(Submitted by @winchestersinthetardisin221b )
Hi Again! So I'm putting this in a submission because it's way too long for an ask, but anyway.
I was watching Pacific Rim again recently (thank you again for introducing me to that, btw) and I think I finally realized why I relate so hard to Newt. He's kinda subtly (probably unintentionally) coded as having male-pattern ADHD.
(And yes, I realize technically the dossier says BPD, but the symptoms for untreated male-pattern ADHD fit far closer from my observations, though the symptom lists do have some bleedover.)
I mean, there's actually a really close match with a lot of the symptoms when you go down the list (which I know by heart because, having female-pattern ADHD, it was the list I had to fight against for TWO FREAKING YEARS to get diagnosed, because surprise, surprise! All the studies on the dang thing were done on guys. But I digress.)
Common Symptoms for Male-pattern ADHD
Impulsive behavior - Built a drift link out of garbage and drifted with a disembodied kaiju brain. Need I say more.
Disorganization and problems prioritizing - Have you seen his side of the lab? It's literally a major conflict point between him and Herman
Excessive activity or restlessness - see: his entire performance
Poor planning skills - see 1
Low frustration tolerance - see 1 and subsequent scene
Poor time management - inconclusive, as the majority of his screen time takes place over, like, a day. Ah, the curses of analyzing a side character.
And, may I just add a few the studies don't mention:
Long-term hyperfocus/special interests - I mean. Kaiju.
From personal experience, the way he interacts socially rings very ADHD to me, the specific types of social cues he seems to miss and how he misses them follow very distinctive and familiar patterns that are... quite frankly, really hard to explain. Seriously, though, the communication issues stemming from differing thought processes are something I've had to deal with for freaking ever, but I understand Newt's train of thought almost effortlessly.
His 'overreacting' to Pentecost vetoing his plan just slaps of RSD (Rejection-sensitive dysphoria), another common ADHD symptom.
You have to be looking for it, but one of the subtler things is that in the rare shots we get of Newt's desk, there are a number of empty coffee cups. One of the lesser-known facts about ADHD is that it can sometimes flip the mental effects of depressants and stimulants; That's why Adderall is used as a treatment for it when neurotypical people can use the exact same chemical to get high. In less severe cases, however, patients can actually self-medicate with minor stimulants such as caffeine (in fact, that's actually how I keep mine under control, with caffeine pills.)
Now I just want to say that I am in no way trying to invalidate any other representation this character provides. I've seen people write him with BPD, with autism, and a slew of other very similar mental illnesses, and they're all equally great. I just really like that some of the small details about this really cool character fit with my particular (severely underrepresented) style of brain-weirdness in a really cool way.
