let your whumpees have lasting cognitive damage!
I feel like most of whump post-rescue focuses on the physical scars and specifically psychological trauma (which are very important to explore as well!), but cognitive damage is an underutilized topic.
Depending on the whump (beatings, isolation, oxygen deprivation, electric shocks, even magic) there can be a lot of different consequences to the brain and its functions. I'll list some examples.
Brain fog and slower processing speed.
Thinking is becoming so much more difficult and energy consuming. Before the whump, character had lightning fast reflexes, could spot patterns and connections in seconds and could adapt to any situation. Now every task takes twice as long and they feel utterly exhausted at the end of it. Maybe some more complicated tasks have simply become impossible.
Losing the ability to read and/or write.
They used to spend hours reading, writing, journaling. Now the letters have just become incoherent shapes, constantly blurring and losing meaning. One day someone asks character to write down their name and with tears in their eyes they have to discover that they're simply not able to.
Memory loss, both retrograde and anterograde.
Before the whump, character's memory was a source of pride for them. No matter if it was faces, random facts or important dates. Now all of that is lost. Familiar faces wiped and all wisdom of important topics lost (retrograde amnesia). At the same time, character is slowly realizing that retaining new information after their rescue is also not as effective as it used to be. They met someone new just yesterday, how is it possible that they can't remember their name or anything of their conversation (anterograde amnesia)?
Previous abilities disappearing.
Different brain areas are important for different talents. Maybe character was a math genius before, had exceptional balance and body control or could compose music like no other. But during the whump, that specific part of their brain got damaged and now they are unable to do what gave their life meaning and what made them so unique.
All of those usually go along with heavy self-doubt and an identity crisis. Character will probably get frustrated at failing something that used to take no effort at all. Maybe they will lose their sense of identity as abilities that used to define them are stripped away.
But most people in real life also become more resilient and adapt to their new circumstances (often simply out of necessity). They will find creative ways to deal with the challenges in their lives and build a new sense of self.
