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Distinct Conversationalist
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 Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:40 pm
Well, I was reading The Kite Runner the other day, and I realized something- Aeru is a lot like Assef. At least in my mind. And Chris actually acts as if he's been sexually abused. (bit of an unconscious response on my part- I kept wondering why he never did anything, and it turns out that I accurately hit him 'till he didn't get up any more)
Okay, granted, we get a real different view of Aeru than we do of Assef- we see how his love and abuse of power turns brittle and futile and more or less breaks him, but... yeah.
So, I was wondering- what does psychology say about your characters' reaction to trauma? Yes, it would be nice if people did some research here, and I'll just say that... I don't always believe in doing it by the book. I have plenty of characters that really don't end up as mentally scarred (or end up more mentally scarred) than they should.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:55 am
I know that Shigure has PTSS... err, that looks wrong... Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome? I think syndrome is wrong there. Um. Anyway, he has it.
Usually, I don't go out to make a character tramatised or anything. I just do the trauma and then whatever happens happens. I encountered PTSS in a book on mental conditions (my librarians must think I'm seriously weird by now, the kinds of books I get out) and realised that it was exactly what Shigure had, and that he was in an appropriate situation to have it, too.
Yeah. I think, if anything, they either have about right or under-developed symptoms, and occasionally the wrong ones. But these days I do do my research on conditions and situations, so they're more likely to have accurate psychology for what they've been through.
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Distinct Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:21 am
Yeah, that would be PTSD- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
What symptoms are you using? There's about a million, and they usually don't all show up.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:04 pm
D! Right! Aha.
It was flash-back nightmares, anxiety and tendancy towards violence, really, though none are really plot points. It's just there.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:59 pm
For some odd reason, the odd woman/it out for my characters with Issues is the Destroyer. Started out as a slightly crazy but otherwise friendly Knight Templar with Genki Girl/ Tsundere tendencies. Being forced to kill and nearly being killed by the chosen of various gods slowly drove her/it to the breaking point, until she/it hit the Break the Cutie mark and decided that the only way to save the world from its own gods was to kill them all and remake the world. She/It only won because she/it's stupid lucky and the somewhat sentient sword Ragnarok approved of the sui/homicidal idea. The thing that caused it to really snap was the fact that the Chosen she/it used to make Asp killed her/its best friend/crush and left her/it for dead. Yes, I know it's not realistic. There's actually a reason behind it. It's called "The sword has that effect on people."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:27 pm
I know full well that Nathan and Vitae should be so psychologically screwed up at the end of MOSI that neither should be able to function, but...I can't bear doing that to them. So Vitae just sort of reverts into an unhealthy state of "lol it didn't happen" and Nathan sort of goes, "Well, they forgive me, so all's well! ^_^"
YES I FEEL GUILTY. And this is how I deal with it.
And I've forgotten all the conclusions I drew about my characters back in high school psychology, so. ;.;
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:35 pm
Actually, I do believe that denial is a common psychological reaction to trauma, sometimes to the point of blocking out memories and crap like that. However, the amnesia bit is a bit sketchy and looks cliche, so I don't think I'd ever use it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:05 pm
Porter suffers from PTSD as well, from when her brother was burned alive (wewt?) So for a while she keeps hallucinating smelling/feeling fire, not to mention far after that, being around an open flame is a no-no. Then there was her whole sleeping around stage in her life which is a little too long a story. ._.;; Takes up half of my novel. xd
Dave is just ******** up from being pretty much locked in a closet and neglected for three years of his life by his mom. Mostly he has trememndous difficulty with interacting with people, has a distrust of women (not to mention a skewed perspective on what love is) and clinical depression. Sort of a shut-in, as it were.
That's where most of the psychology comes in, mostly because I conjured up these characters with the intention of them not being completely well in the head. Dave got the short end of the stick, to some extent.
My other characters have their own ******** ups, Amy will do pretty much anything to feel safe and secure, including ******** up someone else's life, Haedin is progressively losing his mind, etc., but there isn't much specifics in psychology on them, and the trouble these issues cause are more part of the story than what caused the issues.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:16 pm
Well, I think Randy has that condition that is generally characterized by freedom from worry or stress. I've forgotten what it's called, and I know it's sort of in the same hazy area as amnesia.
Mynt's got some sort of complex. Him and his need for so many and varied lovers has got to have a name.
Thyme is effed up because of his brother raping him. I think he's got some form of denial. He simply refuses to have anything to do with anything that has a p***s.
Sage is a sadist.
I'll come back with more when I think of them . . .
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:59 pm
That thing with Randy, the word you're looking for might be a variety of sociopath, something like that... lol Yeah, no. Not really.
But... that could be part of being a sadist. And I do believe the bit with the lovers has got a name, I just need to steal my mom's MSDS IV diagnostics book and look it up.
Denial is like "it didn't happen. At all. I have no problems because IT DIDN'T HAPPEN *shoots up 7-11*". What you described would be... I don't know. My brain is fried on adrenaline. Whee.
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Distinct Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:20 pm
I do a lot of research when giving my characters psychological conditions. xd I guess it's because I just like reading about that kind of stuff.
The only character that's really screwed up is my main, Nik. He has all sorts of little problems. His worst is probably PTSD, the whole pack: sleep terrors, nightmares, petrification or emotional breakdowns around fire, even getting so bad that he flinches at the mere mention of the word. The same event that got him stuck with PTSD, as well as the poor support and care he received in the orphanage he was sent to after it, left him with some serious emotional instability, but I guess it ties in. Anger, depression, detachment, the "whole deal", if you would. xd
A few other secondary characters also have some problems, but they aren't as drastic. Rudiger and Ralph have a type of OCD; Austin, narcissism; Johannes, anxiety.
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Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:45 pm
Psychologically, if writing about bad things happening to the imaginary people in my head helps me to not do them to real people, it's probably good for society.
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Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:00 pm
Kita-Ysabell So, I was wondering- what does psychology say about your characters' reaction to trauma? Yes, it would be nice if people did some research here, and I'll just say that... I don't always believe in doing it by the book. I have plenty of characters that really don't end up as mentally scarred (or end up more mentally scarred) than they should. Psychologist weighing in here! Trauma and reaction to it is wildly variable, and there really aren't any hard or fast 'should' reactions. The same event can shake one person to the core but roll off another like water off a duck's back, and until the trauma happens it's often completely impossible to predict which end of the reactionary spectrum any given person will be on. As long as you keep internally consistent about how your character is reacting and explain why, rationally, in character they'd be reacting in that way... it's still relatable to the reader.
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 6:42 pm
My Cal don't have PTSD, I'm not quite sure yet what he may have. I know he's going(because I haven't writen anything down) to have a tramatic experience. In his real world when he's not having violent fits he'll just be sitting in a chair, looking out a window and murmering to himself, or at least until the very end.
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Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:28 am
I see that PTSD is a pretty popular one... and my Charlie's got it too. He copes with his by pretending that he's in a video game.
Also, a lot of my characters have weird disorders like OCD or ADD or Anxiety/Panic Disorder, some have depression and one was bipolar once. That was tough to do, because out of all those things, its the only one that I don't have, and I was going off the way my best friend reacts to things, and what I'd read on it. Bipolar is just exhausting...
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