#PTSD ALERT

[incorrectbatfam]

WFA spoilers ahead

Content warning for discussion of mental illness

Can I take a moment to appreciate how they showcased Jason's PTSD in the latest ep? This isn't the first time but I feel like this round struck much closer.

Although this is the website where people are open about mental illness, there's still a reluctance to address the "loud" or "frightening" or "angry" or "messy" side of it. Stuff like bipolar, schizophrenia, addiction, PTSD. It's why I'm extremely hesitant to talk about my own problems even under anonymity.

Conversely, there are mainline comics (and other media) that use this category of mental illness as an excuse for characters to go all-out in their aggression. Even if not intentional, it perpetuates the idea that a trigger will always send the person spiraling until either the worst happens or someone steps in as the "hero." It's basically sending the message to people like me that we're a ticking time bomb.

Then there's WFA. Jason's not fully present during his episode. It leads him into a dangerous situation while at the same time he's unable to grasp things like pain. The adrenaline and the overwhelming sense of fear drives him into fight mode. He gets tunnel vision while he's beating up the bar patrons to try and find the Joker. Without getting into details, I've been in Jason's shoes. I've found myself in risky places doing things I'd later regret. All because of the disconnect from reality that makes me believe what I'm doing is necessary. Not even justified, just necessary. Almost like a survival instinct.

And what's so important is that Jason isn't a villain and Dick isn't a savior. Dick reaffirms Jason's trauma and guides him through tangible steps rather than giving broad sweeping advice. Of course there's no one-size-fits-all coping method, but the biggest thing is having somebody in your corner who sees you beyond this bad episode. Sometimes I have that, sometimes I don't. WFA won't show it since it's all about family, but the times I didn't have someone were exponentially scarier.

At the same time, there are consequences that a simple grounding exercise can't remedy—Jason got hurt, he hurt others, and his appearance at Noonan's definitely put him on someone's radar if not the Joker. And they're just as real as his feelings and (hopefully) he's gonna be held accountable. Because that's how it goes in real life. Something sets me off, I screw up, I get bailed out, and once I come down from it I have to fix the mess I made.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into a fan comic. But I know that if a few panels can resonate so closely with me, then it's worth talking about because someone, somewhere is also feeling the same way.

[someforeignband]

yes frances is after frances from dirty dancing! (and he’s spent the last 3 months begging eddie for another cat to name johnny)

[kindnessoverperfection]

Lately, when I talk about someone I strongly disagree with, I think about my friends.

When I interact with someone who regularly rants about people, and tends to take things in the worst ways (without any attempts at self-reflection or grace), I feel more on-edge. I'm nervous to voice opinions. I'm always over-thinking everything I send them, worried about how they'll receive it.

On the other hand, I feel much safer during conversations where someone is speaking neutrally about those they feel at conflict with. When they feel upset about a situation, but without talking aggressively about the other person. Because I know that if we're ever in a disagreement, or have some sort of conflict or misunderstanding, they won't hurt me or suddenly hate me*.

I used to speak much more aggressively about people. My personality disorders, combined with online toxic environments, were big factors in that. I was stressed and angry constantly, and I felt justified, and I felt afraid and ashamed to respond with anything but anger. But to make a long story short, I had several big painful interpersonal experiences where I realized how my attitude was impacting my friends.

I remember the nervousness in my friends' eyes. I remember the people I've met who are much older and never grew out of that reactive communication style, and I don't want to be that person. I want my loved ones to feel safe around me.

So nowadays, I do my best to speak compassionately (or at least neutrally). Because I want to signal to my friends that I'm not going to be cruel to them, or to automatically believe the worst of them, during a conflict or misunderstanding. I try to vent about situations and my fears instead of people.

I wish I'd realized this before.

*(I discuss splitting in the tags)

[poodle-gutz]

This Friday Molly got to meet a robot! The local junior high robotics team dedicated some time to come to the nursing home where I work so the patients could see their robot and learn about how it works! Me and my coworkers agreed it was a great opportunity for Molly to learn how to function around unexpected things, she did VERY well considering you don't see robots everyday. The team was nice enough to let me get a photo of the bot with Molly, and she thoroughly enjoyed watching it wander around the floor (I let her watch the bot for awhile since it was a new experience and expecting her to focus right away was just completely unrealistic). She was able to effectively task and listen to commands even while watching her environment which is exactly what I hoped for. Great job Molly!

[izzydaninja]

Sonic Prime - Finale Rewrite? Sonic Prime & Avengers: Infinity War Peter Parker Dying Scene, recreated to be Sonic dying. This was a random silly idea at first, but I decided to keep going with it. :) Hopefully you all liked it. I got awfully sloppy with a lot of it. Didn't bother finishing some of the hand and shoe basic sketches, and just left them as warped blobs and such. lol But, as long as it gets the meaning across, I'm good with it. I would've done a fully finished comic, but I knew I'd never get it done, so I just left it as the sloppy sketchy mess it is. Did enjoy taking my time on the last panel, though. :3 Sonic as Peter Parker/Spider-Man Shadow as Tony Stark/Iron-Man

~The heart is for my signature in the background, not for the characters and panels, etc. lol Sorry if it was misinterpreted as such.~ *DO NOT TAKE, COPY, OR REDRAW* ~No stealy~

[whump-about-it]

Red Alert/ Distress Call/ Panic Attack

@whumpril day 1 (few days late)

CW: panic attacks, brief mention of blood, implied suicidal ideation, concern about self harm, dissociation, PTSD 

Caretaker knew something was wrong as soon as they saw Whumpee’s name pop up on their phone. Whumpee never called. They hated talking on the phone. Even when something actually warranted a call Whumpee was more likely to send a text. Which more often than not Caretaker wouldn’t see for hours. 

“Whumpee?” They said a little too loudly when they picked up the phone, causing a few of their co-workers to look up at them annoyed. On the other end of the phone Whumpee didn’t respond. All Caretaker could hear was heavy, ragged breathing, like Whumpee was running from something. 

“Whumpee?” Caretaker repeated “Whumpee are you there? Is everything okay?” 

“Caretaker.” Whumpee finally spoke. They sounded out of breathe and their voice lacked its usual force “Caretaker. I - I” They paused for several breathes as Caretaker held their phone in a white knuckle grip, trying not to speak over Whumpee. Trying to let them get the words out on their own.

“Red” Whumpee finally said with a gasp. 

Caretaker was up and moving before Whumpee had finished the word. Rushing through their office and towards the exit. 

“I’m on my way. Where are you?” 

Whumpee wasn’t good at talking about their feelings. Even before Whumper it was something they didn’t like doing, and preferred to keep an emotionless mask at all times. Since Whumper though, holding that mask had gotten harder and somehow more important to them. When they couldn’t hold the mask anymore though, and it cracked, Whumpee struggled to explain what was going on. Their emotions came out in violent outbursts and debilitating panic attacks that they couldn’t control or explain. Overtime Whumpee and Caretaker had managed to come up with a code that Whumpee could use to explain to Caretaker what was going on inside their head. 

Green meant everything was okay, and Caretaker was misinterpreting the situation. Yellow meant Whumpee was on edge, but still in control. Orange was for panic attacks. And red? Red meant Caretaker needed to drop everything and get to Whumpee quick. 

“Whumpee? Where are you?” Caretaker repeated when Whumpee didn’t respond to them the first time. 

“I’m sorry” Whumpee gasped, their voice was sounding more and more distanced, like they were falling into a trance. Caretaker began to panic a little, imagining Whumpee lost someplace and totally dissociating. Doing something stupid or dangerous, and Caretaker not being able to get to them in time. 

“Just tell me where you are Whumpee” They insisted in a forced calm voice. 

“Home.” Whumpee said and Caretaker breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Okay. I’m on my way. I’m already in the car. Just stay on the phone with me okay?” 

“I broke the mirror.” 

“Alright. We’ll deal with that. Are you hurt?” 

“I’m sorry” 

“I don’t care about the mirror Whumpee. Did you hurt yourself?” There was a long pause. before Whumpee responded. 

“I don’t know.” They breathed “There’s blood” 

Caretaker’s heartrate leapt. 

“I’m five minutes away. Just hang on and stay on the phone with me.” 

Whumpee didn’t respond. Caretaker kept trying to talk to them but they feared Whumpee wasn’t hearing them anymore. 

Caretaker finally pulled into the driveway and jumped out of their car, running into the house. Thankfully they found Whumpee exactly where they thought they would be. 

They were sitting on the floor of the downstairs bathroom with their knees up to their chest and starring ahead of them without seeing. Their back was against the vanity and they were surrounded by shards of glass from the shattered mirror above them. In one hand, they were still holding their phone up to their ear even though Caretaker had hung up when they had come through the door. In the other they were holding one of the shards of broken mirror with such an iron grip their hand was shaking. Caretaker could see blood pooling between their fingers and there was a trail dripping down their wrist. 

“Whumpee!” Caretaker ran into the bathroom and fell to their knees in front of Whumpee ignoring the bits of glass pushing into their knees through their pants. They grabbed both of Whumpee’s wrists and shook them until they dropped both the phone and the glass shard. With their hands now empty Caretaker examined Whumpee’s arms and wrists for injuries. Their fingers and knuckles were cut on their dominant hand from having punched the mirror, and there were deep cuts on their palm from where they had been gripping the shard of glass. But otherwise they were uninjured, and none of the injuries they had seemed to be intentional.

Caretaker breathed a shaky sigh of relief and looked up at Whumpee’s face. They were white as a sheet and Caretaker could see tear stains running down their cheeks. But they were surprised to find that Whumpee was looking back at them with at least some level of awareness that Caretaker was there. 

“Caretaker?” 

Caretaker reached forward and put their hands of Whumpee’s cheeks, wiping away the last of the tears. 

“Yeah Whumpee I’m here now. How are you doing?” 

“Red” Whumpee replied after a moment, and their eyes filled with tears again. Their face twisting to try to keep from crying. 

“I can’t even look at myself” They sobbed. “Why did Whumper do that to me? What did I do to deserve it?” 

“Oh, Honey” Caretaker knew Whumpee would scold them for the pet name later, but now they didn’t seem to notice. Caretaker pulled them into a hug and let Whumpee cry into their shoulder shaking and gripping at the back of their shirt with their non-bloody hand, as they stroked their hair and tried to hold back their own tears.

“You didn’t do anything to deserve this. Whumper is a monster, and they were going to hurt someone no matter what. But I’m so, so, sorry it was you. Never believe though that it was your fault. Please never believe that.” 

They stayed there on the floor of the bathroom for a long time. Whumpee crying into Caretaker’s shoulder and Caretaker doing what they could to comfort them. It had been such a long road for both of them since Whumpee had been rescued from Whumper, and they had a long way to go before Whumpee would even start to be okay again. But Caretaker was proud of Whumpee for today. For calling. For asking for help before they were too far gone. They were glad the code system had worked. 

They would tell Whumpee all this later. But now wasn’t the time. Now Whumpee just needed a shoulder to cry on. 

[koheletgirl]

naga is having her usual morning freakout and my partner is trying to explain to her that there's a ceasefire

[ex-foster]

“I’ve faced far more discrimination as a result of being care experienced than I have even with my disability. I’m neurodivergent and it does baffle me that I’ve got these intersectional identities, but one of them isn’t protected at all.”

[awobbles]

TW: Emergency Alert System

I'm an EAS enthusiast.

Why?

[livehorses]

I wanted to raise some awareness about this topic because, even if you're not personally affected, it doesn't mean you have to downgrade other people's, mostly if it affects them.

So, in this short, this content creator is making a joke, on how it seems that gen z can't be awaken with any sound unless it's a social media notification from their phone. (Warning, if you consider to watch it, keep in mind that has many triggering sounds)

This shouldn't be harmful and it hasn't to go further from this joke. Only problem is that, considering this is an American person, I would've expected anything but one sound.

The video starts with a gunshot, then with a tornado alarm, and I personally don't react to these, as in my zone there's not such things as shooting attacks or tornados, but I wasn't expecting the Mexican Seismic Alarm to be played as well. This took me by surprise and even if I consciously knew it was the video I still felt my heart skip a beat.

Even some Mexicans use this sound for pranks, and the alarm may sound hilarious to people who firstly hear it. It sounds something like a "WOWOWOWOWOWOW." But believe me, living an experience as my own turns the alarm into a shot of adrenaline and a fight or flight response on my body.

For those who don't know, my country suffered a terrible earthquake back then in last century's September 19 of '85. Many buildings fell and several people died buried under them. My mom's generation is traumatized.

My generation didn't take it seriously until there was another one of similar magnitude, just exactly on the same date on 2017. A ridiculous coincidence, but even if the number of deceases were less than this earthquake's predecessor, the number was also huge.

So, if you're a content creator, please take into consideration that your experiences differ from others, and that, essentially, sound alarms should be taken seriously and considered trigger inducing for people that might've had experiences related to the threats these alarm sounds warn us off.

Stop taking them as a joke.

[recovery-is-possible]

I've been listening to music with noise cancelling headphones, not even being aware of the noise cancelling being on and moving around in my apartment

For some people, completely normal

For me, actually a huge thing because i didn't even think about it and it means i feel safe

[monstermp3]

.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

I’ll be leaving for my echocardiogram + bubble study in a few hours and I’m pretty excited. If it shows a hole in my heart then that might give us new treatment options that could improve my quality of life. If it doesn’t then we will be sent to a Pulmonologist to look for other causes of my low blood oxygen. Either way it’s not a dead end and something more is going to come from it.

Hubbins has been so helpful and will be going with me today instead of Mandana. The last echo I had was years ago at a different hospital. There was a male staff member who made me really uncomfortable during and after the procedure and I still have some trauma from the whole experience. I regret not reporting his behavior. At the time I was having to fight every step of the way for healthcare and I was worried there would be retaliation. I feel much better knowing Hubbins is with me and has my back. Mandana would be a good deterrent too but that’s not her job and I don’t want to risk her career bc of creepy men.

[poodle-gutz]

Today Molly decided to tear up her toy pheasant at work and shred it all over my office floor. How nice of her

[battling-my-demons]

Always on alert for another bad thing to happen. Nothing good ever happens to me. Who else waits for the other shoe to drop?!

[colors927]

@manriah tagged me to post the top four albums i’ve been listening to lately! but this carly rae jepsen album is all i’ve been listening to lol

these days I really only listen to music when i’m driving, and I don’t leave the house often anymore so I don’t listen to music as much as i used to.

sorry this is boring lol thanks for the tag!

idk who to tag now umm

@jade-sutures @peach--blood if you wanna! no presh