#telephone phobia

[kittyclowns]

Psyched myself out so bad for a virtual meeting I had to attend and then no one showed up for the meeting...

[sugar-grigri]

Hi there! Hope you are having a nice day! I really love your csm analyses and meta! It's specially great because I don't understand literary symbolism at all, I'm learning a lot. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on my boy Yoshida. What do you think is his role? Is he only an obstacle for the romantic relationship between Denji and Asa? In a world where every detail has a deeper meaning, why an octopus? Hope you have a great day!

The octopus trap 

I think that if I asked every Chainsaw Man reader about Yoshida, most of the time I'd be told either "I have no idea what he's going to do" or, more precisely, "I keep expecting him to do something, but he doesn't end up doing anything".

You mustn't let your hair stand on end when you read remarks like that. Yoshida is my favorite character of Part 2, yet if I were to describe him succinctly it would be in exactly those terms.

When I say not to be annoyed by these remarks, it's because they're not the result of a lack of writing, a lack of development or even a depreciation of the character, these descriptions only underline the originality of Yoshida's writing.

Yes, it's surely worth clarifying what I mean by all this... 

Let's take a look at things chronologically. Yoshida's first appearance comes just after Asa, who has just discovered she's possessed by the war demon, is unable to set foot inside her school, a victim of anxiety, school phobia and, above all, Bucky's death. 

Yoshida suddenly appears during this scene. He is also quickly associated with Asa, as the demon-hunting club puts him in Yuko's and the protagonist's group. We all said to ourselves: great, something's going to happen between these two! She's dying of shame, so Fujimoto is bound to use this to create more interaction between them.

When Asa comes across her bullies, who have attacked her locker and shoes, only Yuko comes to comfort her, and Yoshida simply fades into the background. It's strange, because it was as if he had brutally hidden himself from the progress of the scenario and the reaction he might have had to this kind of situation. Keep this in mind. 

Then Yoshida reappears in chapter 103, as if Fujimoto were accidentally placing an ink blot in the background, Yoshida simply blending into the background until he hits his target. For the reader, this creates a certain "ah yes, where the hell has he been?" situation, and the element of surprise is intensified by the fact that this is Denji's first appearance as a human in Part 2. This time, Yoshida doesn't disappear into the background, as if evaporated, he appears when no one was expecting him.

Put that in the back of your mind too. 

Then, when he tries to put Denji's goal of a girlfriend into action, he introduces him to Asa Mitaka, whom we suspect, subconsciously or consciously, to be Chainsaw Man's love interest. So we're all thinking (myself included at this point), he's surely going to be the magnet between the two! Which turns out to be completely untrue, as Yoshida brutally declares that Asa has no business getting close to Denji.

This point not only shows that Yoshida's narrative function is hard to pin down, it also proves something else: he's not omniscient. He's not, as I've read, this absolutely perfect string-puller, since it's clear that he doesn't grasp until later that Asa may not simply be a young girl obsessed with finding a boyfriend, but a possessed one who might disturb the target he's watching: Chainsaw Man. 

The aquarium was Yoshida's observation ground. Yoshida has no desire to be active, as evidenced by the telephone scene where, after Asa has been humiliated by his failure to call anyone, he shows Denji his phone, arguing that he can't get a signal anyway. Now I'll get to that line : "Do you think CSM would eat it for us ? The Death devil"

Whether it was making you believe that Yoshida is a genius string-puller, this line made you believe that the boy had something to do with the demon of death. Fujimoto wouldn't ruin so many mysteries surrounding one of the most anticipated demons so unskillfully. That's why it's necessary to interpret it differently. A line belongs to a whole, and this scene between Yoshida and Denji is not a scene that escapes its whole, on the contrary, it has consequences.

It serves to show two things: firstly, Yoshida is aware of Chainsaw Man's ability to erase other demons, which was surely reported by Kishibe who learned of it in chapter 84, proving firstly that the public hunters are now aware of this ability. Something that had never been said before. Then we come to the most interesting part. Yoshida makes it clear in this scene that they've been locked up for three days, and the cases illustrate how each of the students is dealing with their own mortality, with Haruka crying, Nobana flips out, another prefers to be physically active to keep himself busy, while Yoshida prepares to die. As for Denji, he's been through worse, and is cooler than the others.

Then Yoshida pointed out, "Do you think Chainsaw Man would eat the demon of death?" This triggers Denji's act of kindness, as he realizes that he can also "suppress", "devour" fears in his human form, by taking action. Denji has noticed that Asa is looking to be active; she's the one who offered her a date, so she's the one who has priority to receive comfort, so Denji comes to devour the fear that paralyzed the protagonist. All the more ironic given that the demon they were all really facing was the demon of famine. 

I know everything I'm saying sounds disjointed at the moment, but hang on, I need to be a bit descriptive before I connect all this.

The same phenomenon of script feinting will occur, not to make it look like Yoshida will be a love rival, a friend of Asa, the magnet between Denji and Asa, or the demon of death.

No, this time, in chapter 133, Fujimoto makes it look like Yoshida will be a great antagonist by proposing Denji's horrible dilemma of either being human and living with his family or being Chainsaw Man without it. But it all falls apart when he realizes that Denji chooses both, leaving Yoshida completely out of his depth. This time Fujimoto erases all the mystique around this character, he's not the player who moves the pieces against Fami, he's just a mediator. 

The same phenomenon occurs when he locks Denji into this normal life that doesn't suit him, placing him in Fumiko's hands, leading to one of the least "normal" chapters, chapter 137. 

I think that with all this, you're beginning to grasp a certain idea: Yoshida's purpose is a narrative feint, he's a character with indecipherable eyes for us to place all our doubts and mysteries in. The questions just pile up, and we project them through Yoshida, who answers none of them. 

So who is Yoshida ? 

The only thing I can say is that he's a mystery. And when I say this, it's not to clear my name, as nothing can be said about him, because he is written as such and should be appreciated as such. I often read that his eyes, fully black like Kishibe's, are not only perhaps a sign of kinship but also a sign of deep despair. I think it's precisely in this way that we can miss the originality of these characters. 

Kishibe is not placed in the deepest despair, what makes him so strong, what makes him still here, being practically the only veteran of the public hunters (did you notice how young the public hunters still were?), is that he has accepted and internalized the madness of the system, bows to it instead of fighting against it, but is not dominated by it as someone unreasonable would be.

Whether it's Yoshida's black eyes or Kishibe's, the latter are simply the eyes of acceptance of the system. That is to say, their pupils are no longer illuminated by that little personal glimmer, seemingly devoid of emotion, since they are simply a reflection of the darkness of the system, of what's going on through them.

Yoshida's eyes are the eyes of a mysterious system that constantly stares at the characters without responding to them. 

And now you're probably wondering, Anon:

What about the octopus ?

This is surely the most interesting answer to Yoshida's question.

When you're looking for meanings for octopuses, your first instinct is to think of mythology, isn't it? Leviathan, Kranken, Akkorokamui, the octopus is the subject of a multitude of legends, whose interpretations are intertwined, creative, healing or destructive, beneficent or maleficent, or even the subject of great divergence from the public, cute? Or monstrous? 

This follows on from the previous statement: the octopus is a being onto which all concepts can be projected, even if they are contradictory. Yoshida's narrative function is the same: we project whatever we can onto him without him acting on it.

What's the one piece of information you could give me with any certainty? The fact that he's a demon hunter, right? In other words, the only thing you could say about the octopus is the environment it lives in? No ? 

Do you know how octopuses are caught ?

Have you heard of the Japanese octopus trap? Specifically, the takotsubo? In fact, they're not really traps at all, but a form of passive fishing in which simple pierced stones or clay pots are placed on the seabed. The octopuses then enter these pots to protect themselves, using them as shelters to protect their fragile bodies. Above all, when the pots are brought to the surface, the octopuses don't even try to escape, pressing themselves against the walls. 

Yoshida acts like these octopuses, not fighting the system, but rather embracing its walls, thinking he's safe when in fact he's trapped.

Hidden within this obscure system, the octopus has no idea that it's not safe, but has headed for its own destruction.

Now the connections make themselves. The only answer those big black eyes can give is a reflection of the system.

Asa is rejected by her classmates, by this micro-society that is school? The system appears.

Fans cheer Chainsaw Man on, as society is increasingly forged around him. The system takes an interest and invites him for coffee.

As Asa is rejected after her second date with Denji, the system will only add to her loneliness.

Chainsaw Man is a being whose function is to eliminate fears? The system will remind him of this.

Is Chainsaw Man an idiot? Will the system still try to control him, even if it means inhibiting him?

What if we were to use the metaphor of the octopus trap to provide the opposite answer ? Yoshida sticks to the walls of the system.

What does the system do? It weaves itself around Chainsaw Man.

Is this such a good idea ?

[oldshowbiz]

During afternoon dress rehearsals at CBS Television City, Red Skelton horsed around, inserting “fuck,” “shit,” and “motherfucker” into sketches at random. CBS employees crowded the soundstage to watch.

“Those were legendary dress rehearsals,” says comedienne Pat Carroll. “People would come from all over the building because they were filthy. Martha Raye was the only woman who could stand toe to toe with him and match him filth for filth … He was a naughty, naughty man, but God was he funny. Red knew it and he played to it. The place was jammed. You couldn’t find a seat if you came in late. People came in from the other side of town for those dress rehearsals. There was nothing too filthy. It was called the Dirty Hour.”

Red Skelton was much beloved by those who didn’t have to work for him. His much beleaguered writing staff never minced words.

“He was crazy,” said Skelton writer Bob Schiller. “We would do a run-through on Monday night, and then do a rewrite; he’d come and do the show on Tuesday night. But Skelton would bring in a whole bunch of his old jokes – and really ruin it. We had good writers on that show. It was disappointing and heartbreaking to see a good sketch fucked up with old jokes.”

“He fancied himself a writer because he remembered old jokes,” concurred comedy writer Sherwood Schwartz. “Frequently he would introduce them into a script, which bothered us. Some evenings he was responsible for ten percent of the jokes or thirty percent or whatever he happened to change. But he was never involved in a writer’s meeting.”

“Skelton was mean-spirited,” said comedy writer Charlie Isaacs. “Insulting, autocratic. Skelton just thought you were nothing. He hated to have to talk to you, even. Skelton was really the one who felt that he should get all the writing credit.”

Comedy writer Milt Josefsberg said, “There is no doubt that he did make contributions to his program. But whether it was sufficient to entitle him to writing credit, and thus to sharing writing residuals on reruns, is debatable.”

He refused to have a conversation or make eye contact with his writers.

“Skelton’s writing staff rarely saw or conferred with him,” said Josefsberg. “When the script was finished it was delivered to him by messenger. Moreover, there were no discussions or conferences on the telephone, since Red had a phone phobia and refused to talk to his writers on that instrument. And most of the time, he never communicated with them in any other way.”

[o-craven-canto]

Words borrowed from other languages in English

Very incomplete list, based mostly on The Languages of the World (3rd ed.), Kenneth Katzner, 2002 + a heavy use of Wiktionary. some notes:

Many of these words have passed through multiple languages on their way to English (e.g. Persian -> Arabic -> Spanish -> French -> English); in that case I usually list them under the first language that used them in the same acception as English.

I generally don't include words whose ancestors already existed in Middle English, unless their origin was exotic enough to be interesting.

The vast majority of borrowings are terms very specific to their culture of origin; I generally only include those that are either very well known amng English-speakers, or of general use outside that culture.

INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY (West and South Eurasia)

Hellenic Greek: angel, chronometer, democracy, encyclopedia, geography, graphic, hieroglyphic, homogeneous, hydraulic, meter, microscope, monarchy, philosophy, phobia, photography, telephone, and way too many other scientific or technical terms to count

Germanic Afrikaans: aardvark, apartheid, fynbos, rooibos, springbok, trek, veld, wildebeest Danish: Lego, simper Dutch: brandy, bumpkin, coleslaw, cookie, deck, dock, dollar, freight, furlough, hodgepodge, landscape, maelstrom, noodle, Santa Claus, waffle, walrus, yacht German: aurochs, bildungsroman, blitzkrieg, cobalt, dachsund, eigenvector, ersatz, gestalt, glockenspiel, hamburger, hinterland, kindergarten, kohlrabi, lager, poodle, quark, sauerkraut, wanderlust, yodel, zeitgeist Icelandic: eider, geyser Norwegian: auk, fjord, krill, lemming, narwhal, slalom, troll Swedish: lek, mink, ombudsman, rutabaga, smorgasbord, tungsten Yiddish: bupkis, chutzpah, kvetch, putz, schlemiel, schmaltz, schmooze, schtick, spiel, tchotchke

Slavic Czech: robot Russian: fedora, glasnost, intelligentsia, kefir, mammoth, pogrom, samizdat, steppe, sputnik, troika, tsar, vodka Serbo-Croat: cravat, paprika

Celtic [many of these words are shared between the two languages] Irish: bog, galore, gaol, geas, glen, orrery, shamrock, slob, whiskey Scottish Gaelic: bard, bunny, cairn, clan, loch, ptarmigan, ?scone, slogan

Italic-Romance †Latin: [way too many] French: [way too many] Italian: allegro, aria, balcony, bandit, bravo, calamari, casino, cello, chiaroscuro, crescendo, contraband, contrapposto, fresco, gazette, ghetto, gusto, inferno, lagoon, lava, mafia, malaria, pants, quarantine, tempo, umbrella, vendetta, volcano Portuguese: baroque, brocade, cachalot, cobra, creole, flamingo, petunia, pimento, zebra Spanish: abalone, armadillo, bolas, bonanza, canyon, cargo, chupacabra, cigar, cilantro, embargo, gaucho, guerrilla, junta, manta, mesa, mosquito, mustang, patio, pueblo, rodeo, siesta, tornado, vanilla

Iranian Persian: bazaar, caravan, checkmate, chess, crimson, dervish, divan, jackal, jasmine, khaki, kiosk, lemon, lilac, musk, orange, pajama, paradise, satrap, shawl, taffeta

Indo-Aryan †Sanskrit: brahmin, Buddha, chakra, guru, karma, mantra, opal, swastika, yoga Bengali: dinghy, jute, nabob Hindi: bandana, bungalow, cheetah, chintz, chutney, coolie, cot, dungaree, juggernaut, lacquer, loot, rajah, pundit, shampoo, tom-tom, thug, veranda Marathi: mongoose Romani: hanky-panky, pal, shiv Sinhalese: anaconda, beriberi, serendipity, tourmaline

DRAVIDIAN FAMILY (Southern India)

Kannada: bamboo Malayalam: atoll, calico, copra, jackfruit, mahogany, mango, pagoda, teak Tamil: curry, mulligatawny, pariah Telugu: bandicoot

URALIC FAMILY (Northern Eurasia)

Finnic Finnish: sauna Saami: tundra

Samoyedic Nenets: parka

Ugric Hungarian: biro, coach, goulash, hussar, puszta, tokay

VASCONIC FAMILY (Northern Pirenees)

Basque: chaparral, chimichurri, silhouette

TURKIC FAMILY (Central Eurasia)

†Old Turkic: cossack, yurt Tatar: ?stramonium Turkish: baklava, balaclava, bergamot, caftan, caviar, harem, janissary, kebab, kismet, minaret, pastrami, sherbet, tulip, yoghurt Yakut: taiga

MONGOLIC FAMILY (Mongolia and surrounding areas)

Mongol: horde, khan, ?valerian

SINO-TIBETAN FAMILY (China and Southeast Asia)

Tibeto-Burman Burmese: ?marzipan Tibetan: lama, panda, tulpa, yak, yeti

Sinitic [Chinese languages closely related, not always clear from which a borrowing comes] Hokkien: ?ketchup, sampan, tea Mandarin: chi, dao, dazibao, gung-ho, kaolin, oolong, shaolin, shanghai, yin-yang Min Nan: nunchaku Yue (Cantonese): chop suey, dim sum, kowtow, kumquat, lychee, shar-pei, ?typhoon, wok

TUNGUSIC FAMILY (Eastern Siberia)

Evenki: pika, shaman

KOREANIC FAMILY (Koreas)

Korean: bulgogi, chaebol, hantavirus, kimchi, mukbang, taekwondo

JAPONIC FAMILY (Japan)

Japanese: banzai, bonsai, dojo, emoji, geisha, ginkgo, hikikomori, honcho, ikebana, kamikaze, karaoke, koi, kudzu, manga, origami, pachinko, rickshaw, sake, samurai, sensei, soy, sushi, tofu, tsunami, tycoon, zen

AUSTRONESIAN FAMILY (maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania)

Western Malayan Javanese: ?junk [ship] Malay: amok, cockatoo, compound [building], cootie, durian, kapok, orangutan, paddy, pangolin, rattan, sarong

Barito Malagasy: raffia

Phlippinic Cebuano: dugong Ilocano: yo-yo Tagalog: boondocks

Oceanic Hawai'ian: aloha, hula, luau, poi, wiki Maori: kauri, kiwi, mana, weta Marshallese: bikini Tahitian: pareo, tattoo Tongan: taboo

TRANS-NEW GUINEAN FAMILY (New Guinea)

Fore: kuru

PAMA-NYUNGAN FAMILY (Australia)

Dharug: boomerang, corroboree, dingo, koala, wallaby, wobbegong, wombat, woomera Guugu Yimithirr: kangaroo, quoll Nyungar: dunnart, gidgee, quokka Pitjantjatjara: Uluru Wathaurong: bunyip Wiradjuri: kookaburra Yagara: dilly bag

AFRO-ASIATIC FAMILY (North Africa and Near East)

Coptic: adobe

Berber Tachelhit: argan

Semitic †Punic: Africa Arabic: albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alfalfa, algebra, alkali, amber, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, candy, coffee, cotton, elixir, gazebo, gazelle, ghoul, giraffe, hashish, harem, magazine, mattress, monsoon, sofa, sugar, sultan, syrup, tabby, tariff, zenith, zero Hebrew: amen, behemoth, cabal, cherub, hallelujah, kibbutz, kosher, manna, myrrh, rabbi, sabbath, Satan, seraph, shibboleth

NIGER-CONGO FAMILY (Subsaharan Africa)

unknown: cola, gorilla, tango

Senegambian Wolof: banana, fonio, ?hip, ?jigger [parasite], karite, ?jive, yam

Gur-Adamawa Ngbandi: Ebola

Kwa Ewe: voodoo

Volta-Niger Igbo: okra Yoruba: gelee [headgear], mambo, oba, orisha

Cross River Ibibio: calypso

Bantu Lingala: basenji Kikongo: ?chimpanzee, ?macaque, ?zombie Kimbundu: ?banjo, Candomblé, gumbo, macumba, tanga Swahili: askari, Jenga, kwanzaa, safari Xhosa: Ubuntu Zulu: impala, mamba, vuvuzela

KHOE-KWADI FAMILY (Southwest Africa)

Khoekhoe (Hottentot): gnu, kudu, quagga

ESKIMO-ALEUT FAMILY (Arctic America)

Greenlandic Inuit: igloo, kayak Inuktikut: nunatak

ALGIC FAMILY (Eastern Canada and northeast USA)

†Proto-Algonquin: moccasin, opossum, skunk Cree: muskeg, pemmican Mikmaq: caribou, toboggan Montagnais: husky Narragansett: ?powwow, sachem Ojibwe: chipmunk, totem, wendigo, woodchuck Powhatan: persimmon, raccoon

SALISHAN FAMILY (Pacific coast at the USA-Canada border)

Chehalis: chinook Halkomelem: sasquatch Lushootseed: geoduck

IROQUOIAN FAMILY (Eastern North America)

Cherokee: sequoia

SIOUAN FAMILY (Central USA)

Lakota: teepee

MUSKOGEAN FAMILY (Southeast USA)

Choctaw: bayou

UTO-AZTECAN FAMILY (Southwest USA and north Mexico)

Nahuatl: atlatl, avocado, chili, cocoa, coyote, chocolate, guacamole, hoazin, mesquite, ocelot, quetzal, tamale, tegu, tomato O'odham (Pima): jojoba Shoshone: chuckwalla Yaqui: ?saguaro

MAYAN FAMILY (Southern Mexico and Guatemala)

Yucatec Maya: cenote, Chicxulub

ARAWAKAN FAMILY (Caribbeans and South America)

†Taino: barbecue, cannibal, canoe, cassava, cay, guava, hammock, hurricane, iguana, maize, manatee, mangrove, maroon, potato, savanna, tobacco Arawak: papaya

CARIBAN FAMILY (Caribbean coast of South America)

unknown: curare Galibi Carib: caiman, chigger, pawpaw, peccary, yucca

QUECHUAN FAMILY (Andes)

Quechua: ?Andes, caoutchouc, coca, condor, guano, jerky, llama, mate, poncho, puma, quinine, vicuna

AYMARAN FAMILY (Andes)

Aymara: alpaca, chinchilla

TUPIAN FAMILY (Brazil)

[borrowings are often shared between these two languages] †Old Tupi: ananas, arowana, Cayenne [pepper], jaguar, manioc, piranha, tapioca Guarani: cougar, maracuja, Paraguay, petunia, toucan

CREOLE LANGUAGES (worldwide, mixed origin)

English-derived Chinese Pidgin English: chopstick, long time no see, pidgin, taipan Jamaican Creole: dreadlocks, reggae

Chinook-derived Chinook Jargon: potlatch

EDIT 08-01-24: added lots more examples, especially African, Asian, and North American languages. Still not done. EDIT 17-01-24: finished adding examples, more or less. EDIT: 18-02-24: apparently not (cheetah). EDIT: 20-05-24: nope (mosquito); 30-06-24: jerky, mukbang, cello, glockenspiel, hodgepodge; 06-06-25: marzipan, lagoon, contraband, artichoke

[forgottenthreads]

Diaspora

An idea from an existing sci-fi novel

If humanity manages to get over their -isms and -phobias and gene editing was cheap easy and relatively unregulated what would humanity look like?

There's the relatively mundane, changing hair colour or type or having Tattoos that are done by gene editing the skin to grow or express a different colour.

The common place but currently impossible cosmetic changes, people getting traits transplanted from animals being that in Neko form or full furry.

The wanted but experimental, better innate abilities, strength, speed, stamina, intellect, or senses.

And then there are the bizarre, going fully aquatic or avian, changes to physiology that stretch the definitions of human.

In Greg Egan's Diaspora the varieties of human are so wild that communication between all the variations is like a game of telephone but it made me realise that in that situation the differences of skin colour or sexual preferences would be small potatoes.

I want more stories where the differences among humanity are wider and more varied than those many sci-fi stories have between their alien species.

[ina-nis]

I disagree with the so-called "severity continuum hypothesis" - the idea that AvPD is just a more extreme form of SAD, or that its simply the long-term effect of SAD that's been left untreated. There is ample evidence to suggest that AvPD commonly exists in the absence of SAD.

It doesn't surprise me at all that those who suffer from SAD are more commonly prone to developing AvPD - hence the 60% stat.

However other studies have shown that only a third of those with AvPD meet the additional criteria for SAD. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5848673/#__ffn_sectitle

As one of the other commenters pointed out. AvPD works totally differently to SAD in that it only really causes anxiety within the context of interpersonal relationships and close personal relationships. Those with AvPD do not necessarily experience anxiety around complete strangers as pwSAD do.

In other words, SAD is active all of the time, and inhibits nearly all social interaction. Just walking down the street, or going to the shop, or talking to a stranger on the telephone triggers social anxiety. However with AvPD, the social anxiety only "activates" when one feels they are too emotionally exposed/vulnerable to rejection, i.e. when a relationship becomes too intimate, or the person feels they have exposed to much information about themselves, or they feel they've become too emotionally attached.

Basically AvPD boils down to the fear of intimacy, fear of attachment, fear of emotional vulnerability due to the belief that they will be rejected, and a fear of the pain caused by feeling rejected, due to heightened rejection sensitivity. From my understanding pwAvPD can handle general surface-level, day-to-day social interaction without much issue as long as interaction is only superficial. Its only within the context of interpersonal relationships and deeper social connections that problems arise.

SAD as a social phobia makes it difficult to even go out in public and causes someone discomfort by even being in the presence of most people, especially people who are unfamiliar. It causes a person to avoid all activities which bring them into contact with people. pwAvPD tend to have much better social functioning, they just isolate themselves from any deeper connection with others as its relationships that cause anxiety and not general interaction.

Overall SAD is much more basic as its rooted in an irrational fear response, same as any phobia. Whereas AvPD has layers of complexity that surpass that of a basic phobia and is usually rooted in the combination between direct traumatic experiences as well as individual personality traits/temperament. I think the additional complexity of AvPD means there's a lot more variability of the condition.

Those are just my own thoughts. I strongly believe I suffer from both SAD and AvPD, however I've never sought professional help and have never received any form of therapy or diagnosis. So I only know what I've tried to figure out for myself. (x)

Emphasis mine, this about sums up my feelings on the Anxiety X AvPD issue.

A lot of people think they might have AvPD when they actually have some anxiety disorder. They might never know unless they treat the anxiety first. That’s what I did, that’s how I found out I have a personality disorder. It’s careless and irresponsible to say “AvPD is just severe social anxiety” when they’re very distinct disorders. It makes the lives of people like me much harder because I’m basically out of treatment options, since everything out there is to treat Anxiety & Co. when anxiety is the least of my problems...

It might seem, because SAD is “active all the time”, it would lead to poor prognosis in treatment, but it is that fact that makes it “easier” to treat: you find the triggers, and you work through them. That’s why therapeutic approaches like CBT and exposure/desensitization are generally effective. A broader issue that responds to broader treatments. That’s how you treat phobias, and it’s good they usually respond to treatment.

Trauma can cause both conditions, but the way trauma works in the development of them is completely different.

I remember writing about this before a while ago... about how anxiety feel very “external”, in essence it’s a phobia, depends a lot on environmental feedback and external factors, it feels very conditional too. It can be quite simple to pinpoint triggers and find the root causes, whatever trauma or other experiences that may have led to it. Whereas for a personality disorder, the process is more “internal”, something causes changes in a person’s own self, it shapes a person’s personality and life on a much deeper level. Even when you know the root causes, it’s hard to treat because it’s not that “something is wrong” and more like “someone is wrong”, to put it bluntly.

To me, the most striking difference is the treatment outcomes.

Anxiety disorders generally can be managed and treated successfully. There’s medication and many different treatment options to choose from.

Personality disorders are extremely difficult to treat, even with medication and different treatment options.

I have tried all kinds of treatments I could think of for anxiety issues and while they did help with them, they only aggravated my personality disorder so... to conflate one with the other is not only wrong, it’s harmful for people looking for treatment. It’s too bad most professionals don’t really care enough to differentiate them.

I had to bring AvPD up in therapy myself because it was not even considered a possibility. Even now I’m not sure if my therapist believes that to be the problem. Maybe they just think this is some sort of Quiet BPD (they love to misdiagnose people with BPD!), or “just” CPTSD even though most my symptoms are more related to a PD, or “just” SAD even though I do not show many SAD symptoms anymore.

A misdiagnosis will just be their way of showing I’m “untreatable” and no doctor will ever take me or my issues seriously ever again. I’ll never receive the treatment or help I need. That’s not the case with anxieties, but it’s often the case when someone shows up with PD symptoms.

Just a disclaimer: I’m not downplaying anxieties or people who suffer from it. SAD, GAD and other anxiety disorders can have a devastating impact. I know sometimes treatment doesn’t work, among other things. I have SAD myself, I have spent many years suffering with the brunt of it. It really sucks, it’s not super easy to treat or manage, it took me a very long time (and a lot of work) to get where I am today. I can say most my anxiety issues are in remission, but for all purposes, anxiety is still something I have to bring up to receive the support I need since everything else is neglected or ignored.

[mosviqu]

moots as songs pt 2?

ive had this in my inbox for like over a week now but i needed to be mentally ready to answer this because i take this very seriously TT

@8aji : tú - maye / feather - sabrina carpenter / quiero estar - bratty / you're on your own kid - taylor swift / oh caroline - the 1975 / moonlight - kali uchis

@csenke : berry - sunwoo / best friends - 5sos / it's all futile! it's all pointless! - lovejoy / talk too much - coin / telephone - waterparks / love virus - giuk, sunwoo / sunny day - beabadoobie

@heephoria : mon amour - gemini / invu - taeyon / drowning - woodz / hope to be like you - woodz / vicious - sabrina carpenter / in bloom - zerobaseone

@luvstvrss : boyfriend - dove cameron / wish you'd make me cry - upsahl / valentine - laufy / shameless - camila cabello / honey - kehlani / 505 - arctic monkeys

@decembermoonskz : thank you - treasure / jet black heart - 5sos / phobia - stray kids / small worlds - mac miller / imagine - ariana grande / bring by boring brick - paramore

@sungbeam : cruel summer - taylor swift / baby blue - luke hemmings / tornado warnings - sabrina carpenter / closer - waterparks / guilty conscience - 070 shake

@zzoguri : let's! - hoppipolla / love - dean, syd / firefly - n.flying / chocolate - day6 / 21 - dean / naps! - 1415, wonpil

@flowerjun : broken melodies - nct dream / young luv - stayc / ditto - new jeans / forever 1 - girl's generation / sorry, heart - nct dream

[bracketsoffear]

The Premature Burial (Edgar Allan Poe) "The story consists of a number of grisly anecdotes about people who undergo premature burial, as told by a nameless, cataleptic narrator who suffers from a constant, crippling phobia of being buried alive due to his rare medical condition. As the story switches from anecdotes to the narrator's own personal experiences, he suffers no physical harm but begins to dream of death and premature burial. In one case, during a cataleptic trance, he hears a voice telling him to sit up before it speaks to him of the agonies of night and death. It asks him how he can sleep so peacefully when so many of the dead do not rest easily."

"Chatter-Boxed!" (from The Haunt of Fear) (Graham Ingels) "An elderly man begins to suffer from catalepsy, which makes him appear to be dead when he is not. He leaves instructions to be buried with a telephone if he "dies", allowing him to call for help lest he regain consciousness. There's no way this plan could go wrong, or so he thinks…"

SPOILERS BELOW CUT

Sure enough, he is buried after having an episode behind the wheel and does exactly that, only to find every phone line tied. After futilely trying to get a call through and finally running out of oxygen, the operator angrily snaps at the man's blue-faced corpse for being ignorant of what's just taken place: the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The story is set in December 1941.

[ernmark]

An OFMD fic I'd like to see:

Wee John runs afoul of a hex or whatever and finds himself turned into a cat.

This leads to him running to Frenchie for help, because Frenchie is knowledgeable in such matters, sure that he can help.

After discovering there's a bit of a language barrier, he goes to Buttons to translate-- Buttons doesn't speak Cat, but Olivia has a passing understanding and does her best to pass along the general idea.

Which results in a game of telephone bouncing between

One incredibly distraught cat/man

One struggling seagull

One inscrutable Scotsman

One bard halfway through a very confusing panic attack as all his phobias are suddenly validated in the space of one conversation

[noahhasbeensummoned]

FACT OF THE DAY

Telephonophobia is the fear of telephones

Huh. Yknow- that's the only phobia name ive heard that actually makes sense!

[eliza49-7190]

This is a Steggy Secret Santa gift for Sosoane1, who likes domestic fluff, but also angst and working through trauma together. Happy Christmas, Sosoane1, from your Secret Santa - hope you like your present! 😀🎄🤶

Summary: He had come back because he wanted to see her, but she did not owe him anything, and it was up to her to decide where they went from here, if they went anywhere at all…

“Don’t you dare leave!” Peggy admonished fiercely, and they stared at each other, startled.

“Okay,” said Steve cautiously. “I’ll stay.”

(A short, fluff-centric story about a joyful reunion, our hero finding comfort after battle, and a mild case of telephone phobia.)

Read it on AO3 here.

[arcxnumvitae]

13, 26, 37 (Minglian)

@lunarxdaydream || Character Development Questions: Hard Mode || Accepting!

13. Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?

Not really, or at least not in a way like a phobia of blood. She's not necessarily upset by the sight of it, but she would be concerned about the source if it's with another person. Basically, it's just a signpost to be wondered whether someone's injured. Granted, she hasn't come across a lot of blood or worrying wounds since she's often around her dragon companions, and even small cuts and things heal quickly. So she's also not used to having to worry about seeing blood either.

26. How does your character behave around children?

Minglian thinks they're the cutest things! She's a natural around them and she's absolutely the kind of person where if a random kid walks up to her holding out a toy telephone, you better believe she's taking it and pretending to answer it. Some of her other dragons are a bit weird around kids because of inexperience, yet Minglian herself doesn't have that issue. Maybe it's despite her youth, or perhaps because of it.

37. Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?

Honor. What does she care about status in the long run? Honor seems like it pertains to personality and things of actual merit worth caring about. Status is something that happens irrespective of how good a person you are or not, or how bad. She's not much concerned about that.

[imsodunwiththis]

“Npd abuse” is not real but your trauma is

If you see something you don’t like BLOCK it don’t report it

Name: dunndy or dunny

People who are recovering may find my blog triggering ⚠️ (mentions self destructive behavior, suicide, intrusive thoughts, mentions of suicidal actions)⚠️

Don’t ask anyone for a doctor diagnosis! It is none of your business and it’s not up to you wether it is valid or not

(Post here)

I kind of rant/vent on this blog but I also do research on mental health topics and I also talk about life lessons I’ve learned

‼️I DO NOT HAVE AN EATING DISORDER‼️

(My healthy weight is 82-90 lbs I am 4 feet and 11 inches tall. I am not pro ED or thinspo or fat phobic if you do have an eating disorder you can follow me but I do not allow pro ed, thinspo, or fat phobia on my blog and if it is on your blog I will block you.)

Active 2024

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

My diagnosis:

Depression

Social anxiety

ADHD

Misophonia

(I know myself better than you do)

🚫 DNI 🚫

(Do not interact)

If you are going to be rude, unfriendly, or a bitch to ANYONE

Stigmatize mental illnesses

Encourage suicide or self harm or any other dangerous behaviors

Thinspo

Pro ED

Anti recovery

Fatphobes

Yandere blogs (no exceptions)

Believe anyone with a cluster B disorder are “evil” or “bad”

Believe in “narc abuse”

Believe in “BPD abuse”

Exclude schizophrenic and psychotic people

If you think empathy makes you an inherently good person

If you think that people with No or low empathy are inherently bad

Use any mental illness as an adjective

Example: “omg I’m so OCD” (obsessive compulsive disorder)

If you purposely trigger someone (for any reason)

Anti self diagnosing

Use censorship

Example: “your so dilulu”

⚠️ My triggers ⚠️

TikTok

Mental health stigma

Ableism

Sexism to men

Yandere

TikTok

(Go see this post to know only few of the reasons I hate tik tok)

What I DO NOT allow on my blog:

Thinspo

Pro ED

Anti recovery

Fatphobes

Racism

Slurs (some people get upset when they are used but you can use them on your own blog I just want here to be as comfortable as possible)

Mental health stigma

Ableism

TikTok

Using any mental illness as an adjective

Purposely triggering someone (for any reason)

Toxic positivity (post here)

Encouraging suicide or self harm or any other dangerous behaviors

Toxicity

Anti self diagnosing

Anything Yandere related (post here)

(Yanderecore, irl yandere)

I think I should mention that if you aren’t currently in recovery but aren’t anti recovery you are allowed here.

This is a safe space for anyone

💬Crisis text/call line📞

988

Other things about me (you can scroll past this if you’d like

I love:

Music

Jokes (and I rarely get offended by any jokes)

The moon 🌙

The (real history) of the Salem witches

Animals

Archery 🏹

1923 (Yellowstone)(TV show)

The 1920s

Old record players

Old telephones

Old TVs

Old computers

Typewriters

Trains/train tracks

Psychology

Old pianos

Edgar Allen Poe

Edvar Munch

My favorite colors:

(post here)

🟨Yellow🟨

🟩Green🟩

🟦Blue🟦

⬜️Gray⬜️

My favorite animals are:

Wolves

Birds (specifically the balled eagle)

Bulls (specifically long horn bulls)

Dogs (specifically the Yorkshire terrier, Irish wolfhound, Maltese, Alaskan malamute, German shepherds, golden retrievers, basenji, Aussie shepherd)

Cats (specifically the Maine coon)

I am open to talk about anything

The ten personality disorders

Cool forest with a wolf pack

Don’t know what this post is but it felt important

Attention punk flag

My header image was drawn by me

My pfp was drawn by me

[persephone-nymph]

On the Wikipedia page for telephone phobia and…

[chevvy-yates]

If this company keeps making things worse I'm really going to start looking for a new job.

They announced just now we creatives get work phones as well because of the continuing integration with customer processes.

That I have a telephone phobia no one's asked before.

No thank you.

[novascotiaducktoller]

racism and fatphobia are interlinked, even when youre a ‘healthy’ weight, and its such bullshit.

i was checking my medical records through the nhs app, and i found out today that the GP had recommended i lose 7kg to get to a ‘healthy’ weight.

now, im not gonna put numbers down for my own mental health, but my bmi is firmly in the ‘ideal’ range. my collarbones, ribs, and hipbones are clearly visible. i have very little excess fat, and people who look at me have said i look borderline underweight. i also have a history of restrictive eating. bottom line, if i lost 7kg, i would be very unhealthy.

yet this doctor, who has only ever had telephone appointments with me, has recommended i lose 7kg. because i am mixed race. the NHS recommends that anyone who is not white have a lower bmi, because of diabetes risk. completely ignoring that there are MANY socioeconomic factors that can contribute to diabetes risk, and that ethnic minorities are more likely to be affected by those risks - nope! let’s just focus on one tiny factor and tell everyone who isn’t white that they need to be close to underweight to be healthy. yeah, thats such a good message to tell people who might have mental health issues or are suffering from food insecurity! let’s completely ignore that i have no family history of diabetes and have basically perfect bloodwork - im not white, so i need to lose weight! (sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell.)

im gonna speak to them and get it removed, but it’s absolutely disgusting how blatant the racism and fat phobia in the medical system is.