Forums » RP Discussion » Can I Be Honest? (Disorders in RP)

Edit: Forget it

I understand where you are coming from! There are peopls who just look up disorders and try to do an acurate representation, but it doesnt work well. thats why i only act out disorders i know well. Like ADHD, severe anxiety, and depression, because i have those. Thus, i can play it more accurately. Although not all people are the same, so sometimes you have to represent the disorder a bit differently for each person.

I might burn myself saying this, but i honestly feel the same.
I can understand when the disorder is an unavoidable or nearly so effect of a success or particularity of your character (IE: A war veteran with pstd, a phobia causated by a traumatic event, a person who's been many years in a constant situation of abuse or outcast developing depression.). Even more, I don't mind if a character having a disorder if this is actually a relevant thing to explain their behavior and attitude towards conflicts if it IS well played.

But what really pisses me off is when people treat these disorders as an accessory, something to make their characters more "oh so special and unique". And more, when the traits are there to deliberately justify the characters actions or wrong doings. I have a psychiatric disorder diagnosed since my chilhood. During my whole life I have never shielded any of my faults behind it, and I have dissuaded people of doing so. People I know with mental disorders, no matter how grave or light, usually don't want a special treatment, they just want to be treated like anyone else. When people think that things like depression, ADHD, PSTD, and any disorder really is a cute little accessory to make their characters more unique and quirky, and don't care about the actual downsides and troubles they bring, I myself find it distasteful.

I kind of went a bit rantey here, so I'd like to clarify I'm most times chill about this kind of things (making horrible jokes about horrible things is probably one of my greatest talents (?)). Is just that this is an issue pretty personal to me...so I guess it kind of gets under my skin a bit more :'DUu

As someone who has a mental disorder themselves, I have to agree with you... Mostly, not completely. I see characters with mental disorders as a normal part of life, and at least one person someone knows may have one. When it comes to playing characters with mental illness or issues, like someone else has said, I usually stick to what I know from experiences with myself or someone I know who has a certain disorder. It's great for character development when played well and doesn't take over the whole of the story.

However, there's a difference between a person diagnosed with depression and still having a smile and relationships regardless of it, and some mopey thing whining about their life every few sentences and distancing themselves from other characters while saying it's their depression talking. The latter I tend to stay away from because that kind of "behavior" is stereotypical and harmful to those who actually have it. Also, I can't work with a character who's gonna keep distancing themselves and crying "depression" as an excuse no matter what any of my characters say to them to get them to talk more and mope less. It stagnates a story and gets old real fast. Yes, depression causes people to keep away from others, but not everyone who's diagnosed with it experiences that kind of symptom. (And from my own experiences, nine times out of ten those types mix IC and OOC often to earn some sort of attention. I can always be wrong, but I've yet to see the counter to this.)

Though I love people who can bring depth to a character with mental disorders (and there are those who do it well), I think you can kinda tell when people see it only as a "quirky" or "cute" accessory and not something actually meaningful that helps develop character. That's from my own experiences with roleplayers who have characters suffering from mental illness.

Now, knowing all this, does this stop me from playing with people who have characters with mental illnesses? No. Hell, I have a character with a small illness and a decent explanation for it, but that's not who he is as a person. I'm not playing his illness, I'm playing him. All in all, I understand where you're coming from, and yes, it's a pain in the butt to see these types everywhere that have no idea what they're doing or just see illnesses as adorable accessories to make a character more uber extra fantastic and special. But I'm not really biased about playing with mentally ill characters, as long as they're played well.

Edit: Forget it

You could just tell them that it makes you uncomfortable, or maybe politely refuse and then direct them to some resources to try and help them write the mental disorder more realistically? They might accuse you of being rude, but honestly, I think that using serious illnesses to primp up your character with little regard for how these illnesses actually work and affect real people is way more irreverent.

That said, there's lots of people who write about mental illness from a point of experience, and everyone's experience is subjective...it's a difficult line to toe without getting too personal.

i've noticed that mental illness in character personality traits is used a lot as a scapegoat for people who have an inability to explain why their characters behave the way they do, in RP communities at least, where there's a certain sense of 'is my character going to be appealing to my target partners'.

e.g. i want to have a character who is dark and brooding and asocial and, by proxy, rude and unlikeable, so i give them several extensively defined and compartmentalized mental illnesses that i can't even begin to relate to as opposed to just being like, "y'know what, he's just kind of a dick".

personally, all of my characters have issues and problems with varying levels of severity and intensity when/if they bubble up. i prefer to keep everything very muddled and very undefined. it's all more fun that way and seems less like i'm just slapping comic sans labelmaker stickers on their foreheads.

Here I come to play the devil's advocate, but hear me out: roleplay has always been a tool for self-actualisation and exploration. There are a lot of people on this site that are exploring themselves and growing and people tend to overlook that; it's supposed to be an outlet and honestly I don't think anyone is intentionally trying to cause hurt. Personal experience and feelings are subjective and I think it's human to search for meaning and apply it -- even if it's incorrect or too gauzy and Hollywood burlesque, it's a starting point at least.

There are definitely some gauche clichés and laundry lists out there, but I don't think the trend should be discouraged, I think further exploration and learning should be encouraged in its place and that providing resources and raising awareness will create more realistic characters with more depth and precision. I'd say rather than approach people one-on-one, compile resources and information as a masterpost and allow them the opportunity to develop their babes further with confidence.

Actually, this. I love this. You put it more eloquently than I could. I agree that characters with mental illness is always a touchy subject, but it's a subject that can be RPed out nonetheless. I can never say there's a right or a wrong way to RP out a mental illness, but I have to say that ultimately, it's their ideas. Some just need the proper research to be able to harness that potential.

Edit: Forget it

yes, definitely, i concur with this. it helps to not feel so alone, sometimes, if we create friends to walk along with us.

you're all very sweet, thank you lovelies.
I will help find some resources as soon as I can!

Interesting topic indeed, and one I've always tread carefully on!

Generally I've always given my characters a couple of mental quirks that I may share myself and usually no biggie. But I have one who is an absolute basketcase with many, many things wrong with his head.

And many of the things he has, I have as well, only his are far more extreme. Easy enough for me to imagine that.
However, the parts that I have never experienced, I did my research on. And not just googling what they were, but I went in and read studies done, how certain meds affect the condition, actual chart notes of patients with the disorders, accounts of people with the disorders, ect. I know even with all this research I'll never know what it's truly like, but I get as close as I can cause I'm a sucker for realism in my fantasy.

I think as long as people at least research what they're trying to portray it's all well and good. It's when people play something based off an assumption of what they think they know that bothers me.

Not adding onto anything previously said because I agree with pretty much all of it.
One thing I see a lot however, is people misinterpreting 'phobias' with 'fears.'
There is a HUGE difference between having a very strong fear/dislike of something and having a crippling phobia.

Imho as long as it's mostly understood, I feel like it gives more depth to the character. Especially considering that most people have at least one or two mental disorders

Edit: Forget it

I had to go to four different psycologists(is that how its spelled?) To get diagnosed with my ADHD because it took that many tries to distinguish it from high functioning autism.

as someone who has high functioning autism that was initially misdiagnosed as adhd, i kind of hate it when everyone is saying they're autistic? no. no you aren't. stop self-diagnosing and get a certified psychologist to tell you whether or not you have it.

and now i feel a lot better having just said that and vented.

Oh, I guess I've been lied to... sorry :c

PsycHologist, but that does sound like a terrible run-around you went through :<