(05-14-2015, 10:05 PM)Max Wrote: Anyway, my advice to anyone considering making one:
Don't let the mental illness define the character. Do your research.
^ Thisthisthis. There's certainly respectful ways to RP mental illnesses and I've seen it done and it's absolutely something I enjoy exploring in RP (even for catharsis), but picking and choosing certain illnesses based on "cuteness" is borderline fetishistic. There's no cute side to having disorders. The idea that someone might find my own mental illnesses "endearing" or "cute" greatly disturbs me and creeps me out.
Zyrusticae, you say you want to portray these illnesses as cute because the alternative is negative. But what about your character working through these issues in a realistic way? What about struggling to triumph over them with help from understanding friends who know that your character is so much more? Is that not more fulfilling than superficial pity? And more respectful?
And publicly dismissing mental illnesses as "personality traits" sort of undermines recovery and medical treatment. It's fine to say that for yourself, you define these as "personality traits," but know that many take comfort in the fact that their mental illnesses can be treated medically and therefore aren't a simple fluke of their personality.
