#(despite being a psychologist mulder doesn't really use that language to talk about his own trauma to my recollection | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

please-dont-pet-the-okapi · 4 months ago

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Thinking about the whole complaint that so many characters these days are too self-aware about their mental health, or use modern therapy-language in an unrealistically casual way.

I think part of this is we've forgotten that it's possible to write about characters (to use our modern language) healing from trauma without using therapy language to describe their experiences.

But the thing is, people have been writing about mental health for thousands of years. Thomas Hoccleve describes himself having what we would call a mental breakdown. Margery Kempe's book of visions opens with her going through post-partum depression. But the language they use is different because of when they lived.

So in light of that, I think it's important to consider what language your character would realistically use.

#this has been on my brain a lot lately due to #untitled arthurian thing #i think there are stories where therapy language makes sense #(for all the mcu's flaws there's a couple places in the mcu where it feels natural because sam wilson is a counselor #that's the language he has and would reasonably use! so i'm not mad about it!)#but such instances are not especially common #and even when characters DO have reason to use that language that doesn't mean they SHOULD #(despite being a psychologist mulder doesn't really use that language to talk about his own trauma to my recollection #and this makes sense honestly due to how his character is)#((there's also the element that irl the answer to Why Am I Like This is often WAY more complicated than we make it out to be #so the 'i did x because of y' thing sometimes comes across as disingenuous))#i'm just rambling here #stuff i found in my drafts #writing tag #queue

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