just the two holding hands. Many of the reviews from looking in google many people have said mainly talked about how it talks about dementia and shows the love they have for each other.

Stanley Tucci, an academy award nominee, has previously played a gay role, Nigel, from “The Devil Wears Prada” but is, in fact, a straight cis man. Colin Firth, the academy award winner, played a gay role in “A Single Man.” This circles back to the fact are ok for straight cis people to play not only gay roles but trans roles. “Scarlett Johansson being cast as a trans woman in the film Rub&Tug” is talked about in the article “Pose(r): Ryan Murphy, Trans people of color.” In the same article, the company Them wrote, “When is it ok for straight actors to play gay?” Two of their cultural critics talk about that. One key thing is there are struggling LGBTQ+ actors trying to find roles. Harry Macqueen said that he envisioned both Tucci and Firth to play in his movie, maybe because they are well-known actors in Hollywood. He told Pinknews.com, “I think Colin and Stanley were the best for the roles. That’s just a certainly for me”( Kelleher, P. 2021), or is it that Stanley and Colin have been friends for over twenty years? Harry has gotten backlash but was confident in his choices of playing Sam and Tusker.  "Them," the website said something else striking “The reason we don’t have a big corral of bankable, openly LGBTQ+ stars are that they haven’t been granted the same opportunities because producers think they won’t sell tickets. And those stars won’t get made until they get a chance to prove producers wrong. That’s why someone like Jodi Foster came out so late in her career, for fear of missing out on opportunities. I do think that’s changing, but clearly, we’re not there yet.” (Michael Cuby, N. K.  2021)  But many were fans of Colin and Stanley and were staring at a film together. At the end of the day, for films like this, it comes down to Queer Production.

(Harry Macqueen and Colin Firth pictured above)

While watching the movie, I kept thinking in the back of my head, ‘what would happen if it was just a heteronormative relationship what would happen? The movie rating would change from R to PG-13 the box office would have higher ratings.  The box office numbers for Supernova were $681,605. This still came out in lockdown many theaters were slowly opening. A film called “Still Alice,” a heteronormative relationship but struggling with early onset Alzheimer’s, made $44.65 million at the box office. While reading the PinkNews.com of Harry Macqueen, writer, and director of the film. While writing the film, he knew he wanted to portray a gay couple, “Macqueen stopped himself early on and questioned why he was naturally gravitating towards creating a film about a heterosexual couple”( Kelleher, P. 2021), then he wrote a gay couple.  He was saying it was love, how it has no gender or anything that we put into a box, and it was universal, and we could understand it and feel the pain of Tusker and Sam. I looked further into the research of the cast and crew no one is from the LBGTQ+ community.

Supernova shows that a queer film could talk about the sad realities many straight couples deal with from old age. Does this movie also cross lines of straight cis men playing gay roles, whilst the queer production behind the camera was not coming from queer people? Seeing newer queer movies showing how important it is to come out, this film shows how hard it is to lose someone you knew and loved very much. I personally think that this movie would��ve done great if Harry had hired Queer actors for the film or any of the crew to help produce the film. Supernova is a great film that captures a queer romance in a new light and shows love, compassion, and loss hopefully, everyone understands from the film if they have lost someone from dementia.

References

Kelleher, P. (2021, June 25). Supernova director defends casting Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci in gay drama. PinkNews. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/06/25/supernova-director-harry-macqueen-colin-firth-stanley-tucci-dementia-gay-lgbt/

Michael Cuby, N. K. (2021, January 29). "Supernova" raises the question: When is it okay for straight actors to play gay? Them. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.them.us/story/supernova-straight-actors-play-gay-discussion-colin-firth-stanley-tucci

Pose(R):  Ryan Murphy, in the article, talks of how Scarlett Johansson

Pose(r):Ryan Murphy, Trans and Queer of Color Labor, and the Politics of Representation. (2018, August 2). Los

Angeles Review of Books.

By: Aurora Alonso

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

UK Teenager with Severe ME Threatened with Forced Institutionalization

JULY 24th, 2019

Gigi’s doctor has dismissed her symptoms of severe ME and has, instead, diagnosed her with Pervasive Refusal Syndrome, meaning that she is either consciously, or subconsciously withdrawing from the world because of some trauma, real or imagined.

Pervasive Refusal Syndrome is not a formally recognised mental illness and has no empirical basis or agreed-upon treatment.

The doctor has told Gigi’s family to stop “colluding” with their daughter. ME, meanwhile, has been recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a neurological disease since 1969.

The horror of Gigi’s situation is not an isolated incident as dozens of children with severe ME have been threatened with being sectioned in the UK and throughout Europe for being unable to snap out of their debilitating illness. 

(...)

Gigi’s mother is herself a Clinical Psychologist, with over 20 years’ experience of working with children.  Despite this, medical staff have refused to accept her mother’s personal and professional opinion regarding the cause of Gigi’s illness.  They continue to insist that it has a psychological basis.

(...)

In 2013, 24-year-old Karina Hansen was forcibly removed from her home in Denmark for declining to follow the orders of a doctor who had recommended graded exercise therapy, which had worsened her. Karina spent three-and-a-half-years detained at a psychiatric ward where her treatment further worsened her. After a five-year legal battle and ongoing support from the ME community, Karina was finally freed from state guardianship in 2018.  

In 2003, Sophia Mirza, a British woman with severe ME, was removed from her home and placed in a mental hospital, where her condition worsened. Sophia died in 2005, and an independent neuropathologist found Sophia’s spine contained massive infection.

British pediatrician, Dr. Nigel Speight, has personally been involved in defending 28 cases in which adolescents were threatened with being sectioned due to severe ME, as health officials viewed their disease as a psychiatric issue they could overcome with talk therapy and exercise.

https://www.meaction.net/2019/07/24/uk-teenager-with-severe-me-threatened-with-forced-institutionalized/

[waterlily80s]

Jacqueline Kennedy, Twiggy, Audrey Hepburn & Brigiite Bardot

Jacqueline Kennedy

Jacqueline Kennedy (full name of Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis) was a former First Lady of the United States. She was born in 1929 and died in 1994 aged 64. Her first husband was the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and her second husband was Aristotle Onassis, who was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Jacqueline Kennedy was a lady of class and she was always noted for her elegance and style. She was known to wear pillbox hats, flat-heeled pumps, matching sets and dress suits, along with her bouffant hairstyle. In 1994, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and later died in her New York City apartment.

Twiggy

Born in 1949, Dame Lesley Lawson, also known as Twiggy, was a British fashion model, and one of the world's first super models. At the age of 15, she worked as an assistant in a London hair salon where she first got the name Twiggy after meeting hairdresser Nigel Davies (later known as Justin de Villeneuve). The following year, she was voted British Women of the Year after an articles was published about her in the Daily Express called the “The Face of ’66”.

(right) CLARKE. H

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was a British actress born in 1929 in Belgium. She has starred in many successful films such as Sabrina (1954), Funny Face (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and Charade (1963). 11 awards have been won in total, including three BAFTA Awards, two Tony Awards and a Grammy. Hubert de Givenchy was the designer for some films Hepburn stared in Such as Sabrina and Breakfast at Tiffany's. In the late 1980's Audrey Hepburn became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. She died in 1993 before she was able to receive her special Academy Award.

Jean Rosemary Shrimpton

Jean Rosemary Shrimpton (born in 1942) was an English Model and is considered to be one of the worlds first supermodels. She has appeared on many magazine covers such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Elle. During her modelling career, she was reported as the "world's highest paid model", along with "the symbol of Swinging London". Shrimpton was also named "Model of The Year" in June 1963 be Glamour. Jean Rosemary Shrimpton has also written books including her autobiography (1990) and The Truth about Modelling (1995).

Brigiite Bardot

Brigiite Anne-Marie Bardot (also known as B.B.) is a former French actress and model. At the age 15, she posed for the cover of Elle in May 1950, and became an international sex symbol in the later 50s and the 60s.

Encyclopedia Britannica. (no date) Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacqueline-Kennedy-Onassis (Accessed: December 17, 2022).

Encyclopedia Britannica. (no date) Twiggy. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Twiggy-British-fashion-model (Accessed: December 17, 2022)

Biography.com. A&E Networks. (2021) Audrey Hepburn Television. Available at: https://www.biography.com/actor/audrey-hepburn (Accessed: December 17, 2022).

Peoplepill.com (no date) About Jean Shrimpton, . Available at: https://peoplepill.com/people/jean-shrimpton (Accessed: December 17, 2022).

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (no date) Brigitte Bardot. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Brigitte-Bardot (Accessed: December 19, 2022).

[gali-in-distress]

Diagnosing Nigel Colbie. Part II

After overanalyzing Nigel for some time I decided upon one disorder that I consider matches with the previous semiology that I established for him here . For now this my diagnosis.

Disclaimer: This diagnosis might not be 100% accurate given that I cannot perform a proper (if any) differential diagnosis in order to rule out other similar disorders. The reason why I can't do that it's because Nigel is a fictional character and all of his "symptoms" are shown with a script in mind in the movie, on top of possibly being exaggerated by Alex, as an unreliable narrator. That being said DO NOT use this diagnosis of a fictional person as a reliable source of information to apply on anyone irl.

Schizoid Personality Disorder:

According to the DSM-V, it's a "pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts."

The Tell-Signs I found in Nigel are:

"Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family."

"Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives."

We never see Nigel really interacting with other people aside from his family and Alex. Not to mention how unhealthy even those relationships present themselves to be. This seems to be something usual for him, not having friends.

"Almost always chooses solitary activities."

"Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities."

Nigel is extremely focused on history, the order and whatever he has going on with the embalmed animals. These are all related and somehow end up connecting to death as a process.

"Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others."

"Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity."

Associated Features:

"Particular difficulty expressing anger, even in response to direct provocation, which contributes to the impression that they lack emotion."

"Reacts passively to adverse circumstances and have difficulty responding appropriately to important life events."

"Particularly in response to stress, individuals with this disorder may experience very brief psychotic episodes"

From what we can see in Nigel's final moments, how he switched from being calm and in control, to absolutely desperate, violent in a way he hadn't explicitly been before in the story and how he chooses to end his own life (if we take Alex's word for it) I believe that Nigel was experiencing a psychotic episode, one that he did not survive.

Diagnosing Nigel Colbie. Part I.

[chivehawk01]

Virtual Reality Could Help People With Autism Learn Social Skills And Develop Employment Opportunities

Dr Nigel Newbutt, Associate Head of Media and Digital Cultures at UWE Bristol, said, "With as many as 1 in 68 reported as being diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition, there is the potential for technologies to be used and applied to many affected people. The National Autistic Society, for example, report that around 700,000 people in the UK are affected by an autism condition - a lifelong development disability affecting how a person communicates and relates to other people."

Dr Newbutt has investigated how virtual world platforms such as Second Life can help people with autism navigate social situations such as visiting a coffee shop, going to the cinema or even attending a job interview.

A current project he is involved with, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, is examining how the role of innovative technologies can have a positive impact on the employment prospects of people with autism and other disabilities.

"Findings from a pilot project we undertook earlier this year are very positive," said Dr Newbutt. "There is a growing evidence-base that suggests many people on the autism spectrum find interaction with technology easy and, in some cases, more natural than interacting with people. There is just another wordpress site to suggest that games such as Minecraft and virtual worlds such as Second Life (which have been designed for the general public) have great potential to help someone on the spectrum practice and develop social skills; building their confidence in virtual simulations without the fear of real-life consequences.

"The first experiments using VRT technology were held decades ago but the advent of readily available and affordable head-mounted devices we are trialling have helped to enable a greater affordance for the role of technology, with a view to developing new ways of helping people to build confidence around social interaction.

"We tested the reactions of a small group of people diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition to determine their acceptance wearing a HMD, their self-reported immersion, the presence experienced using the technology, and the experience and any anxiety levels associated with the overall experience.

"We wanted to discover how using head-mounted immersive interactive technology might help people with skills development, to overcome their struggle with communication and to act as a toolset they can use to help test social situations."

The research team looked at willingness of people with autism to wear the device, the extent to which people using the devise experienced a sense of presence and immersion during the 'experiences' and also to find out if wearing a device caused anxiety. In each experiment the outcomes were positive and provided some new data to continue the evidence-base in this field.

[spicedwatermel0n]

can u drop ur ND KND headcannons? I’m curious.

Nigel is autistic (undiagnosed)

Hoagie is autistic (diagnosed) and has ADHD (undiagnosed)

Kuki is autistic (undiagnosed)

Wally is autistic, has ADHD, has dyslexia, and has dyscalculia (all undiagnosed)

Abby is autistic (undiagnosed) and has ADHD (diagnosed)

Chad has ADHD (diagnosed)

Rachel has dyscalculia (undiagnosed)

Fanny is autistic (diagnosed) and has dyslexia (undiagnosed)

Patton has dyslexia (undiagnosed)

[compellingselling]

An anti-marketing stance is still marketing.

Sniff. Sniff. Smell that?

Smells like some research that said twenty-somethings don’t like advertising.

It was likely a series of focus groups that revealed that the prime audience for beer doesn’t like beer advertising. It’s too fake. It focuses on beer as a badge. What holding a certain beer says about you. Or what it promises to turn you into.

I can picture the PowerPoint slides with the research verbatims because I’ve seen plenty like it. 

“Don’t show me a group of gorgeous models drinking the beer on a beach or a rooftop bar and pretending to have a good time.” – Trevor, 25

“Don’t show me a famous athlete you paid to say he or she drinks your beer.” – Gwen, 29.

“Don’t join the chorus of voices telling me I’m not cool enough the way I am and I need your product to become cool.” – Nigel, 23

Here’s what the agency strategist says in an article on LBBOnline: "Lost Lager was born from the realisation that the category - and the culture that surrounds it - has lost its way. Artificial lifestyle ideals and unattainable aspirations have long been the currency of larger brands. It’s created a lack of relevancy resulting in apathy and indifference. We sought to take to the soapbox, call out the fakery and empower people to make a more active choice.”

You’ve accurately diagnosed the problem. Lack of relevancy. But I don’t think you’ve found the right cure. 

You spend 55 seconds dwelling on the problem. And you’re using slick marketing techniques to complain about slick marketing techniques. Instead of color-drenched lifestyle vignettes, you’ve got a cleverly-worded manifesto delivered by a hipster spoken word performer slickly filmed and edited in “Belfast”-style black and white. 

And after all the buildup about the problem, what do you offer as a remedy? “No artificial lifestyle ideals.” 100% about what the beer isn’t and 0% on what the beer is. 

An anti-marketing stance is still marketing. This has always been the case.

Consider OK Soda. It was built from the ground up for Coke to appeal to young people who resisted marketing and admired irony. It was still marketing. Ad people loved the can design and campaign, but the audience that said they craved authenticity saw only inauthenticity.

Even Will Ferrell’s anti-ads for whatever that beer was got laughs, but didn’t tell you why you should buy the beer.

I predict Brew Dog’s attempt will fail, too. 

I don’t know if “Ian F” is in their target audience, but I bet his comment under the ad on YouTube is representative:

“This advert is a pathetic attempt to criticise everything about western society and appease the woke culture warriors. Yet, the only alternative they offer is to drink their product. Truly pathetic.”

[adhdthomasthorne]

My mum and I are watching Bones, and my GOD, Vincent definitely has ADHD.

I guess that’s why he was always my favourite!!