feotakahari

Depending on the colony they live in, Tinkers may experience social pressure to get brain-mods that eliminate things like hallucinations and mood swings. However, it’s usually not a crippling stigma for non-soldiers to refuse to use brain mods. And some conditions are generally accepted, particularly autism.

The Pure are all over the place in terms of attitudes. Some accept neurodivergence, some fear it, some medicate it, some oppose the use of psychiatric medicine . . . The only common link is the rejection of brain mods.

A noticeable minority of Nomads experience paranoia and hallucinations. The most common is a sensation of being watched by an unblinking eye. It’s common and accepted to use calming mental exercises, and mild downers are readily available (think caffeine but in reverse.) Stronger psychiatric drugs are available, but only used when necessary. Don’t ask them about the Prowlers, which they pretend don’t exist.

Prowlers are defined by their brain damage, and it gives them a variety of deficits in their ability to trust, value, or interpret the emotions of others, even other Prowlers. This is somewhat of a hindrance to the overall Prowler agenda, as they can’t cooperate well enough to pull off large-scale plans.

Builders see a place for everything, and for people who see the world differently, that place is often religious. Even Builders who choose secular work gain a certain degree of respect for “visions,” and a bit of leeway even if the things they see and think go against the social order. It’s certainly possible to be too strange to accept, though, with the kind and level of unallowed strangeness varying from one colony to another.

As a species evolved to consume and safely integrate wildly differing minds, Scholars are immune to most forms of psychosis. They can start out with deficits in reading and understanding others’ emotions, but regular interaction with other hive minds helps them understand even non-Scholars. However, Scholars can and often do think in divergent ways about the things they perceive.

Riders fear and condemn mental illness for much the same reason some people on Earth fear demonic possession. Some younger Riders push back against this, but progress has been slow.

Scrappers are almost impossible to brain damage unless you starve them for months at a time, and they have a lot of redundancies that usually prevent psychosis. Neurodivergence is possible, but not often thought about in terms of either discrimination or accommodation.

Stewards look down on anyone who can’t fulfill their assigned duties and safeguard the Goddess’s legacy. They may have jobs that can accommodate your issues, but if those jobs are already occupied, you’re viewed as a parasite. The Entitled welcome everyone, though, because they’re too few to be picky about membership.

Winnowers strongly disrespect any form of mental illness, and it’s a major dishonor on a parent to let a mentally ill child survive to adulthood. Winnowers aren’t exactly evil, but they’re still vicious bastards.

Reading posts from a fandom I’m not part of. X character is drawn to younger boys, to the point of stalking. He wants to protect and nurture them, but he also has intrusive thoughts about “corrupting” them or locking them away from the world. He’s scared of these thoughts and sometimes thinks it would be better to avoid people entirely.

Y fan came up with a possible backstory for X involving having been sexually abused. Y is reluctant to share this headcanon more widely, because talking about it would be seen as endorsing sexual abuse.

I feel like if fans haven’t rejected or condemned the original media for depicting X, they shouldn’t reject attempts to make sense of why X is like this.

In this manga, there seems to be a distinction between the mental illnesses and traumas villain leaders have vs. the ones henchmen have. Henchmen have things like “suicidal depression” or “alcohol addiction” or “obsessively murders everyone they love.” Leaders are more “megalomania” or “can’t stand being touched.” It’s not about culpability, exactly—some of the henchmen seem fully in control of their actions—but the leaders seem like they would have more of an ability to fit into “normal” society if they chose to.

Shigaraki talks to his father’s severed hand, so he’s definitely the most out-there of the villain leaders. He’s also the one who cares the most about whether his followers live or die. I think there’s something going on with the degree to which leaders can understand and relate to their followers.