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scorpihoe1111 · 1 month

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Astrology Observations: Part 3🎀🩷

Mars aspecting the ASC can give the individual a dominating demeanor, but also mainly depends on which aspect. Ex: Harmonius Aspects (trine/sextile)=Straightforward, honest, stand their ground, strong boundaries, not one to be pushed around. Harsh Aspects (square/opp)= Aggressive, domineering, rude, blunt, obnoxious.

(TW: Death) Your 8H sign and planet may tell you how you pass away. Ex: Gemini moon in the 8H= Lungs, breathing problems, asthma. Moon= emotional turmoil, stress, heart break etc

Asteroids like Medusa (149) or Aphrodite (1388) can show you what people envy about you, what they admire, where they may attempt to bring you shame etc. Ex: Medusa in the 1H can attract envy over their appearance, their aura and demeanor. People could attempt to “humble” these individuals often. Aphrodite in the 2H can make others admire your money, your possessions, may wanna know how you have what you have so they can have it too.

Aphrodite (1388) can result in people not just admiring wherever the house it’s in, but also being malicious and petty over it since they feel they deserve it more.

Lilith in the houses is similar to this, and can result in those around you being annoyed when you do things in regards to the house and sign it is in. Ex: Sagittarius Lilith in the 2H= people could be upset when you relax, when you have fun, when you don’t play by made up rules and standards, when you’re genuinely happy, when you have nice things, when you take a break, when you indulge etc, because they have this mindset of “I never got to do that/have that, why should you”. Lilith in the 1H= people getting annoyed that you may be beautiful and they’re not, painting you as a villain because you’re pretty.

Cancer moons are surprisingly really good with holding boundaries with people in their lives. These people can be lover girls/boys, for sure; but they refuse to let people take advantage of them. Their love, effort and care is reserved for those who will appreciate them in return.

(TW: Mental Health) Take this with a grain of salt since it’s just an observation and not a fact, but those I’ve met with a combo of Scorpio/Gemini in personal planets in a chart are usually diagnosed with BPD, while those I’ve met with either Virgo/Aries/Gemini in a chart combined have usually been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder/OCD. 12H and 8H stelliums I’ve also met have had some sort of mental illness such as BPD or Schizophrenia.

Jupiter in the 1H, Sag/Pisces risings and/or Jupiter aspecting ASC/personal planets usually manage to get out of difficult situations easily. These people easily attract the help they need, the resources to do what they need, the money to get them where they want to be; very easily. Even when people with these placements/aspects get in trouble they usually manage to make it out very easily as well. Jupiter blesses and makes lucky anything it touches.

People think that Mercury in the 1H might usually talk alot about themselves, and while that may be true; it’s also true that they simply attract people who love to know about them and ask questions in regards to them. Mercury 1H individuals seem to be interesting to others and peak others curiosity about them. Others find them fascinating, thus constantly asking questions about them.

On the other hand, Mercury 3H individuals may be very close with their siblings, or their siblings can be popular/known/famous which could make the 3H person known for their siblings. This results in the 3H person consistently hearing about their siblings, getting asked questions or discussing topics in regards to their siblings. Same thing with school, this person may have either really good or really bad grades in regards to school so their main conversations with others could be in regards to school topics.

A Virgo rising individual at their worst can be obsessed with popularity/attention/validation (Leo 12H) amongst their peers. They may not come off that way, and they themselves may not even know that they secretly love being in the center. Without realizing, they subconsciously try their hardest to be the best at everything, the smartest, the prettiest/handsomest, and when at their lowest they have no issue with taking down others who they deem threatening to their spotlight. They can also be secretly judgmental of those who they deem to be lesser, or not as attractive than they are.

Similarly, I’ve noticed Scorpio Risings at their worse can be very jealous and insecure individuals as well when it comes to appearances/validation. I’ve noticed this in women with this placement mostly, but when they’re at their lowest/undeveloped, they’re the type to only be friends with or surround themselves around people they think are worse than they are whether appearance, status, popularity wise etc. Undeveloped Scorpio rising females can be very competitive and refuse to have someone who’s possibly better than they are around them, since they don’t want to be compared to the other person or not chosen/not the favorite.

Libra moon’s are the people that start the drama and then say “I don’t like drama” lol. What they really mean is they love it, as long as they’re not involved

If you find that you always have bad experiences with those whose signs fall in your 11H, check your sidereal chart. Odds are your 11H sign in your western chart is the 12H sign in your sidereal, which would explain the bad experiences.

Aquarius women are always so successful in everything they do, I’ve rarely met an Aquarius woman that doesn’t have their shit together in every category. They’re giving face, body, money, career, healthy love life and social life etc. The men on the other hand…

Yes, those with Saturn in the 7H have a hard time finding the one. They go through years of cycles and repetitive situations in love but those who find their person find their FOREVER person. People with this placement may be the last to be in a relationship/get married amongst their peers, however they’re usually the happiest and most successful once they do compared to friends or family who just hurried up and settled and usually separate/divorce. Saturn 7H’s standards and boundaries may also seem to high or unrealistic to those around them, but they’re just asking for bare minimum. It only seems that way to others around them because they were raised in a group or environment that had no standards low key.

The good thing about 2H stelliums is that you attract money, possessions and success super easily. The bad thing is that those around you could ONLY see you as your success/money, and may try to bleed you dry of what you have and take advantage. Strong boundaries and not being overly giving is recommended with these placements.

Mars in the 12H can attract people who are secretly aggressive or hostile towards them. They may never know someone is holding a grudge on them and they may attract secret animosity or competition as a result. May have issues with male figures in their life and won’t even know it.

Jupiter in the 6H, especially with Cancer or Libra there; get along with animals sooo well. These are literal pet whisperers and it’s rare for them to not have at least 3 cats/dogs. They love animals more than people sometimes.

Part 4 will be out soon. 👏🏻

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serialunaliver · 3 months

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How can narcissistic personalities result from trauma?

While narcissism as a personality trait has existed for a long time, there is an increasing amount of people who associate the term the diagnosis "narcissistic personality disorder". I have put this in quotes because I believe cluster B personality disorders should not exist as diagnoses because they stigmatize maladaptive personality traits developed in response to trauma, and this stigmatization hinders a victim's ability to seek support and advocate for themselves.

I am a child abuse victim diagnosed borderline personality disorder with narcissistic traits and this post is based on a combination of research and personal experience. As mentioned above, I am opposed to referring to victims as narcissists, but for the sake of this post, I'll be using phrasing recognizable to people with misconceptions about the topic. Please bear with me.

Childhood trauma is a common contributing factor in cluster B personality disorders even in the psychiatric diagnosis; however, when most people think of these disorders, they think of an abuser and not a victim, especially in the case of narcissism--after all, the term 'narcissist' is a pejorative with synonyms such as 'conceited' and 'self absorbed'.

In order to grapple with the source of a narcissistic personality developed in response to trauma, you must first be aware of what narcissism in NPD is actually like. These narcissists are not supervillains who successfully gain the love and support of everyone. Narcissism holds you back in life. For example, it makes rejection and criticism especially difficult to deal with, which can make maintaining relationships or even having a consistent career difficult. The confident demeanor of a narcissist--while it lasts until narcissistic collapse--is not genuine self-love. It's a way to mask vulnerability to avoid harm that was inescapable in the past. A narcissist is significantly more self-conscious than the average person, as they must inflate themselves in every scenario in order to feel safe and secure. This is where we can see the internal suffering of a narcissist and how such a personality is, at its core, a defensive reaction to trauma.

But what about entitlement?

"I deserved the pain." Self-blaming response to trauma.

"I deserve better". Healing response to trauma.

"Others deserve worse". Vindictive response to trauma.

While narcissism is associated with the last response, it's entirely possible for narcissists to have escalated from the first, or even cycle between all three. You have to keep in mind a narcissist is not actually in love with themselves--but in order for a person to be entitled, you may be thinking they must see themselves as superior in some way, right? Well, it's more complicated than that. Different responses to trauma can arise depending on the person's life experience, past trauma, and current situation. Interaction with victims that have similar trauma, such as in a group therapy setting, can provoke a narcissist's view on vulnerability. With their perception of the world and human relationships, they may view other victims as weak if they appear to have a more 'sensitive' reaction, because this is the type of reaction narcissists try so badly to hide in themselves in order to avoid potential harm. If a narcissist views an abuse victim--or anyone, really--as 'weak' in comparison, they will feel wounded and experience vindictive jealousy when a person that triggers their vulnerability in some way has successes in life. This is where the sense of entitlement comes in. As a defensive reaction, narcissists try to convince themselves they are in some way more deserving of a better life. "A better life" for a narcissist, as developed through trauma, often involves some sort of power. This can lead to fixation on things like wealth, fame, and material items. Anything to appear 'better'. Anything to appear secure. Any way to feel in control and invincible from abuse.

It's not a sympathetic reaction to trauma, but it is equally painful and damaging as any other. If you are a victim with this sort of behavior, you're not "hopeless" like the internet will tell you. At age 25, I have not intentionally caused anyone pain in 6 years. The vindictive feelings are there, but I choose to back away when I feel I may involve others in my own pain. "I don't deserve it, but neither do you."

#ok to rebwog #i'm having uh. Troubles lately so I wrote this thing #seriousposting

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necroromantics · 1 month

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How To Write ASPD / Psychopathy

half educational, half ramble. dedicated to the creepypasta fandom.

(check out my how-to-write bipolar + ticci toby here)

What is ASPD?

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is characterized by a disregard for others rights and feelings. It's a personality disorder, which means the mindsets and behaviours associated with this condition are deeply ingrained and maladaptive.

The current DSM-5 diagnostic criteria states that to be diagnosed with ASPD, a patient needs to have a long-term (occurring since at least age 15), consistent, and persistent history of three or more of the following:

failure to conform to social norms; repeatedly breaking rules/laws that may be grounds for arrest

deceitfulness; lying, tricking others for personal gain

impulsivity or a failure to plan ahead

irritability and aggression; fighting, hostility, outbursts

reckless disregard for the safety of self or others

irresponsibility; repeated failure to comply to work or financial obligations

lack of remorse; being indifferent to or rationalizing having mistreated or hurt others

ASPD, by definition, can only be diagnosed in people who are 18+. Minors cannot have ASPD due to treatment and intervention reasons. A minor who exhibits traits of ASPD will be diagnosed with Conduct Disorder.

At it's core, though it may seem like people with ASPD are just hostile and insensitive and rude, is a defense mechanism formed in childhood, typically in response to an abusive environment. Self-preservation and a "dog eat dog world" mindset are very common in those with ASPD. Everything is about doing what it takes to retain social dominance, control, and ultimately safety. Boredom and risk-taking is also very common in people with ASPD, and many people with this condition have never had proper, healthy influences in childhood to teach them proper manners, social norms, morals, or how to regulate their emotions and aggression.

It is a chronic condition that affects about 1-3% of the population. Its very prevalent in the prison population as well. ASPD not only causes a person to potentially cause harm to others, but is a condition that very negatively impacts the patients themselves.

(Note: The term "sociopathy" is typically used to refer to an extreme presentation of ASPD. "Psychopathy" may sometimes be seem as a very very extreme presentation of ASPD)

What is Psychopathy?

Psychopathy refers to a set of traits/issues that might be seen in patients. It is NOT a diagnosis. If psychopathic traits cause dysfunctional behaviour in an individual, they will most likely be diagnosed with ASPD.

Psychopathy is now most commonly used in research settings to use it as a term that describes certain patterns and behaviours. It is something professionals study, not diagnose.

The traits related to psychopathy are:

manipulative behaviour; superficial charm, persistent lying, deceiving others

grandiose sense of self

lack of remorse or guilt; lack of empathy, callousness, shallow emotional expressions

reckless lifestyle; need for stimulation, parasitic (constantly takes from others), lack of realistic long-term goals, impulsivity

antisocial behaviour; poor behavioural control, early behavioural problems, trouble with the law in youth

Not all psychopathic people fit the criteria for ASPD, not all are disordered by their traits, and not all people with ASPD are considered psychopathic. But there is a very big overlap.

Psychopathy is typically only recognized in a forensic or research setting. It is often wrongfully used in the media to describe people who are serial killers, abusive, or used to dehumanize others.

Personally, I believe that media and creators need to move away from the terms psychopath/sociopath. They have far too much negative connotation that only exists to demonize people who suffer with unconventional traits. If you want to write psychopathy correctly, do your research on what it looks like in its presentation, and just drop the label.

What are some harmful tropes with ASPD/Psychopathy in media?

ASPD and Psychopathy have been tossed around in many different settings as ways to cheaply create an evil villain, or a cold calculated monster, or a reckless criminal. There has been only one instance in my lifetime of watching hundreds of movies and shows that I have seen an accurate, humanizing portrayal of ASPD. (That show is House MD by the way, I highly recommend if you want to see good representation).

So what are some of the tropes to acknowledge and avoid?

1. Psychopathic serial killer

Have you seen American Psycho? Great movie. Don't do that. While the character Patrick Bateman is commonly associated with the terms "narcissist" and "psychopath", he also is a satirical character who is a very dramatized and exaggerated presentation of some psychopathic traits.

I will be honest. A lot of real-life serial killers do suffer from various mental health conditions, but correlation is not causation. In the Creepypasta fandom we are surrounded by different characters who are almost all serial killers, and people like to make things easy and just throw the label of "psychopath" onto them and call it realistic. This is very cheap, and very harmful.

If you want to write a psychopathic serial killer character, then acknowledge how harmful, fear-mongering, and dehumanizing this trope is towards people who actually suffer from these traits.

2. ASPD synonymous with abusive behaviour

ASPD is a disorder that does cause people to do and say things that will harm others in some way. Cluster B personality disorders are commonly seen as 'social disorders', as in they cause dis-order in interpersonal relationships, and in response to society. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) for example may cause somebody to threaten harm to themselves in response to percieved abandonment, or to have intense fights due to emotional dysregulation.

ASPD in particular may cause someone to be insensitive towards others problems, lack morality, be aggressive or hostile, put others down, or get into reckless situations. This is why they are disorders. Because they cause significant and serious problems in the persons life.

It is not pretty, and it's not fair, and yes, people with disorders may cause harm to others due to behaviours associated with their condition. But there is a difference between causing harm, and abusing another person.

Lying to someone is not inherently abusive. Being reckless is not inherently abusive. Being an insensitive asshole is not inherently abusive. To not understand the nuance and the complexity of these situations is to completely demonize and stigmatize a serious mental health condition. You don't call people with BPD abusive for their actions inherently, because you acknowledge they are hurting and only doing what they know to cope with this hurt. Of course it's unhealthy. That's what a disorder is. That does not make someone abusive by default. Anyone with any condition, even neurotypical people can be abusive.

3. Cold, emotionless robot

People with ASPD can and do feel emotion. People with psychopathic traits can and do feel emotion. They get sad, disappointed, disgusted, happy, excited, jealous, hurt, angry. There is nothing in the ASPD criteria that states anything about emotional presentation or experience.

In psychopathy, it is mentioned that there may be a shallow emotional expression. This may also be present in ASPD. This means that while a person will feel emotions, it is either beat down or brushed off, or completely repressed. The emotional repression may come from childhood abuse where they were punished for expressing emotions, or expressing emotions had caused them harm.

Lacking emotions/emotional expression is instead highly linked to Schizoid Personality Disorder, and is apart of the criteria for said disorder.

Media protraying people with ASPD/psychopathy as cold, emotionless, calculating robots is another trope used to dehumanize people with mental health issues. It's used to make people with ASPD seem evil or not having feelings that could be hurt. In reality, nearly everything a person with ASPD does, is their dysfunctional way of protecting themselves from being hurt.

People with ASPD may lack the emotional capacity for things such as empathy and remorse, though. Its common that they are unable to care for, or feel upset for others suffering. They may also be unable to feel guilt. This criteria is seen in about 51% of people with ASPD and is associated with more extreme presentations.

Do you headcanon anyone to have ASPD?

Yes, but I don't like to use the label on them. I do write a lot of antisocial mindsets into my headcanons for Ticci Toby, and I heavily write ASPD into my OC, Tobin.

For Toby, his presentation of ASPD comes in the form of rebellion, not understanding/following social norms, recklessness, and a strong desire for power, dominance, and control. I write this as his subconscious response to the trauma he faced in childhood. As a child Toby was constantly put down and made to feel small and powerless at the hands of his father. In order to make sure his father abused only him and not his mother and sister, Toby would act out and be a troublemaker. I think that he would have a lot of ASPD behaviours and views on the world.

For my OC Tobin, he's pretty similar in presentation in regards to power/control, and not following social norms. He is very prone to justifying and rationalizing his behaviours to the point he doesn't feel remorse for the harm he causes. Tobin grew up in a very unstable and abusive environment where, like Toby, he did what he needed to do to get by. He never learned proper morals, norms, regulation, etc. But Tobin does care about others. He takes care of his little sister, and loves his girlfriend, and is very protective. Tobin is still a complex human being with more to him than just being an antisocial insensitive prick.

How can I write a character with ASPD?

Do proper research. Not on Reddit, or Quora, or WebMD. I mean go find trusted, scholarly articles and read real scientific papers and studies on ASPD. Do research into how/why it forms, the mindsets, the symptoms and their presentation, the neuroscience even.

Humanize your characters. While it's fun to throw around a bunch of negative and toxic traits to a character you want people to see as 'bad', it's lazy character development. Give them good, positive traits as well. People are very complex, and nobody will fit in to the mold of good or bad. Make them human enough where someone wont look at your character with ASPD and assume everyone with ASPD are monsters.

But also, don't water down the disorder. ASPD does cause harm to the patient and the people in their life. I've seen it a lot where people will try to fight against stigmatization by completely glamorizing the disorder. "People with ASPD aren't inherently bad! They don't actually hurt others or act hostile or say insensitive things"... Yes we do. And it causes many problems. And that is why its a disorder.

Personally I don't like to throw the ASPD label onto my characters even if I do write them to have ASPD because I feel like it just boxes them in. If you write a character with ASPD, try doing it in a way where a professional would be able to tell they have ASPD without you even mentioning the label.

Remember that ASPD is COMPLEX. It varies vastly in its presentation, its a disorder that is life-consuming and the dysfunctional beliefs and behavioural patterns are deeply ingrained and consistent throughout many different areas in someones life. It's a label to describe preexisting issues. It's something that is highly associated with childhood trauma, and drug addiction, and general suffering for the person dealing with their own chaotic mind.

The biggest problem I see that frustrates me is the way people throw around the terms "psychopath" and "sociopath", especially when someone just wants to add a layer of edginess onto their character. Remember that you are dealing with a condition that real people suffer from every day. If you can't handle it respectfully, and if you would demonize someone with ASPD in real life for acting as your character does, just don't write it in. Keep the label separate. We don't need any more stigmatization and misinformation.

I know this was very long, but it's such a multifaceted and complex issue and I've seen it enough times in the fandom to be frustrated enough to write this. If you have any questions, want more advice or information, please feel free to ask away in my ask box 🔥

#tombtalk #creepypasta #creepypasta fandom #creepypasta headcanon #ticci toby #clockwork #ticci toby headcanons #creepypasta ticci toby #jeff the killer #creepypasta jeff the killer #eyeless jack #creepypasta art #creepypasta headcanons #creepypasta oc #creepypasta fanfiction #aspd #antisocial personality disorder #cluster b #writeblr

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thegreatwicked · 1 month

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Writing Resources Part 2

My first list was so long I decided that I reached the character limit! So we have a part two! I'm going to try and keep them a bit more organized too! Hope these help you all in your writing endeavors and if you happen to use any of them try to give the original source some love!

Also, apologies if I've tagged you more than once and it's annoying! If I reference your material more than twice I will just link your whole Tumblr. I really do want to make sure everyone gets their credit and spotlight!

General Information and Research:

The Fantasy Guide to Royal and Noble Marriages or anything by @inky-duchess Her blog is extensive and is a wealth of information regarding things like royalty/nobility/Period social politics and is a fantastic resource, go check her out! Ink I do appologize I might be tagging you more than once!

@type1diabetesinfandom This blog is an amazing resource if you are interested in writing about characters with any form of diabetes or similar health issues. It was ana amzing find when I was writing my character Belladonna Black from Shadows of Deception who is hypoglycemic. What an amazing source!

How to Cook in a Medieval Setting: by @alpaca-clouds Food is the best way to know a culture and this particular blog post is a trove of information for your fictional foodie set anywhere in this spectrum of time or a great find for a fictional setting! This post obviously gets a chefs kiss!

The Symbolism of Flowers by @novlr Yeah! Leopold knew what he was talkign about, every flower has a meaning and it is entirely possible to send some a bouquette that translates to 'Fuck You' btw it consists of geraniums (stupidity), foxglove (insincerity), meadowsweet (uselessness), yellow carnations (you have disappointed me), and orange lilies (hatred). it would be quite striking! and full of loathing. THE MORE YOU KNOW. This blog is also a fantastic source for writers.

Writing About Body Pain by @slayingfiction I just came across this gem of a blog and if you're one who likes to make your characters sufffer than look no further, also, how ya doing? You ok? Just checking. This blog is also a fantastic writing resource.

How to Accurately Describe Pain in Writing by @hayatheauthor kinda piggybacking off the previous source but nevertheless lets make sure we make these characters suffer realistically? I'm ok too, if you're wondering. This is another great blog that focuses on the aspect of being a writer.

How to Use Canva to Make Mood Boards by @saradika I did not know much about mood baords but I'm telling you they are a gaem changer! They bring a life to your story in a way that is just so stunning and saradika has been so lovely as to make this helpful guide! She's also a very talented writer and is quite the Star Wars Fan! GO check out her stories!

Researching as a Writer by @so-many-ocs Research is a tricky topid to delve into and sometime sit hard to know where to start, this blogger has been so kinda as to make a bit of a roadmap to help you narrow down what you need to research and how. Wonderful blog! Very helpful!

Resources for Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters by @thecaffeinebookwarrior THIS! This right here is a gem and the only reason I don't write these types fo characters is because I've never known how to do so respectfuly and realistically! Not a problem anymore! Also a wonderful artist!

How to Write and Research a Mental Illness another gem from @hayatheauthor again if you're going to wrote a character with a mental illness lets make sure we get it right!

@namesforwriters It's little but a wonderful source of unique names for your story! Including mythology and music themed names!

Nightmare Disorder vs Night Terrors by @redd956 Some great clarification from a blogger who is diagnosed! So happy I found this as I was wondering about the distinction myself for a little while!

Types of Gemstones by @blueboxbeagle and brought to my attention by @keffirinne

More will be added to this post as I find it and if you find anything that fits the general research on broad topics or specifics please let me know so I can continue this collective writing resource! And make sure to give some of these wonderful writers and bloggers some love!

#writing resources #writing research

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macsimagines · 10 months

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what about alpha!kisaki, like do you think his yandere tendencies would be worse if he was an alpha? you’re very consistent btw, I love your blog 🥹🫶

(Finally Alpha!Kisaki <3!!! Thanks for the request and compliment this will be one of the last ABO requests I do so I'll try to make it good. Also I feel like an ass because I went overboard on this one... oops can you guys tell I have a favorite)

Yandere!Alpha Kisaki

Met you through a Rut Aid service. Sort of...

Kisaki was taken aback when he presented as an alpha. He was pleasantly surprised and was at first excited to be apart of an elite. Then his ruts hit and apparently they're out of control.

After a few doctor visits he's diagnosed with over producing dominate pheromones. Its apparently common when a young Alpha is surrounded by other very strong and dominate Alphas.

Because he is so much younger than most of the gang members and finds himself in a leadership position his body is trying to overcompensate.

When his ruts hit is when domineering pheromones' overproduce and cause him to have hyper aggression and feral behavior. His room was in complete shambles and he actually tried to fight his own parents.

Its decided he will be going on intense suppressants and will be having his ruts at a private facility where he will be supplied with artificial omegan pheromones that should calm him down.

They don't. Nothing fucking works for years and years. He's an adult now, and not one thing has helped. He just eats suppresants like they're candy and prays to god he can keep it together.

Nobody else notices his issues though. He keeps it under wraps and when he needs to rut, he usually has his lackeys prepare him a special room.

He's almost killed omegas that volunteer to help him through, he hopes one will actually work but they all smell like shit and his Alpha just wants to rip them to shreds when they get too close.

Then comes a new service that provides alpha's with fresh real omegan scents for their rut. If he likes one then he send his own scented item in. If you're a match you two will begin an anonymous pen pal service.

The idea appealed to him, because he was a very dangerous and private man. He needed his anonymity. It was worth a shot at the very least...

They send him a box of samples filled with items like plushies or sweaters (some freaks send their underwear wtf-)

Kisaki has gone through at least 4 boxes and he's about to give up when he stumbles upon a hoodie. Your hoodie. With some inane cartoon or video game (insert favorite cringe character here)

He throws your bag across the room hard as he can because he's so annoyed and it snags on the edge of the table and rips. Then he smells it.

The most perfect soothing calming thing he's ever had the pleasure of smelling in his life. And its your hoodie. He buries his face in it, drinks it in like its water and he's been dying of thirst.

Oh yes, thank fuck, dear god. You're perfect.

If he had a little more restraint he'd be embarrassed at how fast he comes that night. He's not even in rut but he's fucking his own hand like he's 12 again...

Calls the service the next day and tells them he's incredibly interested in your items and wants them all. Exclusively. He also asks (demands) for your personal profile.

They tell him "Thats not how this works sir." and he almost burns their headquarters to the ground, but decides against it. He has to be smart and safe about this. He can't loose his omega.

Plays along with the service, has his best cashmere sweaters and silk shirts sent out to you.

Its a match! Of course it is. You're all but mated to him at this point, and its decided then that for your heats and his ruts you'll be exchanging scented items.

While that happens he has his men infiltrate the company and find you. Finally gets his hands on your information and wants to puke.

There's nothing wrong with you, its just the circumstances.

You suffer from a pheromone diversion disorder and a pheromone deficiency. Your body has a hypersensitivity to alpha pheromones causing you reject the majority of them and your body produces a miniscule amount of omegan pheromones because of being unable to handle others.

Its like you were made for him. His perfect match...

You're younger, and poor. At least by his standards. He can't stand the fact that you send him your cheap shirts and sweaters. Not because he finds it to be pathetic, but because he knows you deserve better. You need what Kisaki, your alpha, can provide.

Lets you go through one heat with his scented items and gets a letter from you explaining how thankful you are.

"You were the only alpha to like my scent, funny right? Saved my butt though, your smell was the only one I liked too."

Kisaki decides that's it. He's gonna make you his Omega soon. He's got an imported collection of hand crafted luxury collars on the way, you'll pick one out when you're ready he just wants to have them prepared and he plans a meet cute.

He had his men tracking you for weeks, since the first time he found out your name and address. Knows you like to just listen to music and walk in the park. You'll bump into each other, smell one another on accident, and fall in love.

The guy is so dedicated to this that he even wears casual clothes, (Vicuna Wool isn't casual you pompous shit), and when it happens he loses himself for a moment.

Your shoulders brush, your eyes meet, and for once in fucking years, he feels at peace. He doesn't even say what he was planning on saying and you take the lead (that wasn't supposed to happen shit-)

"Uh, heya stranger," you smile at him cocking your head, "Smell'ya around?"

This was easy, you two hit it off. You make it easy... Your personality is incredibly calm compared to his own highstrung one. The only problem is that he doesn't want to wait. He needs you now.

Fate is finally on his side, and you ask about the item exchange. He says "What if we just...Shared our heats and ruts together.

He has you convinced it's a good idea. When else will you meet an Alpha whos smell you actually love?

The key to his plan. You're going to bond Kisaki. He's going to get you so high on his over production of pheromones that you're going to go feral and bite him right on his mating mark.

You'll wake up after your heat and feel like a total monster, while he's on cloud nine. That was the best week of his life, his knot felt so at home snuggly inside you...

Kisaki will comfort you. Tell you its not your fault, that he should've done something... Don't worry baby, he knows you'll take responsibility.

#yandere tokyo revengers #yandere kisaki tetta x reader #yandere kisaki tetta smut #yandere kisaki tetta #yandere kisaki

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transmutationisms · 6 months

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i've been hearing a lot on anti-psychiatry/reframing diagnosis and symptoms/etc (including from your blog) but i feel like im missing a baseline of information to delve in that discussion. do you know some good sources to learn the 101 of what psychiatry is, how diagnoses are "discovered"/labeled, etc...?

before hearing about the subject i assumed mental illnesses/disabilities were the result of a recognizable cause (in the same way covid is caused by contact with the virus, or some form of blindness caused by problems with the optic nerve) but it seems that is not the case.

also, not a native english speaker, don't know if im using the correct vocabulary for this.

this is a very common misconception, and one that's very useful for the legitimation of the discipline of psychiatry. in truth, genomics and neuroscience have not identified a biological cause of any psychiatric diagnosis (p. 851). psychiatric diagnoses are not made on the basis of neuroimaging or neuroanatomical differences (none have been consistently or strongly observed as defining or causal characteristics of such diagnosed conditions, and neuroimaging datasets, such as by fMRI, are prone to be interpreted in highly varying ways by different researchers), nor with bloodwork or indeed on the basis of any other biomarkers; the 'chemical imbalance' theory of diagnoses like depression has been thoroughly debunked. instead, these diagnoses depend on clinicians' observations of patients' behaviours and affect. this in itself doesn't automatically constitute a damning critique (we rely on subjective judgments of things all the time), but it does mean that attempting to stake the psychiatric discipline's legitimacy on the identification of biological aberrations is at best misleading at and worst fraudulent, not to mention essentialist.

none of this means that psychiatry or psychiatrists are 'making up disorders from nothing', or that people's distress / symptoms are unreal. psychiatry certainly can and does pathologise behaviours that would be more productively understood as responses to traumatic experiences, capitalist political conditions, social oppression, &c; in these processes, it should be understood as a means of producing bourgeois notions of social order & then enforcing them. the fact that psychiatric diagnoses are not made on the basis of, nor do they correspond to, specific biomarkers or biological 'types', doesn't make mental / emotional / affective suffering any less 'real' than any physically observed counterparts.

as for texts that will give you some groundwork on psychiatry, i would recommend Anne Harrington's Mind Fixers: Psychiatry's Troubled Search For the Biology of Mental Illness (2019) and Andrew Scull's Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry's Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness (2022) and Psychiatry and Its Discontents (2019). all three of these are heavily focussed on the usa, which is generally overrepresented in historical and sociological literature on psychiatry; however, i still think these three texts are useful starting points for getting introduced to the history of psychiatry and broad contours of critiques of the discipline. i've also posted a longer anti-psychiatry reading list that has more texts focussed on other national and international contexts.

#psychiatry

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kuiperoid · 18 days

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Dark Grey Matter: Neurodivergence and the Goth Experience

[originally posted here]

Alternative subcultures have existed for nearly as long as human society. Modern examples include the flappers of the 1920s, the beatniks of the 1950s, and the hippies of the 1960s. These alternative subcultures have been defined by music, literature, fashion, and film. For those outside of these subcultures, it may be unclear what would make one wish to exist in a group that is not part of the norm. While there are many factors for each individual, it is clear that neurodivergence plays at least part of a role for many people. For the case study, I will be using the goth scene, being a member myself and because it is both newer and longer lasting than some of the others, being what to subcultures as water is to liquids, if you may. There have already been analyses of specific post-punk musicians and their neurodivergent diagnoses - Gary Numan and David Byrne being autistic, Danny Elfman with his ADHD/OCD combo, and Blixa Bargeld being synesthesic, not to mention speculation about countless others. This is not one of those. The musicians are important, but this is more about the members of the subculture as a whole, whether they produce music or not. This is also not to say that every goth or person in any given alternative subculture is neurodivergent or that every neurodivergent person is involved in an alternative subculture, just an observation on the overlap between the two.

To start us off, let us focus on what is typically seen as central to the goth subculture: the music. There are currently a myriad of subgenres of goth music: darkwave, deathrock, gothic rock, and ethereal wave, among others. It is sometimes difficult to define goth music as a whole, especially with bands that bleed into non-goth specific post-punk genres, such as shoegaze or industrial and with different terminology being more popular in different regions and eras. A rough definition for all of these subgenres would be a variety of alternative rock music with origins in punk (though some have influence that includes glam rock, synthpop, and even Caribbean-British dub reggae) that typically values minor chords, a heavy bassline that dictates the melody, slower rhythms, mezzo vocals, and artful, often dark lyrics. Why would this genre appeal to neurodivergent people specifically? The initial appeal is the sound. A common comorbidity with autism, ADHD, and other variations of neurodivergence is Auditory Processing Disorder or other differences in sound processing. Those thusly impacted may respond to verbal cues more slowly, be irritated by certain sounds more easily than others, and mishear words more frequently. There are numerous hypotheses to address differences in musical taste and likely multiple contributing factors and differences in audio processing may be one of those factors. While not every instance of APD is exactly the same, it is easy to see how a music genre that focuses on deeper pitches, more pronounced vocal styles, and slower rhythms would aurally appeal to individuals who experience auditory processing differences.

Aside from the way that the music sounds, there is also great appeal in the lyrical content. Certainly, goth bands touch on a variety of topics, from the historical monologues on the World Wars by Joy Division and the Pagan rites of Inkubus Sukkubus to the scathing diatribes of 1980s conservative politics by Sisters of Mercy and the sexual escapades explored by London After Midnight, just to name a few. Across the diverse set of subjects that these bands cover, there is a consistent return to one recurring theme: being an outsider observing an imperfect world. The experience of feeling like an outsider is certainly one that many neurodivergent individuals can relate to. Many neurodivergent individuals are made to feel like outsiders from a young age, often bullied by their peers for their communication styles and told by family members to behave differently, traits they have difficulty controlling. With differences in communication and internalizing the world, it is difficult to make sense of supposed social rules and forge connections. When one has similar requirements to exist happily as others but difficulty obtaining them due to reasons outside of one’s control, it is easy to recognize the world as a flawed place full of inequality and rewards for shallow traits. There is hope for those whose auditory processing differences do not manifest in alternative music, at least not exclusively. Fortunately for youth of today who still feel like outsiders, be it due to neurodivergence or anything else, but still have more mainstream aural preferences, modern pop artists are less afraid of embracing oddity and touching on feelings of isolation. Some may even serve as bridges for those with a taste for multiple genres as some pop artists have expressed an appreciation for goth artists. One now-former member of One Direction previously cited Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures as a primary music inspiration, Dua Lipa did a photoshoot that made an homage to Siouxsie Sioux, and Billie Eilish has been seen performing in an Alien Sex Fiend shirt.

Of tertiary importance to the scene compared to music but more obvious to those not involved in the scene is fashion and makeup. The way that neurodivergent people often do not internalize social norms, current trends are often similarly not internalized, so dressing according to any sort of trend is not even considered. That being said, clothes are not necessarily chosen at random either. Something of utmost importance to many neurodivergent individuals when choosing clothes, as with many of their neurotypical counterparts, is comfort. This sometimes manifests in more obvious physical ways, such as removing tags or avoiding certain fabrics. It is easy to see how a scene that values DIY aesthetics would appeal to those with sensory differences; no one can fault one for cutting off a tag when the entire outfit is cut up and put back together with safety pins. However, there are also ways to achieve psychological comfort. Case in point, Blixa Bargeld, founding member of German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten and arguably founder of the industrial music genre as well as former guitarist of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, has attributed his preference for wearing all black to to his synesthesia and finding other colors to be too overwhelming. Many black-wearers have made similar statements, with or without a diagnosis of synesthesia or something similar. Neurodivergent people also often find comfort in wearing clothing related to one’s special interest, so band shirts are a common staple, along with outfits that homage musicians, movie characters, or others they admire. There is also the issue of expression. Neurotypical people often have difficulty reading the emotions of their neurodivergent peers due to differences in emotional expression. Clothing and makeup, in addition to highlighting one’s general interests, can also help in making emotional expression more obvious to others. Of later importance, many neurodivergent individuals find that dressing in a way that labels them as a person with certain interests, this can help them attract others of similar interests. Given that many neurodivergent people have difficulty making friends and initiating social interactions, having an easy way to call to others that they are like them is socially beneficial.

In conclusion, it is clear why there is a connection between these two. Alternative subcultures are a welcoming environment for many who feel like outsiders are neurodivergent individuals are often made into outsiders by default. In addition, the sounds and sights of goth specifically appeal to many of those with specific sensory differences. With such a long, rich history that continues to this day, this subculture is fit to be quite a rewarding special interest.

#gothgoth #neurodivergence #autism #goth #gothtistic

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sophieinwonderland · 8 months

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Going Deeper Into Imitated DID

Imitated DID is a hypothetical condition where patients supposedly experience symptoms of DID due to iatrogenesis or social contagion.

Now, as a tulpa, I of course am certain that it's possible that believing you have alters when you don't and repeatedly interacting with them could make somebody plural. So I wouldn't normally say the possibility is completely baseless. But many of these cases they're talking about are cases of people with actual histories of childhood trauma and symptoms of DID that go far beyond simply having headmates.

There are significant flaws in this "research" that need to be called out.

Right from the start, this headline hints at the real purpose of this paper. It's about protecting therapists from lawsuits over false diagnoses.

Right from the start, the paper makes it clear that their hypothetical Imitated DID isn't recognized by the DSM. The DSM acknowledges intentional factitious disorders where symptoms are forcefully manifested, and malingering.

Imitated DID, where symptoms are unconscious, is a condition made up by these authors.

So what are signs of Imitated DID?

Well...

If you pay attention, you'll notice some of these are redundant.

Highly dramatic presentation/exaggeration

pseudologia fantastica (also known as pathological lying)/persistent lying

lack of consistent work history

"la belle indifference" (a lack of distress)

selective amnesia

There are some pretty big flaws in this.

As acknowledged in the earlier quote, there are many cases of DID with "flamboyant" presentations.

A lack of consistent work history shouldn't be an indicator of a disorder being fake in people with severe mental illnesses.

DID often compartmentalizes stress, meaning the current fronter may not be distressed at the moment while other alters are.

And telling clinicians, essentially, to suspect patients may be faking because they're seeking hospitalization seems like an EXTREMELY dangerous practice.

Basically, the biggest sign that DID is imitated, according to them, is that patients are ashamed of having DID. I think The Plural Association's article did a good job at breaking down the flaws with this mentality better than I can so let me just link to that:

The use of shame as a criterion for diagnosing a mental health disorder is deeply problematic and raises significant ethical and practical concerns. At its core, this approach implies that people with genuine DID must internalize negative societal attitudes – such as pluralphobia or ableism – in order to be recognized and validated by the mental health system. This not only perpetuates harmful stereotypes and stigmas but also places an undue burden on people who are already grappling with complex mental health challenges. Shame is a deeply personal and subjective emotion that can be influenced by a myriad of factors, including cultural norms, personal beliefs, and past experiences. It can also vary between Headmates. To use it as a diagnostic criterion risks pathologizing normal emotional responses and invalidating the diverse experiences of people with mental health conditions. Moreover, it can discourage people from seeking help, as they may fear being judged or misunderstood based on their emotional responses. Instead of relying on shame as a diagnostic criterion, mental health professionals should strive to create an environment that fosters understanding, acceptance, and validation. This involves recognizing and challenging societal prejudices, such as pluralphobia and ableism, and advocating for a more inclusive and compassionate approach to mental health care. It’s crucial to remember that mental health disorders are not a sign of personal failure or weakness, but rather, they are complex conditions that require empathy, understanding, and appropriate care. And as Brene Brown explains, in order to empathize with someone, you must be willing to believe them as they see it, and not how you imagine their experience to be.

The only thing I'll add is that being less ashamed is a natural response to feeling less alone. As plurals continue to gather and support each other, there will be less shame for symptoms of switching and voice hearing.

People in the LGBT community are much more confident coming out today than they were 50 years ago as stigma has been fought back. Likewise, people who have talked to other systems and heard their stories will feel less ashamed than someone who is completely isolated.

Quick reminder: While people may not like the idea of having DID as a whole, not all symptoms are viewed as bad. For example, in a comparison with Schizophrenic voice hearers, it was found 69% of DID systems said they would miss their voices if they were gone.

Presenting a black and white narrative that paints any systems with a positive outlook towards aspects of their diagnosis is not only problematic, but actively contradicts the science.

Back to that one flamboyant presentation of DID though...

That number seems shockingly low and should be an immediate red flag. Only 1 of their group of 71 they judged to have "genuine DID" showed overt symptoms???

Or... this is a matter of biases of individual clinicians, and what one considers to be dramatic presentations may not be what another considers to be dramatic presentations?

It seems almost dishonest how they ignore the existence of this sort of bias while looking for environmental factors.

But that would mean admitting that the "imitative DID" hypothesis is based on the subjective opinions of clinicians that's being treated as fact.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hysteria was already outdated as a term and considered offensive and sexist by the late 90s, right?

Alright... let's get into the Borderline patients.

There are even more issues here. Take this, for instance:

Some of them are involved with drug or alcohol abuse.

How many? How does it compare to the "genuine DID" group? Some is a weasel word with no significance that could lead to patients being ignored just because they use drugs or alcohol.

As most people know, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol is common in trauma survivors.

And I want to point out that BPD has a high comorbidity with DID. So how do they go about differentiating BPD imitating DID from "genuine DID" with comorbid DID?

And finally... the part about the child alters... just really sounds made up. There are not a bunch of people out there using child alters as some sort of metaphor for a lost childhood.

If you're wondering... the article gives no further details on how to differentiate these internal representations from "genuine child alters." It's just a mystical skill you gain from experience, I guess?

If you read this and are remembering how one of the common features in imitated DID was supposed to be exaggerated and dramatic presentations, congratulations on paying attention and applying your critical thinking skills! 🏅

Is it expected that people need to dissociate during the interview to have their symptoms believed?

Anyway, this goes back to the selective amnesia claim from the beginning. One huge problem I have with this is that if you had a small system with one overzealous protector or a persecutor, it would make sense to switch and have amnesia for those moments specifically. Those alters are likely the ones with poorest communication and strongest dissociative barriers.

The first case study for this presentation is a woman they call Sandra. The paper details how she had a history of trauma, prostitution and drug use. It goes on to say her main support came from a "much older boyfriend."

The whole thing comes off as weirdly sexist, stopping just short of calling her a slut and gold digger. It culminates in this line.

And at this point, I'm absolutely livid.

The clinicians looked at her history, and decided that the DID was likely imitated BEFORE THEY EVEN OBSERVED HER.

I cannot stress how problematic this is for their study when they're admitting to this sort of bias from the moment a patient checks in.

I wonder if her case would have still been deemed groundless if this had been published first, and it was known the clinicians were biased against her from the beginning.

To me, this reads as if a group of doctors were seeking to prove a hypothesis of "imitated DID." They need to find patients who they can use as examples. Then this woman comes in with a lifestyle they dislike. They immediately judge her on her history, and are then able to "confirm" their impressions of her after observing her.

It feels incredibly slimy and unethical.

And I of course have more concerns with this.

Voice hearing is a very common experience among DID systems from a young age, as are abuser introjects. And imaginary friends lasting until adulthood is generally uncommon in singlets.

Were these imaginary friends and voices always there or did she invent them after hearing about DID? If they were always present, that should be researched more carefully.

When they say she "attributed" her negative behavior to the angry imaginary friend, are they meaning the voice is telling her what to do and she obeyed, or does she actually feel like she becomes that person as is indicative of a switch? It's never explained, but I assume it's the latter. And it's concering that OSDD (DDNOS at the time) wasn't presented as a possible explanation for the perceived lack of amnesia.

Even if the voices weren't fronting, this might be enough for a Partial DID diagnosis today.

And her amnesia "feeling like denial" is, again, the opinion of one clinician or group of clinicians treating her. If another group of clinicians observed her, would they have drawn the same conclusions?

This is a woman who had childhood trauma. She seemingly had multiple "personality states." She heard voices as is common in 90% of DID cases. She experienced DP/DR. She reported amnesia, even if the psychiatrists dismissed it as denial.

As far as I can tell, the ONLY reason for denying the diagnosis is that it was originally suggested by a DID patient who recognized similar symptoms in Angy.

That's it!

It feels like what really led to the denial of her diagnosis was pure ego. Not wanting to admit a DID system was capable of recognizing traits of their disorder when psychiatrists had previously missed them all.

This is where I'm leaving off...

There's more to talk about in this paper. SO MUCH MORE.

But this post is long enough as it is.

I'll try to come back and take on the rest of the pseudoscientific mess later, including the part where they discuss how they want to apply this theory to protect therapists from legal damages. For now, this is where I'll leave you.

Thank you for reading.

Continue to Part 2

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is-the-owl-video-cute · 4 months

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If we're on the subject of DID, what's your opinion on endogenic "systems?"

Did you not see the post I just reblogged earlier about how trying to root out “fakes” in any illness, physical or psychological, is inherently harmful to our communities?

You’re able to conceive of the fact that the human mind can be fractured in a way that creates more than one consciousness in the same brain but you can only conceive of that happening in one specific way?

Besides that, you do realize that there are multiple dissociative disorders that are not DID, right? OSDD? DDNOS? Both of which are umbrellas encompassing SEVERAL dissociative disorders distinct from DID.

But finally, even if you do believe it’s impossible without childhood trauma at a very specific window, have you ever for the slightest of moments, I don’t know, wrestled with the whole part where amnesia related to traumatic events is a rather keystone piece of DID? That part where a typical DID system forms alters as a means to cope with a core trauma and that alters do not always share memories, some reporting that they have protective alters that limit what memories the host or other alters in the system may access? Have you considered that systems who say they formed without trauma may simply have forced themselves into forgetting the memory of it as a defense mechanism?

Though, again, if something like schizophrenia can be inherited, and it does in fact tend to show symptoms in children who aren’t even old enough to speak implying it isn’t necessarily linked to trauma or outside factors at all, if you acknowledge a person can be born with a disorder that causes severe and consistent hallucinations, is it really that hard to believe a person could in fact be born as, well, more than one person? Is your perception of the human mind that two-dimensional that you think the mind to react predictably in a specific way only in response to a specific stimulus? We don’t even know how the human brain works in full and you’re over here trying to diagnose (or un-diagnose?) random teens on tumblr because you think them applying to themselves a label that makes sense to them is harming any of you?

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tombfreak · 2 months

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A Deep Dive Into Antisocial Mindsets

how does the mind of a person with aspd work?

First off, it's important to understand what ASPD is, so let's get a few things cleared up before we really dive into it.

Antisocial Personality Disorder is classified in the DSM-5 as a cluster B personality disorder, and in the ICD-11 as a "personality disorder with dissociality".

(Since I live in a country that typically uses the DSM-5 as a guideline and it has a set classification for ASPD, I will be referring mainly to that.)

It's described as "pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others", and characterized as a maladaptive* practice of antisocial* behaviours.

*Maladaptive: Behaviours that cause issues in someones ability to adapt normally to daily situations

*Antisocial: Behaviours that are antagonistic to social practices, rules, and/or expectations

A personality disorder is

characterized by deeply ingrained maladaptive patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotions that deviate from the cultural norms and cause distress or impair functioning in various areas of life

The current criteria for diagnosing ASPD involves a reoccurring, ingrained pattern of three or more of the following (occurring from at least age 15):

failure to conform to social norms, as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.

repeated lying, deceitfulness, conning others for personal pleasure or profit

impulsivity or failure to plan ahead

irritability and aggressiveness

reckless disregard for safety of self or others

consistent irresponsibility

lack of remorse, being indifferent to or rationalizing having mistreated another

To understand ASPD, we need to dig a little bit deeper than a set of symptoms. It is important to note also that antisocial traits and beliefs are not necessarily an indication of antisocial personality disorder.

"only when antisocial personality traits are inflexible, maladaptive, and persistent and cause significant functional impairment or subjective distress do they constitute antisocial personality disorder." - DSM5

Antisocial beliefs in ASPD are views about themselves, others, and the world that are heavily engrained into their thoughts, perceptions, and behaviours. Most importantly, these traits negatively impact the individuals life on a regular basis. They are dysfunctional and reoccuring. In the criteria for ASPD, these harmful behavioural issues must have been present in the individuals life from at least 15 years old.

Looking into what causes ASPD can help us further gain insight into the condition as well.

"child abuse or neglect, unstable or erratic parenting. or inconsistent parental discipline may increase the likelihood that conduct disorder will evolve into antisocial personality disorder." -DSM5

"...in the absence of a parent or other caring, involved adult, a child cannot internalize his parent's values, a necessary factor in the development of morality."

"in homes where no adult takes an interest in or expresses love to a child, the conscience does not develop and the individual fails to be socialized in this very critical way. It seems likely that this is at least one possible cause of antisocial personality. Another possibility is that highly inconsistent discipline and attention, even from the same person, prevents the child from forming normal values."

"This form of child rearing allows the child to grow up without a clear understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Behaviorists believe that individuals learn their behavior by testing behaviors to see which is successful. Studies have shown that people with antisocial personality disorder frequently have fathers with the same disorder, and the child often observes and mimics the father's behavior." - Drug Therapy & Personality Disorders

A very important factor in early years of development is being taught about the "social contract". Like any other animal, children learn by seeing, and doing. They are highly impressionable, coming into the world as a blank slate. Children look to their peers and primary caregivers for guidance on how to respond to situations, and how to view the world.

(It is believed that there is commonly a genetic component to ASPD, and the environment may either worsen the antisocial traits or teach the child how to cope/adapt in positive ways)

If a child develops in an unstable situation, they may internalize maladaptive behaviours as a way to adapt, or because they don't have any healthy guidance to challenge these beliefs and behaviours towards the world.

Studies show that people with ASPD are highly likely to have grown up in neglectful and/or physically abusive households. There is also a correlation with children growing up witnessing criminal activity and the development of ASPD.

This is a very important factor to consider when looking into the mindsets of somebody with dysfunctional antisocial traits.

If a child comes into the world with no clue how anything works, or what anything means, and the only information they're given about the world is harmful, they will uncritically learn and adapt to that information.

A key element of ASPD beliefs is self-preservation. This heavily connects to a history of neglect, as the child who had no stable caregiver will grow to not trust that others will be reliable. They may also grow to not know what a healthy, trusting, caring connection with others looks like.

Personality Disorders are often thought to be something of a defence mechanism. A maladaptive defence mechanism as a response to a stressful environment in childhood that remained unchallenged and unsoothed.

Another key feature of this is that antisocial beliefs are related to justification. This is directly mentioned in the DSM-5 criterion A.7

"being indifferent to or rationalizing having mistreated another"

It is important to note, however, only 51% of those with ASPD will match this criteria. This doesn't necessarily take away from the general idea that antisocial beliefs include a rampant chain of excuses and justification to brush off their behaviours.

"individuals with personality disorders often view their symptoms as consistent with their own self-image, or ego-syntonic, and not as problems that need treatment." - Drug Therapy & Personality Disorders

ASPD is characterized by a disregard for others, rules, and norms. A common belief in people with ASPD is that they are above consequences, and never in the wrong. They refuse to put themselves in a submissive position to others, which often manifests as refusal to follow rules, responsibilities, and expectations.

At their core, they fear being controlled, weak, and losing power/dominance in a situation. They often lack the care, self-control, and forethought needed to healthily adapt to situations that threaten them. To them, it is a dog eat dog world, every man for themselves, survival of the fittest.

If we view ASPD as a maladaptive defense mechanism, then we can understand better how and why they respond to situations this way.

Studies show that reactive aggression* and hostile interpretation* is heavily prominent in those with antisocial behavioural patterns.

*Reactive Aggression: Aggressive behaviour in reaction to a perceived threat

*Hostile interpretation: Interpreting something as hostile or threatening to them

This means that people with ASPD are more likely than the average person to view an ambiguous comment, situation, etc as hostile (regardless of whether or not it actually was), and more likely to respond to that percieved threat with aggression.

The child who grew up in a hostile environment may have developed a brain that scans for the tiniest sign of an attack, and responds as it sees fit. It bites back.

As stated before, self-preservation is a very prominent trait in those with ASPD, and it is associated with a justification of their actions. People with ASPD think and act based on a worldview that everything is a matter of power and control, being on top or being hurt, dog eat dog.

In those who have ASPD, they commonly find themselves unwilling to, or unable to, care for anything but themselves. They often lack an empathetic response to others. "Not my life, not my problem". They are typically very defensive and protective of themselves, and protective towards things they value, but wont experience or express any care, compassion, or empathy towards anything they deem 'unworthy'.

It is the persistent irrationality and the ingrained lack of healthy adaptations and reponses to situations that makes ASPD a disorder. And it's the aggressive/dominating responses to threats, and justification of their responses, that makes the disorder antisocial.

#info #aspd #cluster b #psychology #actually aspd #antisocial personality disorder #aspd things #cluster b pds #personality disorder #aspd awareness #aspd positivity

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chaifootsteps · 4 months

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Hi, hi! I've been a longtime follower of your blog, but this is my first time sending in an ask because of anxiety. You're the most consistent blog that keeps up to date with Viv and her work. As someone who first saw Viv through the Die Young animation, and watched the HH pilot when it was first released, I grew disillusioned as s1 of Helluva Boss slowly aired. It was mostly because I didn't really enjoy the Stolitz ship and I believe the Erin Frost drama had come out (god bless Erin - she, Ken and everyone else deserved so much better). Plus the world-building and character development was just so off.

I know people have said this before: the concept Viv has is good, but the execution sucks. There's a vision but the product is so damn juvenile. I'm ace, and I became attached to Alastor due to him being ace as well, but we all know how Viv responded when the ship wars were happening. I couldn't stand the constant sex jokes or swearing in HB since when was it required for an "adult" show to have that?

Thank you for the episode leaks. Only got to see ep 1 before they were removed. The only thing that made me laugh out loud was the Niffty gag where she stared dead into the camera. I also liked Adam a bit? Sure the "original dick" thing went on way too long, but he was funny too. I surprising enjoyed his song - the lil fist bump he did with Lute was cute, and I like Lute but knowing Viv's record... eh. There was this cool shot where Adam flew up and Lute and those golden angels go behind him and spread their wings making Adam look like the biblically accurate angel. Except Adam himself ruins the effect because what the ever-loving heck is he wearing? I hate it.

In terms of shipping, I wasn't into the Huskerdust interactions. Angel wasn't flirting, that was sexual harassment. In the pilot it was okay because their interaction was brief and Husk pushed Angel off. Chaggie was... something. I genuinely feel that Chaggie could've worked had they not been established as a couple in the first place. The reason why Charlastor (and I guess Charlentious?) happened is because they had chemistry and their interactions could be read as a romantic interest. Since Chaggie was already established, there was an expectation for them to have those, but they weren't delivered and we know well that they weren't supposed to be a thing in the first place. Have Vaggie still be her bff and bodyguard, but show those moments where she genuinely cares for Charlie's well-being that indicates she's in love with her, yet Charlie is completely oblivious to everything. Actually, reverse harem Charlie sounds pretty funny to me.

Btw, armchair psychology anon, as a person studying psychology in my final year of college, dw about people taking issues with your speculations. NPD and other personality disorders are ego-syntonic, which means that the individual's behaviours line up with their beliefs, hence why PDs are only diagnosed during adulthood once brain maturation and personality development is reached. The only exception to this is ASPD (which NPD shares a category with called Cluster B along with histrionic and BPD) as you can diagnose a child with conduct disorder that can become ASPD when they're adults. Cluster B PDs are terribly demonised by media and the public despite the volume of research (I blame misunderstanding and ignorance). Viv could have it or could not; it's just that she shows signs of having it, and that's it. Even if she doesn't, she's still an awful person. Idk what happened in her childhood or some point in her life for her to become like this, but it doesn't excuse treating people like crap - oh wait, ain't this her characters in a nutshell?

That's all I gotta say for now. I hope it's okay to send more like this in the future; I'd love to be a specific anon but idk what's already taken lol. Take care, Chai, and I hope you have a good day/evening.

By all means, send as many as you've got! Because this was a delight to read.

Let me know when you come up with a name. I'll give you a placeholder one for now.

#Anonymous #to be named anon #viv stuff #actual blog post #vivziepop critical

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wawawawawawawawawawawawawa · 3 months

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okay, fuck it. let's talk about remorse. more specifically, the lack of it

there was a post going around a while ago that claimed that izaya couldn't possibly have aspd, because he feels remorse, and its simply so subtle that it's hard to pick up on, and he simply hides it to maintain his image. given that this post is a jab at me and my work, i feel no guilt nor will feel remorse over jabbing right back.

(especially since, if you pay attention to the wording of the post and OP themselves, it's clear that they had a... certain other neurodiverse headcanon for izaya, and was for some reason mad at me for having a different one)

(but i digress)

let's talk remorse.

first of all, the "lack of remorse" criterion isn't, as some might be tempted to think, the most important "hallmark" symptom of aspd. let's break down how disorders are diagnosed!

in the DSM, disorder symptoms are classed into criteria. these criteria are sometimes grouped together. here's the criteria list for ASPD in the dsm-5-tr, the most current version;

under group A, we have the standard "this is what the disorder is like, and these are the symptoms of it. you need X amount to have this disorder." the criteria listed in groups B, C, and D are on their own because they are required for diagnosis. if the lack of remorse criterion was truly SO important that it was the hallmark of the disorder, the one symptom that sets it apart from all cluster B disorders, then it would be in its own group like those 3 criterion! but it's not, because while it's the symptom most people associate with aspd, it's not the hallmark of the disorder, nor is it explicitly required for diagnosis.

in fact, the main Thing about aspd is, uh, right there actually- a pervasive pattern of disregard for the rights of others. in layman's terms, aspd is categorized by a consistent behavior pattern of treating other peoples' boundaries, wants, needs, and human rights, as trivial. this overall behavior pattern is then identified by specific actions or feelings the patient has- hence the criteria.

i could end this post here, honestly- who cares if izaya does or doesn't feel remorse? it's not needed for diagnosis, and it's izaya's whole thing to violate the rights of others- he consistently treats people as his playthings, wether or not they want him to (usually not!) he disregards others' feelings (the suicidal girls come to mind wrt this) and is incredibly reckless with both his life and the lives of others. it's kind of a done deal!

but i won't because i have more to say!

so. izaya. remorse. he feels it, but keeps it hidden. he represses it. and honestly, he always has some justification or another for whatevet it is he's doing. his targets had it coming because they're monsters. or stupid and cowardly. or had it coming. or it doesn't matter because he's a god amongst men. BUT- he does feel remorse! ASPD cured!!!!!!!!!!!!

guys i hate to tell you this, but i've felt remorse before. sparingly, but i have. i am a Person With ASPD from Real Life, i've been diagnosed professionally and even had multiple second opinions check and re-check, to the point that it became a running gag. i, without a shadow of a doubt, have antisocial personality disorder. And I Have Felt Remorse.

(my verdict is it sucks and is terrible and i have no idea how you people do it. yall need like, medals or something)

because, as you might have noticed... a lack of feeling remorse isn't actually the only thing listed. now, a lot of websites don't actually list the second half of the criterion, they just say "lack of remorse" with no elaboration. it's hard to find a website with the proper informatiom on it, especially if you haven't read the dsm to see the full criteria list, so you don't know what you're looking for. truly, i don't blame laypeople for not knowing this- it's not easy to find short of going to the source itself

but if you're writing long posts filled with "facts" about a disorder that you do not have, you better make damn sure your facts are right lest you spread misinformation.

(hell, i HAVE the damn thing and i make sure i'm as accurate as possible, because i acknowledge that Having The Disorder isn't a ticket to immidiate expertise. but imo it's especially egrigious when you don't have it)

but, the criterion itself is defined as "being indifferent to or rationalizing" harmful actions. Or Rationalizing. you can feel remorse as much as you want, but if you stomp it down with justifications about how you were right, it still counts!

and finally, the name of the game with diagnosis of any disorder is consistency. if someone can make their abuser cry because of them and feel no remorse, that's not aspd. that's just a special case. if someone can make anybody cry because of them and feel no remorse, that's aspd.

similarly, if someone can make most people cry because of them and feel no remorse, with one- or maybe two- exceptions, that's... still aspd. because the behavior expressed most consistently is a lack of remorse. one or two exceptions to the rule don't suddenly make you not have aspd, especially if you have multiple other symptoms. (in fact, in some aspd circles people do talk about having "exceptions," kind of like the aspd version of a pwBPD's favorite person. pwaspd feeling remorse or otherwise not meeting criteria in incredibly specific circumstances is in fact a documented phenominon. once again, this happened to me and i've been diagnosed multiple times over. were all those doctors wrong, or does aspd just not work like you thought it did?)

izaya consistently represses most of his more vunerable feelings. that's another one of his main things. if remorse is included in this, which it would be given the pattern, then izaya most consistently does not feel (or otherwise accept) remorse. a few slips of the mask here and there, where he can't stomp it down or ignore it, don't change that the most consistent behavior from him is a lack of remorse. in fact, him feeling remorse here and there makes the portrayal of aspd more realistic, imo-

people with aspd are still people at the end of the day, and aspd is just another mental illness. people are varied, mental illnesses present differently in everyone, and people have good days and bad days where symptoms are more or less pronounced. any symptom isn't going to be set in stone in severity or even presence in someone's life- severity of disorder changes with age, someone's circumstances, or even day-to-day, especially with cluster B disorders, where the people who have it are defined as being "dramatic, emotional, or erratic" (pg 735)

things change. people change. mental illness isn't as simple as people think, and aspd isn't as different from other illnesses as you'd think. people with it- including izaya- will have their good days and their bad days and their rare moments where something breaks through the clouds and for one moment, you feel normal, however distressing the feeling may be

that's not proof that the illness was never there. that's just life with it!

#durarara #izaya orihara #orihara izaya #the moral of the story is; don't vauge me just bc you headcanon an Anime Boy with autism and are butthurt that i have a different take #and more facts backing me up. oops did i say that out loud o me o my #waposts #please please please be FUCKING normal on this post im begging you. im at my wits end #i do not care if you are a criminology student studying at the aspid crushing factory. ask yourself this-#WHY DOES IT MATTERRRRRR this is all over a Head Canon why is it so bad that i headcanon izaya with aspd #that you feel the need to like. defend his honor or something #anyway yeah. im gonna go eat dinner im hingry

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gothhabiba · 1 year

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this is not to disagree with any of your points on antipsychiatry which i 95% agree with, but to provide a data point/share something that makes my brain itch.i've been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, which was formerly called conversion disorder, and before that hysteria. new advances in fMRI technology are showing us that there are measurable changes in brain function and stereotyped symptoms that are consistent across centuries.

many hysterics had what is now recognised as a neurological disorder that is moving away from the realm of psychiatry. FND symptoms are also remarkably consistent across cultures. ( There’s a paper called “why FND is not feigning or malingering” on Jon Stone’s twitter that discusses this. His tweet on Feb 16t has a free link - it’s not on scihub yet afaik.)

It’s odd to be someone with a disabling and contested condition that’s been turned into a punchline/gotcha (deservedly!). that makes it difficult to engage with antipsychiatry at times. Are there any writers you know of that address this? Am I being a silly little rabbit that is uncomfortable when we are not about me? Thanks for the excellent writing and nonexistent cooking blog, would truly appreciate your thoughts on this

Thanks for the compliment, though I don't see why a blog that doesn't even exist is being brought into this...?

Anyway—if you believe that this example furnishes a contradiction to the aims and claims of anti-psychiatry*, then it's likely that you have the too-narrow view of what anti-psychiatry necessarily 'says' about the purpose of psychiatry in a capitalist / imperialist state that the post you're referencing criticises.

The post asserts that it is not sufficient to claim that capitalism creates or causes certain symptoms which it then pathologises (i.e., claims is a specific 'sickness' inhering in the individual). Rather, we have to also consider how and why it constructs the idea of 'sickness' (here, "mental illness") in the first place. The claim is that it is the way that we consider symptoms, how they are sorted and classified, how they are considered "abnormal" and "disordered" because and to the extent that they are associated with an inability to work or otherwise be compliant in a capitalist society, that characterises psychiatry under capitalism.

The fact that certain symptoms are "neurologically instantiated" doesn't 'break' this claim, then, because the claim does not rest on the idea that capitalism must necessarily create the symptoms it pathologises. Sometimes you can point to a pretty clear example of psychiatry 'making up' a disorder out of whole cloth, where the neurological component of it is unclear or irrelevant (e.g. "child is disobedient" disorder or "wife is disobedient" disorder or "slave runs away" disorder). But the claims and goals of antipsychiatry do not wholly rest on such instances, because even a disorder which is neurologically instantiated, even an instance of clear neurological or physical difference (and here the logic overlaps with that of the social model of disability), is still parsed and classified and read as deviant in a particular way according to the logic of (and in order to serve the goals of) capital and empire.

So let's say it's true that the symptoms associated with a disorder formerly commonly known as "hysteria" are neurologically instantiated. Psychiatric logic and institutions saw a variety of symptoms (of yet unclear etiology), grouped them together and classified them as a single disorder under the name "hysteria," reserved this diagnosis largely for bourgeois white women (since this kind of heightened emotionality was unexpected but 'treatable' in white women, but expected of and criminalised in 'savages'), and used that diagnosis (and its withholding) to control populations. None of this is in contradiction to any of the claims about psychiatry that this line of argument makes.

Again, we are not claiming that psychiatry always makes disorders up from nothing, or that the symptoms that it pathologises are always created by capitalism, reasonable coping behaviours in traumatic situations, reasonable actions taken against oppressive conditions, &c. Examples of this kind of thing should be read in line with claims that psychiatry is given the job of controlling populations in a capitalist state, that psychiatry gets to differentiate "normal" from "abnormal" according to its own logic in the the first place, &c. This exact idea—that thinking that psychiatry always makes disorders up from nothing is a "pitfall" in understanding what antipsychiatry is about—is in fact the central argument of the post that kicked all of this off. Plus the second bit of the post you're referencing was in direct response to the exact same sort of question (“Are you arguing that the biological processes which produce the things we call mental illnesses would themselves not exist, and/or not cause suffering, and/or not warrant description/categorization, in a non-capitalistic world?”), so I'd suggest rereading it.

Perhaps your confusion comes in with thinking that psychiatry = "mental" and thus illusory, while medicine = "physical" and thus necessarily 'real' / robust (you note that this disorder is "recognised as a neurological disorder that is moving away from the realm of psychiatry")? But the same criticisms that psychiatry comes in for apply to disorders that are thought of as "physical"—even when physical difference obviously exists (and even when it obviously causes suffering on its own), the medical model still considers "disability" as an "abnormality" defined by inability to work and otherwise be an obedient citizen of a capitalist state. Its idea of "normal" is a capitalist one that must be criticised.

*Please note that this is an oversimplification, as different people in different decades write under this banner. I'm discussing the strain of 'antipsychiatry' that's specifically at issue here, namely one that views pyschiatry and psychiatric pathologisation as one aspect of the bio-medical arm of capitalism and empire.

#psychiatry #antipsych #antipsychiatry #questions #Anonymous

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kitsmits · 9 months

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Nobody asked, but here are my rambling thoughts about Bleach’s Aizen Sousuke

Aizen Sousuke. The man, the myth, the legend. The villain who ~allegedly~ planned out so much of Bleach’s storyline that the fact that that is a meme is, in itself, a meme. And also probably part of Aizen’s plan.

I’m fascinated by this character, to say the least. I mean, why else would I be writing an Aizen/OC fanfiction on both AO3 and FF.net? (Shameless plug. Sorry not sorry.) Despite my many thoughts - so numerous are they that anytime I reply to a comment on “Mono no Aware,” I wind up with a graduate dissertation - I’m not entirely sure where to start with this guy. He’s complex in some ways, yet simple in others, fitting neatly into some psychological molds until you come across that one trait or act that makes you question your whole thesis. Fitting, really.

I don’t think there is one definitive, absolute answer for who Aizen Sousuke is. Even Kubo’s own idea of him isn’t necessarily the only one - once an artist puts their creation out into the world, that creation is open to interpretation by others. Again, rather fitting that we’re talking about a character whose entire power is based on the ideas of suggestion and perception.

It’s fun to explore various facets and ways to interpret a character though, so today I’d like to look at a few: psychology (Aizen the Sociopath), mythology (Aizen the Trickster), reality(I guess…) (Aizen the Opportunist), and philosophy (Aizen the Ubermensch).

So let’s start with psychology.

Aizen the Sociopath

Antisocial personality disorder, commonly/colloquially referred as “sociopathy,” is defined as “a mental health condition in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others.” (Mayo Clinic) For the sake of simplicity, I will be using the terms “sociopathy” and “sociopath” here. It’s one of four cluster-B personality disorders within the DSM-V (Diagnositc and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 5th Edition - the most recent one as of 2023), along with narcissistic, borderline, and histrionic personality disorders. In other words, it is clinically recognized as a mental health condition by the psychology field, and it’s one of a family of personality disorders characterized as having “a consistently dysfunctional pattern of dramatic, overly emotional thinking or unpredictable behavior.” (Considering who we’re talking about…this is kind of surprising, honestly.

To paraphrase the Mayo Clinic’s list of symptoms, sociopaths…

ignore (or have little/no concept of) right and wrong

often lie, steal, use false names, and/or engage in cons

use charm or wit to manipulate others for personal gain

have an inflated sense of superiority and are extremely opinionated

often violate others’ rights and feel little/no remorse for how their behavior negatively affects others

Keep in mind that for a person to be considered a “sociopath,” one must consistently and repeatedly show these traits. Not every mean person is a sociopath, and not all sociopaths are mean (…all the time). Probably the most consistent descriptors I’ve come across for sociopaths are “manipulative” and “callous” - again, they’ll say/do anything to get what they want, and they have no remorse over whether it harms other people.

So…is Aizen a sociopath? And why should we care?

Setting aside the fact that Aizen is a fictional character, and fictional characters are often meant to be simpler than complex, ever-evolving human beings…I’m of the camp that yes, he is. It certainly explains a LOT of his behavior and actions; even the fact that he seems to have no “true” personality fits this mold. Partly because of how Kubo writes him, we can never be certain that anything Aizen says or does is “genuine,” or if he’s just trolling.

Why we should care if he’s a sociopath or not: Eh. Aside from the fun of armchair-diagnosing fictional characters, this gives us a framework within which to work. It gives us consistent traits that help us understand Aizen as a character. It’s sort of like a character sheet or profile: an easily referenced list of traits and tendencies.

However, even if we could truly diagnose Aizen with something, I don’t think that diagnosis would completely define his character. Far from it. Because this is fiction, every major character usually serves a particular purpose for the narrative that influences how they act and how they affect the characters around them. So let’s look at what I believe Aizen’s role is in the Bleach ‘verse.

Aizen the Trickster

A “trickster,” in terms of mythology and folklore, is “a character in a story…who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior.” (Thank you, Wikipedia.) Classic examples of tricksters are Loki from Norse mythology; Anansi the spider from West African folklore; and Coyote from many Native American cultures, particularly groups in California and the Great Basin. Even Greek mythology’s Hermes and, at times, Norse mythology’s Odin act as tricksters, using their intellect to deceive others or defy conventions. Tricksters can be villainess or heroic, depending on the tale and their role in it. Consider Odysseus in the Illiad and Odyssey: in both tales (but especially in the latter), he is cast as a hero, but most of his actions are devious and even reprehensible.

I see Aizen as being a trickster in the Bleach ‘verse in many ways:

He’s highly intelligent and possesses “secret knowledge” (ie: truth of the Soul King…but more on that in a bit)

He seeks to defy convention and push all types of boundaries, from combining/transcending Shinigami and Hollow powers (physical boundaries) to being a Shinigami who commands Hollows (societal boundaries)

He openly questions, disrupts, and mocks authority (Even when he was playing the Nice Captain, he was one of the only people to openly question Rukia’s execution…granted, it was All Part of the Plan(TM), but I still find it interesting that he allowed that to be a part of his character at that time)

He enjoys trolling people and making them question their own beliefs and perceptions. Not even just because it’ll benefit him; I think he honestly enjoys throwing people mentally off-balance.

I mean…he openly says it during the TYBW:

Sure, you might say that Aizen’s goal was to kill the Soul King (…I have thoughts about that too), but THIS is the reason for that goal. If it wasn’t the Soul King, it would be whatever other being tried to reign over him. Yhwach, Ichibe, whoever else…Aizen would not tolerate anyone having authority over him. This fits with the Trickster archetype because, at their cores, this is what tricksters do: they challenge authority.

It’s also worth noting that in most Trickster stories, especially ones where the trickster plays the antagonist, the trickster doesn’t exactly “win.” Often, they’re foiled or humiliated in some way, sometimes due to their own hubris; I mean, Loki wound up being tied up with a snake dripping poison into his eyes because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut about having orchestrated the death of one of Odin’s sons. This is also something we see in Aizen’s role in Bleach: At the pinnacle of his power, he is defeated - not only by the hero of the story, but also by another possible “trickster” type (Urahara) and by his own arrogance and, possibly, not knowing his own deepest desires.

Btw - for an interesting take on Aizen “not knowing himself,” check out this video by Nux Taku: Anime’s Most Relatable Overpowered Sociopath - Aizen from Bleach

“Defeated” doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t win, though. In my opinion, Aizen is, above all, a master opportunist who will turn ANY situation in his favor.

“All according to keikaku:” Aizen the Opportunist

Aizen definitely fits a classic “mastermind” mold, no arguments here. But I think people take the meme-worthy “it was all part of my plan” thing a little too far with him. Aside from the tendency of sociopaths and tricksters alike toward self-aggrandizing, and the fact that it benefits Aizen to be perceived as omniscient, let’s be real: He didn’t plan everything out himself from the start. To be honest, the idea that a “mastermind” necessarily sees all possibilities 100 steps ahead is…a bit much. Rather, masterminds like Aizen who play the long game are excellent opportunists.

Just look at how Aizen acts during “Everything But the Rain”: As far as Tousen was concerned, the Hollow “White” was a failure because instead of going after the powerful Shinigami captain, it attacked a Quincy - the one creature in the area that couldn’t be Hollowfied. But to Aizen, this wasn’t a failure: it was an unforeseen turn of events that presented an unprecedented opportunity to study the congruence of two diametrically opposed beings. After all, his whole schtick is about transcending the boundaries between species; of course he’d be curious to see if there was a way for a Quincy and a Hollow to mix without destroying each other. Plus, I’m willing to bet that Aizen at least suspected that this phenomenon might draw Urahara out of hiding, which would give Aizen his location (and thus the location of the other Hogyoku). The fact that Masaki survives with White’s Hollow energy inside of her, AND that she, a Quincy, and Isshin, a Shinigami, fall in love and have a kid…that’s all a bonus that he later works into his plans.

TL;DR: Aizen had plans for White, but when those plans fell through, he turned the situation into a new part of his plan. It all worked toward his ultimate goals in the end. THAT is what makes him such a formidable mastermind: he’ll take any opportunity that comes his way.

Aizen the Übermensch

Okay, I’ll admit I’m gonna be a little lazy here and point y’all to a wonderful analysis video by DBZimran that goes into this topic. The gist is that Aizen embodies the Nietzsche idea of the “Ubermensch,” or “super man” (from before the N*zis appropriated the concept), and that Urahara is the opposing “last man.” It’s really interesting stuff, and DBZimran explains it way better than I feel equipped to right now.

Sosuke Aizen: THE FALSE GOD | BLEACH: Character Analysis

While you’re there, check out his other videos about Bleach. I took a lot of inspiration from his analysis of the Hogyoku when writing Mono no Aware, to be honest.

Other interesting takes on Aizen

I can’t get enough of this man, and if you’ve made it this far in this ridiculous long post, I’m guessing you can’t, either. I’m definitely open to writing more about him, answering prompts, giving headcanons…just ask! Here are some other people I like to reference for Aizen and Bleach content in general:

Youtube:

MrTommo2304

DBZimran

This wonderful hellsite, aka Tumblr (not a definitive list - I’m sure I’ll forget peeps):

@bleachbleachbleach - I LOVE THEIR WORLDBUILDING HEADCANONS OMG

@my-my-my - large variety of headcanons and imagines, from worldbuilding/story analysis to romantic/shmexy stuff

@brittscafe - fun, shmexy headcanons with an excellent grasp on the characters

@recurring-polynya - writer who also has lots of interesting and fun headcanons about the Bleach world; also their page is just really pretty

@brainbleached - silly totally-real-not-at-all-made-up incorrect quotes and such

#bleach #bleach headcanons #aizen sousuke #aizen #sosuke aizen #aizen sosuke #sousuke aizen #that man has too many name spellings #aizen headcanon

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