#symptom neutralizer

[ix-c-999]

symptom neutralizer

another term we use for our system that hasn't been coined yet to our knowledge!

a symptom neutralizer is, in essence, the opposite of a symptom holder. this can look like the following: -a system member who, in contrast with a system who are entirely or largely affected by a particular condition, does not seem to have any symptoms of it. -a system member who does display symptoms of a condition that affects the rest of the system, but their symptoms are much milder/more manageable for them than for the rest of the system. -a system member who experiences a symptom to some extent but is notably better at managing it than other system members are who have the same symptom. -a system member who is in some way "immune" to the symptom in question (e.g. an aromantic system member who does not experience hyperromantic symptoms) -a system member who is not bothered by symptoms that bother the other members of the system (e.g. intrusive thoughts that distress most of the members of the system do not upset a symptom neutralizer for them.) however, anything that lessens the impact, extent, or distressing nature of a symptom, or any system member who experiences notably less or none of a symptom that much of the rest of the system experience, can fit under symptom neutralizer.

the colors for the flag are adjusted from inverting the symptom holder flag.

simplified version:

this post has no DNI other than not to start discourse on it.

[warm-autumn-evenings]

*through tears* I BELONG HERE. ON THIS EARTH AMONG OTHERS. I BELONG JUST AS MUCH AS THE NEXT PERSON. I DESERVE TO BE ALIVE. I AM JUST AS GOOD AND BAD AS EVERYONE ELSE. I DESERVE TO BE LOVED. I DESERVE TO BE FREE.

[aroaceleovaldez]

in your most recent tyson post, you said something about leo being distinctly autistic-coded and I was wondering if you could elaborate on that? it sounds really interesting (sorry if you've already posted something on this, I couldn't find anything though)

Of course! I do have a specific tag for talking about Leo's autistic-coding/traits - [here], and [one for Nico as well].

The main aspects with Leo being autistic-coded actually have a lot to do with Nico being autistic-coded, because it's the comparisons between the two that most clearly indicate Leo is autistic-coded rather than it just being his ADHD or etc.

So with Nico being autistic-coded, it's very clear in the Titan's Curse that he's intended to be autistic. First, the first series has a repeating pattern of secondary characters being very distinctly neurodivergent-coded in different ways (Annabeth's adhd/dyslexia, Tyson's down syndrome-coding, Nico's autism-coding). With Nico's introduction, he's pretty stereotypically autistic and we're given a lot of descriptors about him that are notably not attributed to him being ADHD, like it would be for other demigod characters. He doesn't register social cues such as people getting annoyed at him, he's asking/making inappropriate or impolite questions/comments, he gets particularly upset about change (such as Bianca joining the Hunt) and generally gets emotional, and one of his most notable traits he's introduced with is the fact that he has a special interest (MythoMagic) - and we're shown that this special interest particularly colors how Nico navigates the world. While ADHD has hyperfixations, we don't really get much acknowledgement of hyperfixations with demigods usually - Annabeth gets a little, but most others don't and it's not nearly as focused-in on as Nico's is.

Then as the series continues we see these traits stick with him and him start to show or voice more traits that similarly indicate he's autistic: He regularly mentions how he doesn't understand living people and prefers the company of the dead (social issues). He has more notable stims than other demigods (twisting his ring, fiddling with bones, etc). He's indicated to have strong sensory preferences (usually wearing mostly black/aversion to bright colors, usually wearing layers/his coat, multiple times he's described as wearing loose/baggy clothing or clothes too big for him). He has specific comfort items (his ring, likely his jacket(s) as well). We later get even more information about his special interests (Mythomagic/mythology/history and an older interest in pirates - the latter he specifically notes likely heavily influenced his feelings towards Percy). He struggles with emotions and facial expressions and tone. He struggles particularly with ostracism and feeling like he doesn't fit in and has something distinctly different about him from the people around him (who notably, all have ADHD, which indicates it isn't the ADHD that's making him feel that way), and other characters regularly describe him as being off-putting because of his strange behaviors - again, different from specific ADHD traits they recognize. And that last point is kind of notable because we have Hazel and Bianca for comparison - we know people are off-put by both Nico and Hazel because of being children of Hades/Pluto and their powers/aura, but other characters get past that general feeling of discomfort way faster with Hazel. And even after characters get past the death stuff with Nico, there's a second thing that they aren't moving past that isn't a factor with Hazel (Nico's autism).

So that brings us to Leo - Leo is paralleled to Nico a lot. And there's some very specific traits about him that we know are autistic-coding because of how they're used with Nico: He similarly struggles with social cues/etc, and in a very similar parallel to Nico describes how he prefers the company of machines to people because machines make more sense to him. He has similar types of clothing/sensory preferences (again some stuff with layers but also - pockets! He likes having pockets and things to put stuff in! He's even introduced as having a jacket with lots of pockets), and he has a distinct special interest (machinery) that we specifically know heavily influences how he views and navigates the world (constantly comparing things to machinery, describing things with machinery metaphors/terminology, etc etc). He even describes his entire general worldview to Hazel and it's a machine metaphor. He also similarly struggles with ostracization like Nico does, the only difference being that Leo specifically puts on a persona to compensate for areas he knows he's lacking in and very explicitly describes it as a means to make people like him, because without it he normally struggles to fit in (He's masking!). We also see notes of characters describing that similar discomfort with Leo's behaviors that they do with Nico, except without the aura of death this time. And when we're in Leo's POVs we see a very stark difference between his masking and his actual personality/behaviors such as his internal dialogues or how he behaves when he's alone. Also, like Nico, he stims more than other demigods, though for Leo it's more attributed to his ADHD. Leo also, more often than most, similarly struggles with tone and reading the room, such as making misplaced jokes/comments or etc.

But yeah! It's really interesting. Also it's just a fun thing that ADHD/dyslexia and autism have comorbidity, so it makes sense that we see demigods who are also autistic. It's also really fun to look at how other characters are coded in the series, what coding looks like in the riordanverse specifically (usually it's tied into the mythological stuff - like Chiron being in a wheelchair but he's actually a centaur, Grover being introduced as having a muscular disease but he's actually a satyr, demigods having adhd/dyslexia, Tyson being coded as having down syndrome but he's a cyclops, etc etc - it's a lot of specific metaphor stuff that I've talked about a bit before), and to look at how characters are compared to one another.

[sysig]

Giving nicknames, testing boundaries (Patreon)

[trans-axolotl]

having a lot of thoughts about eating disorders + how some of us end up developing chronic illnesses directly because of the physical effects of our eating disorders and how Cruel doctors can be about that and just trying to untangle so much shame and blame from that experience rn

[sidhewrites]

Still thinking about how my best friend figured out I was autistic thirteen entire years before I did tbh

[one-winged-dreams]

I feel so fucking shammy when I talk to my psychiatrist because he's always asking me how I'm doing (because he's a psychiatrist) and I'm always like "Not well. I can't gauge how my meds are working because I'm going through a lot right now, I'll have to see how things go when everything calms down." but it NEVER calms down and it's just one fucking thing after another and this poor man has to deal with my uncertainty.

[spushii]

why are leftists on this website unironically complaining about Feminist Killjoys gently reminding everyone that a movie on a corporate IP is trying to sell you something. The movie being good or fun does not mean that it's primary purpose is not to create or increase cultural awareness and good will with consumers so that they can sell something to you

[ix-c-999]

system role blinkies, part 1/?

[this post has no DNI other than not to involve it in discourse or mockery]

[cherrysnax]

hello hi howdy what do u do when feel ur like brain deteriorating asking for a friend

[kaurwreck]

I cannot relate when people talk about being unable to distinguish comorbid symptoms, at least not to the same degree. I have mine fairly parsed, including where they overlap and exacerbate each other, in part because of how aggressively I've pursued treatment while also staggering it in such a way that allowed me and my psychs to identify the separate disorders.

[wilsons-hotlittleprettyboymouth]

Reddit is genuinely hell I posted in the long covid sub about how ever since having my 5th bout of covid I’ve felt pretty much nothing and I’m still doing activities and stuff but I feel numb and blunt and like my emotions are buried under 6 ft of snow and I replied to a comment saying this isn’t anhedonia I know what it feels like and now I woke up to a cascade of downvotes and comments berating me for challenging everyone else’s definition of anhedonia and being condescending blah blah blah

When the whole time I wasn’t challenging their definition, I was saying I don’t have what their definition is. Now I get why no one trusts the entire field of psychology, psych professionals are pompous and self important and outright belligerent about it sometimes.

Anyway, thanks to the single person who said “it sounds like what op has is emotional blunting rather than anhedonia” and was ignored by every other person in the thread

[anti-transphobia]

Forever annoyed that "don't speak over marginalized people", the notion that marginalized people are already spoken over, and their oppressors need to actually listen and learn before speaking about complicated topics and need to do so in support of not OVER them, so quickly turned into "I'm not x so I can't speak on x issues". Like the "don't speak on this if you're not this" started out so well meaning because it was about people needing to actually take the time to learn before talking about issues they didn't previously understand! Now it's just an excuse for people to never learn about the issues minorities face or to actually stand up for them in any meaningful way

[maddisandy]

me when the weather and i have chronic pain

[echowilds]

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