Mentally disabled in The Walking Dead
It would be nice to have someone with a mental condition in The Walking Dead. Like, a guy with schizophrenia. But not a psychopath, a friend. Someone who has control and knows he has schizophrenia. I feel like this could provide with emotional moments, for example, the main character walks in on him talking to empty space in front of the schizophrenic, and he says:
"How are you? Good. It's been a while. I wish you visited more often, it can get lonely being with these people I don't know. I know, you're there for me and stuff, but sometimes it doesn't seem to be enough. No, I don't trust anyone. You know why, I don't need to explain again. It's what got you killed! I'm not going to move on from it..." the schizophrenic pauses, "Yeah... you're right. God, I miss you bro." the schizophrenic hugs the empty space in front of him, "I wish this were real..."
I'm sure a few people had mental conditions too, like Carver or the Stranger, but it wasn't what built their character, like, they probably weren't like that before the apocalypse.
Comments
Unfortunately most mental cases probably wouldn't survive this far into the apocalypse without some help.
Eh I don't think it would really matter, but it would be pretty cool.
A Split Personality character would be interesting.
Well, how so? I've talked with a schizophrenic recently, it doesn't seem to hinder him to the point of needing help.
I actually got the brother idea from him, because he has conversations with his brother frequently, who died twelve years ago.
People with mental disorders, especially with schizophrenia, go through many treatments and use a variety of drugs and psychiatric help to help cope with it. I feel that it may overtake the person this late in the apocolypse
Well, what really matters in a game then? Quality? Money? Thought put into it?
It's not so much as what matters, what I think matters more is that the game exhibits different and unique, well developed characters. That is what polishes the game and makes a masterpiece.
What about Sarah, would she count?
Maybe I can talk to him about that. I never asked if he got officially diagnosed, he kinda diagnosed himself from what he told me.
But it would be very interesting. I mean, having a mental disorder can cause a lot of tension and in some ways put the group in danger. What do you do with someone like that? Take the risk and help him carry on? Leave him to die?
But still, why would a character with a mental problem be more developed, or different/unique than a character without one or is different in other ways? Don't get me wrong I like interesting and unique characters, I even think having a person with a mental problem would probably be a nice idea, but I don't want it to be that they only create things like that within a character just to make him/her "different" from the group.
I believe it all depends on how much it hinders the person. If they are capable, but it's just a little issue here and there, I'd have no problem saving them. If it consumes them to the point of being almost catatonic, then probably not.
Good idea, I think they should add this, would make it more interesting!
Let's hope I don't sound like a bitch when I say this.
What about mental cases that don't involve actually being mental? Like Sarah. She had anxiety, but look what happened. I'm sure that people with mental disabilities, although kind to the bone, won't survive without help. And it's sad, of course. But, that's just how the world is.
I would see it more as being a "character trait/flaw" like Kenny and his recklessness, or Jane and her survivalist attitude; it doesn't really define them, but it gets them into trouble sometimes. Example is the schizophrenic sees a walker behind someone, and yells to duck as he shoots the walker. Turns out it was a hallucination. The shot brings more walkers, and someone may or may not die.
I wouldn't really trust Telltale to write someone with schizophrenia because so far they've been insistent on giving disabled characters roles in which their arcs culminate in moral tests judging whether or not they deserve your sympathy (Sarah, Nick, Kenny).
If characters with anxiety, autism, depression, and PTSD are reduced to liabilities who "simply can't deal with this world" because of their struggles, then I don't even want to dare imagine what kind of awful writing they'd give to a character with schizophrenia... if they'd even manage to portray it in an accurate and inoffensive manner.
And also, I would advise not using the term "mental cases." It's pretty rude.
I was just about to make a similar post to yours.
And I agree. After seeing what happened in Episode 4 and how The Playing Dead reacted to it, I'm not looking forward to seeing new characters with such disabilities appear in Season 3 for fear of how terrible their treatment is going to be, and how Telltale learned nothing out of the controversy around their treatment with Nick and Sarah.
"Mental cases?" We had two people like that this season. Nick who suffered from extreme depression and Sarah who suffered from extreme anxiety. We saw how "well" Telltale handled those two. We saw how they were killed off so horribly with no chance of redemption at all. Honestly, I miss Sean Vanaman and the crew who wrote Season 1. Those people knew how to handle characters and give them a chance of redeeming themselves seen in Ben the "screw up."
I'm not sure how I feel about specific disorders being included, but I do think Telltale should branch out to more eccentric personalities than they have. Nate, for example, could probably be diagnosed with a variety of disorders, but what's important is that he's just...different. He thinks differently and approaches things in ways that no normal person would. That's what made him memorable.
Let's not forget their portrayal of a physically disabled foreigner, where they taught us a valuable lesson about how it's morally justified to abuse scared teenage boys because they're Russian and will end up ungratefully shooting you non-lethally in the shoulder.
It's not just Sarah, Nick, and Kenny. Jane is implied to have some deep-seated psychological issues, Reggie has full-blown stockhole syndrome, and Carver is a megalomaniac. I always found it kinda curious how people don't seem to care at all about Reggie but place so much value in Nick and Sarah.
It's because Reggie existed for 20 minutes, and because his main purpose was to get killed off to show that Carver was "evul". :P
Carver is a full-blown sociopath - he fits pretty much every attribute on the check-list, which makes me wonder if the writers actually consulted that check-list when writing him. I'm surprised that not a lot of people seemed to have picked up on that.
Yep. I've written a bit about Jane's PTSD but hesitated with mentioning her because I've been sort of inactive lately and I'm not sure how the forum collectively feels about her (I didn't want to cause any kind of shit storm). But yeah, basically the end of the Season literally culminates in "Which person with severe PTSD deserves your sympathy more?"
And I think it's because Sarah and Nick were main characters whereas Reggie was unfortunately, like, blink-and-you'll-miss-him, which is a shame, because he really was quite fascinating and the group clearly cared about him a lot.
Arvo existed to be nothing more than a moral device. He doesn't even get a proper back story. We still have no idea what he was doing with that medicine. It's terrible.
It's because the writers were hacks who either watched too many Tom Clancy movies or played Call of Duty. Why else did they go for the nonsensical plot device of EVIL RUSSIANS? If they really wanted to use the 'foreigner with a different language' cliche, why not go for Latinos rather than a Cold War relic?
Were they afraid that Kenny would seem too racist if he was mistreating a Latino? Because he was being pretty bigoted towards Arvo anyway.
That whole situation was just bizarre. For some inexplicable reason, Arvo--who is physically disabled--is a several days' walk away from where his group is situated, with a bag full of medicine that he's hiding in the trash can. His group is further in the woods, also a several days' walk away from their camp. And all the while, they're Russian and really, really want you dead.
It's just...? Like... did the writers even think? Or did they just go "We need evil Russians and a disabled kid to make Kenny look bad, screw the details"? Like they existed solely as... really far-fetched plot devices to further the story line rather than actual human characters.
I was hoping that they would have subverted the 'evil Russian' cliche by making them actual characters who simply overreacted to who they perceived to be bandits, but alas. Vitali and Buricko are both violent monsters, and the 'sick sister'/token girl dies just so that Arvo gets a flimsy excuse to give Clem an insignificant injury.
I maintain that a group of Russian immigrants isn't that far-fetched. There are plenty of random little ethnic pockets scattered throughout the US. But the fact that they explained NONE of it in any form really does make it seem like an out-of-nowhere plot device. Of course, they couldn't have us talk to Arvo at all. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to justify having him shoot us out of nowhere.
The irony is that he seemed amiable enough to Clem in Amid The Ruins, if you didn't rob him. "I wish we could have met differently. You were kind. That is not common."
Then he shoots you because you're never allowed the chance to explain why you shot his sister. Besides, who even shot her in that clusterfuck of a gunfight? Buricko? Bonnie? Lee Everett???
It's implied by Vitali that Kenny did it. Which is weird.
"You killed Natasha! You bastard! I will kill everyone of you!"
I get enough flak from people in real life for having depression, it was sad to see how Nick and Sarah were treated. Pretty much told 'get the fuck over yourself'. If they could snap out of it, don't you think they bloody would?
Holy goodness, I just noticed that. I really meant like "cases of mental illness" sorta thing, I didn't mean to call anyone a mental case x.x
Well, in Nick's case, he kinda does snap out of it if Clem talks him through it. And you know, I don't really get why people assume that Nick actually suffered from clinical depression. It's not like he had any sudden onset symptoms. He was depressed because really depressing shit happened to him and he admits that he has a pretty weak constitution when it comes to dealing with stuff. That's pretty normal I think.
It's okay, thank you for changing the title!!
I really dont think its necessary to have characters with disorders, everyone in this place is stressed beyond belief to begin with. The whole point of this world is its cruel and unforgiving the walkers dont care that people have issues or if there young, old or whatever there just going to kill them. Most of the people dont either as at the end of the day it dosnt matter, they cant get them help so they have to work with what person they've got
Also the ones with conditions serious enough would likely be long gone by this point anyway
A sudden will to live in the middle of a dire situation =/= fully cured depression.
He uses a pre-apocalypse anecdote to explain that he can't move on like Luke and that he's "not built like that," implying that he's been this way since before the apocalypse. Where you see a "weak constitution when it comes to dealing with stuff", I and many other people see a preexisting condition. Not to mention his really obvious deep-seated self-esteem issues. Getting irrationally upset when your uncle tells slightly embarrassing stories about you is something that comes from a lifetime of feeling inadequate, not necessarily the stress of the apocalypse. And given the fact his father was allegedly negligent--well, that's not necessarily a direct cause of depression, but to add that into his back story presents someone who's been struggling since childhood.
Well in clinical depression cases, it's generally not possible to get someone to just stop being depressed even momentarily like Clem was apparently able to do with Nick in the shed. That really did just seem like he just needed a pep talk.
Nothing in that anecdote implies that he had fits of depression before. In fact, Nick mentioned that despite the fact that they were flat broke he didn't care because they were having fun. The anecdote had more to do with Luke's carefree attitude than Nick.
I wouldn't call his reaction "irrational." His uncle was having a laugh with a little girl about him being a crybaby and mishandled a gun. I'd be pretty pissed off by that. Maybe it's a guy thing.
Nick might have self-esteem issues but I don't think it's to the extent that he'd be clinically diagnosed. Lots of people have low self-esteem.
Mentally disabled? Thanks lol. I wouldn't call it a disability, more like an illness. But hey, maybe I'm just being too sensitive.
To be honest, I felt quite bad for Nick when Pete was telling the deer story. From my point of view, it came across as Pete mocking Nick for being a sensitive kid - especially at the end, where Pete kills the deer that Nick refused to and laughs about how Nick was furious at him for weeks for displaying the deer's corpse.
Pete may have cared for Nick, but it's evident that his 'tough love' approach was partly responsible for turning sensitive Nick into the irritable, inadequate mess we know him as.
I don't consider myself mentally disabled. I consider myself mentally different.
Oh, yeah, no, I absolutely agree. And I felt bad for him too. I'm just... using it as an example that he has low self-esteem. There are other examples, too. He has a habit of making some pretty self-disparaging remarks.
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