(05-15-2015, 07:41 PM)Nailah Wrote: If you took someone like me and put me in Eorzea, I'd (probably) be dead tomorrow. I have a version of autism with sensory issues (Neurological stuff), which has spawned panic disorder (Early onset, really severe) and periodic stress & depression. I've been through intensive theraphy (living right next to a facility) for five years to get where I am and whilst I am now not plagued by moodswings and my panic attacks have dropped from 3-4/week to 1-2 per 3-4 months, it's still pretty bad and it's fucking up every part of my life on a regular basis. It's not cute or quirky. (Note, not trying to woe-is-me, I just want to illustrate how severe stuff like this can be.)
I would not ever like to see anyone try to look at is as a cute little character quirk, or something that can resolved in two weeks of plot. There's also a fair share of times where it seems like something people can turn on/off for their characters whenever convenient. If your character would survive in Eorzea with a mental illness (I'm not saying impossible, but there's a lot more violence and things that wants to eat you. Being disturbed mentally would no doubt screw with your ability to survive) then it would compromise a lot of the good experiences as well. If you rp as a character that has panic disorder, that means enrolling a panic attack when it's not relevant or convinient, like at a regular bar night or maybe when your character is having the time of their life. Stuff like this always looms in the background.
I feel like this is a really important point. Realistically, in a universe like Eorzea, how well would someone with a crippling mental disability be able to survive in such a world? Someone who is a particularly disabled individual would absolutely require assistance from others just to survive, unless they were just that good at compensating in other ways.
I mean, I could see someone with severe SAD living a life as a hermit if they had the survival skills to manage on their own. But if they lived in a city like Ul'dah, life would be quite difficult, especially with how crowded it can be in the city. And, indeed, it's not something that just 'goes away' or gets 'cured', even with modern medicine and science (though, to be fair, we don't know exactly how much is possible with aether and magic, I would argue that, if such a thing were possible, we'd have seen examples of it already), and it's never just conveniently on or off.
Still, a lot of this does depend on the severity whatever it is they're dealing with, and indeed, a number of individuals would be able to survive merely as dependents of other, less disabled individuals. All the same, a lot of folks would certainly be struggling, and many more would probably be dying off, likely before they could even bear children. Eorzea's a rough place to live even for those of perfectly sound minds and bodies, after all.
(05-15-2015, 08:47 PM)Ritual Wrote: Also does Eorzea even have any classifications for disorders? It seems unlikely to me that they have psychiatrists etc, so it would seem strange if someone confided in me that they were schizophrenic when that term probably doesn't exist in this universe though I'm unsure.
Well, most likely psychology is not really a field that exists in Eorzea as of yet. I certainly would never have a character use such terms ICly, especially as a number of terms are named after the people who discovered them, and as such would make absolutely no sense in a fictional universe unless there was some kind of absurd cosmic coincidence. On the other hand, if such equivalents existed and psychology was an active field in Eorzea, it's not as if they'd write out lore describing what Eorzean equivalents of RL psychiatric diagnoses would actually be. I guess it'd be in the hands of the community at that point. I mean, if it existed. Which it doesn't. Heh.
