#hypothetical

Is is a weird question to ask how much poison hurts? like is it worse than being stabbed?

kata4a:

I think I will not be able to finish this paper

They should use the dynamite to blast the part of the cave where the water is coming in. Better to cut off the flow than to commit horrifying bloody murder.

So if you dream about killing someone and then end up doing it later, does that count as premeditated?

ladyinsertnamehere:

I have nothing really to say I just liked this face

kimwxlers:

Alright, Ernie Wise.

angiethewitch:

explorerrowan:

kipplekipple:

survivor-reborn:

The narrative of ‘this person was disabled but their disability was cured as part of their story’ is ableist

The narrative of ‘this person is disabled but “overcame” disability in order for them to be a hero’ (e.g. a paralysed person finding a way to walk) is ableist

And just for clarification for the non-disabled, using adaptive technologies, like prostheses or whatever, is not ableist as long as you never forget. Ask yourself questions about the benefits but also the limitations of whatever adaptive thing you’re giving the character.

• They have to take a pill every day to treat a chronic illness or chronic pain? Okay, what happens when they forget, or are in a bad situation and run out of pills?
• They lost a limb or are paralyzed and now they have a sci-fi cybernetic prosthesis/exoskeleton to replace the lost functionality? Cool. What does maintenance look like? Does it ever malfunction? What happens if they don’t or can’t take care of it? Do they still get phantom pains even with the adaptation?
• They’re deaf or blind or anosmic, but they’re a wizard who uses magic to adapt to the lost sense? Fine. What does it take to maintain that magic? Do they have adaptive strategies for when the magic fails?
• They’re autistic or have ADHD or schizophrenia or some other cognitive disorder, and they have a chip in their head to make it easier to communicate when non-verbal? Okay. What exactly does it do for them? Does it ever malfunction or give them headaches? What are other ways they’ve adapted to their disability apart from this chip?

Other questions to ask that go for all kinds of things:

• Do they have a service animal? For what tasks or situations is it trained?
• Do their family/friends know how to help if their adaptive technologies/strategies fail?
• Is their disability (or the adaptation) visible or observable to others? How do others react?
• Has their society adapted to accommodate disabilities, and if so, in what ways? (Ramps, closed captions, sign language, etc.)

Basically, think about what it adds to the story to have your character disabled. If you were just going to completely cure it with no ongoing repercussions or adaptations, why did you bother making them disabled in the first place? What story were you telling?

really good addition

with-my-murder-flute:

BIOFEEDBACK AND EMDR!

I’ve been lowkey annoyed, as a therapist, with all this “Booker should go to therapy” comments because if he can’t tell the truth, psychotherapy won’t be any fucking good for him.

A huge part of talk therapy’s effectiveness is having an experience of being truly seen, of being able to be authentic and real with another human being and feeling their honest empathy and acceptance. If Booker has to lie and hide 90% of his life, the benefit is very limited.

So I’ve been thinking about what’s actually his issue, what’s actually wrong with him, what could be treated.

There’s a little bit of a gimme the Old Guard get, where if a normal human being encountered that much pain and stress—I’m talking physical pain and physiological stress—they would be a burned-out wreck. Their nervous system would just spend all its time pumping out pain signals. So already, their neural healing is as advanced as their other healing.

But if we’re assuming Booker’s incredible history of trauma and years of nihilism has still managed to etch itself onto his brain the way it might a mortal’s… I mean, one therapy is medication, and beyond your usual antidepressants there are experimental PTSD medications with promise, like MDMA (yes, the party drug). He could also try transcranial magnetic stimulation, which is administered over 20-30 treatments over a year (every two or three weeks).

But as for things Booker would consciously work at, there are two well-proven process therapies that don’t rely on talk because they target the physiological and emotional mechanisms of PTSD more than the cognitive ones.

One is biofeedback—here’s an informative videoandan informative article. It basically means training your brain and body to react in a different and more controlled way, so that, for example, you’re able to calm down in response to an incipient panic attack, or able to focus on the positive in a stressful situation.

The other is EMDR—here’s an informative video andan informative article. In EMDR the therapist provides sensory stimuli that basically puts your brain into “debug” mode, and you practice going from a feeling of peace and stability, to accessing your traumatic memories, to finding new ways to deal with them, to going back to being okay enough to go back to your life. EMDR is rather unique because the client needs to talk very little; most of the work is done internally.

So those might be of use to Booker. And Quỳnh, if she ends up going too.

This is a great example of how to use psychology with your fictional characters! 

Jehovah Christmas- a funny (and hypocritical) family tradition.

Now, I’d like to stress that no, we do not call this event ‘Jehovah Christmas’. While I think suggesting that name would get my sister to laugh- I doubt any of the devout family would be happy about it. Instead it is boringly called ‘The November Party’ but I want to suggest a different name.

This family tradition came about last year, before we locked down fully for COVID. It’s a two day event- one day for gifts, the next for food. With that in mind, it’s more of a Christmas / Thanksgiving combo than a unique tradition.

On the first day, the third Friday of every November, we each (8 of us total) get each other a gift, nothing extravagant but there is no hard price limit. We keep gift bags labeled with our names on a big table, and we all just put our gifts in the bags after wrapped. We all open them, taking turns taking a single gift out of your bag. The following day, my dad and grandma cook a big Thanksgiving-like spread. And then, for the one time a year we do this- we eat together at the big table.

This tradition was obviously born out of a desire to celebrate holidays without really celebrating them. I can’t remember who’s idea it was, though I can assure you it wasn’t mine. While I see the obvious hypocrisy here, I’m not going to bring that up and dash away the chance for my sister to experience that little bit of the holidays. Plus, I love it and wish they had done it when I was a kid.

Anyways, if you and your families had any fun traditions like that, please share them because I’d love to hear.

Random but specific question:

What do I say as my opening text to a girl I’ve matched with on tinder that I know from a sports club but I haven’t spoken to her because I’m 99% sure I snogged a year before I joined the club while very drunk?