#the popular response

[tirsynni]

Possibly one of the most disturbing things about a current fandom trend is that I've seen the build-up to it. Right now, no matter where you look, you'll see a growing wave of characters needing a "diagnosis." They need to have a mental/physical health label. They need to have explanations regarding their behaviors, ie, the increasingly popular "I see this character acting this way and thus I am confident they were abused as a child." As I saw one person describe it, every character needs pathologized.

Mind you, if you want to write a character as autistic, ADHD, etc., that is fine. Perhaps you have a diagnosis and want your comfort character to have it, too. Perhaps you want to explore something or just mess around. Whatever. I don't care. It's when people insist on it, make a diagnosis mandatory, insist that their perception of the character with this diagnosis is correct, etc., that it gets disturbing.

While I'm aware that many people are frustrated with the social services and mental health field -- and I completely understand, as I work in these fields and I know how messy they can be -- and turn to the internet for assistance and self-diagnose themselves when official diagnoses seem beyond their reach, I'm also very aware how dangerous this practice is. I've seen this practice grow online to the extent that every behavior has to be pathologized. No matter what anyone does, there is a diagnosis attached ("Ah, this person is so distractible, so clearly they have ADHD") or a specific history (the ever popular "This person MUST have had an abusive family growing up").

I love whumping my characters. I love using them to explore different things, including mental health issues and trauma. (Hell, one of my current LoZ fics has some inspiration from some recent training and me wondering about the character's unique background and if that would increase or decrease vulnerability to certain things.) Sometimes, I'll do my research to try to have symptoms and behaviors at least in the ballpark of correct. This is all fiction, though. When everything is colored through these lens, including how one perceives fictional characters, things become dangerous.

One big rule in the social services and mental health fields is that you are not supposed to diagnose clients. Ever. If a professional looks at a client and arbitrarily decides that they have such-and-such diagnosis, that forever colors how they perceive the client and thus opens the doorway to them mishandling the case, putting their own biases on a client, recommending the wrong care, etc. It can lead to them dismissing many of the client's statements because it doesn't align with the perceived diagnosis. This includes the decision of "I have no actual information about this person's past, but based on their behavior, they must have had an abusive home environment." This can lead to the professional changing how they interact with the client, the client's supports, overlooking other -- possibly dangerous -- factors, etc.

Humans aren't that simple. If someone is displaying a certain behavior, many things could have caused it. Humans are too complicated to decide that "Oh, yes, obviously this occurred in their background." That's absolutely not how it works. That's the damned Sherlock Syndrome in action. Many, many factors affect how people act and react, and the insistence that obviously this behavior must be caused by this is downright disturbing.

When a diagnosis is being made in a professional environment (if the person is, in fact, a qualified professional and actually good at their job), part of the process includes ruling out other factors. Many children have been diagnosed with ADHD when, in fact, they are suffering from sleep deprivation and stress. By treating it as ADHD, they are allowing the other unhealthy behaviors to continue and give the child medication they don't need. Adderall affects people with ADHD and people without ADHD very differently, for example. The professionals are also supposed to have standards to increase the chances of the correct diagnosis. Is the patient tired and distracted? Did something happen this morning which could affect the client's normal behaviors and throw off the assessment? Is there something about the person doing the assessment which is affecting the results? It's like trying to do a medical assessment and constantly getting high blood pressure because the person is afraid of the doctor's office.

I've also seen people tag a character with a diagnosis, and not only is the character themselves unrecognizable, but they end up writing a crude parody of the diagnosis itself. They read less like a character and more like a caricature. The writer went online, did some quick research, and ended up with a character who might as well be a token character on a sitcom. It ends up being actively insulting by the end. In the instances where it's done well enough so it isn't 100% insulting, you still have an unrecognizable character due to the person preferring their perception of what the diagnosis would/should look like rather than the wanting to write the character in question. (Mandatory note: if you want to write someone OOC, no problem. Just recognize that, in order to make them fit your preferred mold, you did write them OOC and not insist that yes, they are completely in character and everyone else is in the wrong for saying otherwise. It's fanfiction. Write what pleases you. Just don't insist that it's something it's not.)

All of this also dramatically simplifies the mental health field. It simplifies the various issues into something you would see in grade school. It simplifies medication and therapy into miracle cures. It reduces the insanely complicated human brain into a child's puzzle. "Ah, this person has this, so they will display these behaviors. Makes sense." "Ah, this person is struggling with this. Give them a therapist and they'll be good as new!" Like, I can imagine that someone is dealing with Stuff in real life and want to write a fic where the character does find a miracle cure. As previously stated, no problem. Just don't insist that everyone else needs to perceive what they wrote as real life miracle cures. That's not how it works, things are more complex than that, and no size fits all, especially in the mental health field.

I've seen it online for a while now: people enthusiastically putting their entire diagnosis up for everyone to see, people merrily slapping labels on themselves, people looking at every video and going, "Oh, I do this!" People insisting that everyone needed a diagnosis slapped on them and, if they didn't have a diagnosis, they were clearly in denial. They pathologize themselves, their behaviors, everything around them, and now one of the first things they do when discovering a new favorite character is ask, "What is their diagnosis?"

This post isn't meant to discourage people from researching their own needs and their own mental health. It isn't angrily forbidding people from writing characters how they want them. It is a statement that the mental health field, humans in general, human brains, mental health, etc., is far more complex than "Oh, I have this diagnosis, so I have these symptoms and here is what I need to do!" It's stating that there is a difference between being aware that someone has certain behaviors and responses and pathologizing everything a person or character does. It is stating that sometimes it is very, very easy to go from "I headcanon this character as this" to "If someone looks/acts/etc. this way, they obviously are this." If these actions are your go-to, then you might want to take a step back and breathe for a bit.

...it's also a tad frustrating as someone with a diagnosis, as someone who works in this field, to see someone tagged as ADHD and being a sitcom stereotype or seeing therapy solve everything. Write whatever you want, but have some self-awareness when writing.

...it's also funny that I see the tag "medical inaccuracies" but never see a tag about "mental health inaccuracies." Hmm.

[ask-moon-and-pebbs]

Hello guys! Whats it like being giant supercomputer AI? Do you feel really big all the time?

[rotisseries]

who wants to hear my absolutely stunning ideas for atla soap opera aus

[wombywoo]

I have no idea if I've asked this before, so if I have, deepest apologies 😭

Your GhostSoap is so pretty! I was wondering if you'd be open to drawing any other COD ships, like AleRudy or NikPrice! Heavy on NikPrice, I adore them and there's nearly nothing on them 😢

If not, that's totally understandable! I love all the tiny details in your work, they make it all feel more real. Hope you have a good day!

hey there! no worries, I don't think anyone's asked this before actually..🤔

this may be a *controversial* answer, but truthfully, the only ship I care about is ghostsoap 😔(soapghost, ghoap, Jimon™️, etc...)

I adhere to the ancient laws of otp in that they are the only two losers I care about being in love :'D sure, there are other ships that I can acknowledge and potentially enjoy--but for now, I'm contractually obligated to wave the flag for these bastards only ✌️

thanks for your kind words, regardless <33

[courtney-deserved-better]

*stares off into the distance* what do you MEAN alenoah isn't a rarepair anymore??

[worstloki]

Love seeing fics from 2012 that make Loki a vindicated blorbo and Thanos the main villain for the Avengers. They were correct

[bumblebeerror]

Gotta say man. I am not enjoying how quick a lot of dsmp folks were to go “all men are abusers” in light of allegations. Don’t y’all know your terf and radfem rhetoric?? Women can abuse. Queer folks can abuse. Mentally ill folk can abuse. That shit isn’t exclusive. Let’s maybe not give men a new “boys will be boys” to hide behind ey?

[laismoura-art]

Sareena: MY boyfriend is too tall for me to kiss him on the lips, what should I do?

Hanzo: punch him in the stomach, when he doubles over in pain, kiss him :)

Kia: Tackle him!

Jataaka: Kick him in the shin!

Bi-Han: NO TO ALL OF THOSE! JUST ASK ME TO LEAN DOWN!

Later:

Bi-Han: You knew what you were starting when you suggested that.

Hanzo: Don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about, my dear in-law :)

Bi-Han: >:(

--------------------------------------

Again, this works in any scenario, but I had "Be My King" in mind.

[blonde-and-cat-suc]

Catra being anxious and having panic attacks over the bad things she did is actually counter productive to any hypothetical scenario where she is self reflecting and/or receiving constructive criticism.

Her potentially having crippling anxiety over being an asshole in the past PREVENTS and/or DELAYS any changes she might potentially make.

Making this character spiral over moral dilemmas does not inherently mean she’s actively working to change her ways. Her being afraid of facing her badness does not make her good; it simply means she has anxieties toward constructive criticism/dialogue.

[snivyartjpeg]

character who is the equivalent of a prized chew toy

[rjalker]

[ID: A cartoon-like version of the handshake meme. One arm with dark skin wears a white shirt labeled, "Human it/its users". The other arm is filled with a photo of the stars in the night sky, and is labeled, "Nonhuman it/its users". The hands clasped in the center are labeled, "being epic". The background is solid grey. End ID.]

[average-dilf-enjoyer]

angel and husk are not going to die and huskerdust will become canon because people would be mad otherwise. it won’t be good for vivziepop or amazon if people don’t like their decision because it’s bad for the show’s reputation and the company.

killing off the literal abuse victim just for drama is fucked up, i can’t imagine vivzie doing that. and killing off the first person to treat him like an equal? that’s arguably worse. she said that angel and husk are very important to her, and honestly angel seems more like the punching bag character than anything. she’ll torture him and make his life as hard as possible but she won’t kill him.

if huskerdust doesn’t become canon after viv practically confirmed it and the ship name has been used in marketing for the show? that’s just flat-out shipbaiting and people would be pissed. i know i would be. i think they could have a really great romance, angel dust deserves real love and husk seems willing to provide that. they could be great friends, of course, but an expectation has been set now and if they don’t live up to it the fanbase is going to be really disappointed.

when you’re making a show, making one wrong choice can make or break its reputation. viv knows that. she has talked about killing off a character, but that was a while ago and she never so much as implied it was going to be angel or husk. i know you guys like to make everything an angsty miserable shithole but you could try not assuming the worst for once.

[sannyo-appreciation-posts]

so what actually makes sannyo your favorite character? what do you see in her that you don’t see in other characters

this image:

Im just kidding. Though she is really cute in it.

Truth be told, when UM came out I thought Sannyo was Super cool. Her "You darn fool" expression was probably the best expression in the whole game. but somehow, when the full game was out, she wasn't my favorite. I liked Tsukasa and Megumu and thought Chimata's outfit was crazy fun.

Though even then i preferred Sannyo's outfit design to everyone else's.

But Sannyo slipped from my mind due to what I'll call "Stage 3 syndrome" meaning, after the demo, Everyone likes the 3 stage demo characters for a while and pick a favorite among them, but when the main game comes out they get pushed aside really quick and people, more or less just move on to the new characters

But when I read her power and stuff in her Omake.txt she quickly became the coolest character in there. Of course she's a newer stage 3 boss so I obviously never expected to ever see her again.

(Though tbh my dislike of the smell of smoke probably wasn't scoring her any points, she was honestly at a disadvantage the whole time. I just like her enough to think it's cool when she's using her power instead. Besides, given what she says it's made of, it probably just smells like strange flowers anyway)

But then despite my assumption I'd never see her again, She appeared in Lotus Eaters chapter 29 and continued to appear occasionally after, Not only that......

She had the COOLEST, most cinematic intro in the entire touhou series. It was like 5 pages of slow walking through her Den politely greeting people, using her power, and even making aside comments with cynical gambling advice. Then meeting Mamizou at the door with a confident bow.

she's also got a crazy gap moe range of interests from obscure flowers to Dragons, proudly wearing the name Madame Komakusa, the after what is called the queen of Japan's alpine flowers.

And a crazy range of emotions. (Plus Lotus Eaters loves having her do something fun or cute in the background during her shift hours, even if the script dialog isn't calling for her)

she's mysterious, yet she's as expressive as an actual main character, she's got a range of principles, interests, and an incredibly cool gap moe thing going on. It's so rare for characters that were more or less side characters in their respective games to be this well rounded, I mean she's from freaking stage 3. But, She's awesome, adorable, and mysterious.

And it's not even a headcanon, or a fandom take on her, she is just genuinely like this in canon.

[oifaaa]

Even though Dick is the youngest of the oringal Titans, he was still the most experienced and the 1st sidekick! I think your comic is really funny, and those fics bug me as well, but I had to say Dick is widely regarded as THEE first child hero, I have to rep my man and straighten facts. Hope this didn't irritate you and take care!

Oh don't worry friend I am well aware that Dick was the first side kick but I think its also important to point out that doesn't matter bc both speedy and kid flash existed before the justice league formed so no matter what if Batman is introducing Robin to the justice league atleast a couple of them would already have kid sidekicks which was the point of the comic

[rahabs]

This Horror Which Bleeds [ read on A03 ]

He'd known, realistically, that Lilith was gone, and that she'd no intention of coming back. The knowledge didn't make Lucifer anymore prepared to find her mark engraved on the Radio Demon's soul.

Charlie asks her father to check in with Alastor after the hotel's reconstruction. In the process, Lucifer makes a discovery, and things get worse before they get better.

[rosepompadour]

Playful and coquettish, she was the goddess of the Rococo. If a woman wishes to be regarded as beautiful and attractive, she should try to look like Marie Antoinette.

Stefan Zweig, Marie Antoinette