#bpd rep

[joshuhigashikatafucker]

Hi, to a joshu fan to another. Do you think joshu is autistic or on the spectrum. I know that's not a reson for what he did to yasuho.

Hi, fellow Joshu (and Valentine) fan!! Hope you're doing well!

I really hope you don't mind me using your ask to do a full analysis on Joshu's possible conditions, because I was already planning to do so, and you gave me the perfect opportunity and encouragement to go for it! So here we go...

Answering your question: YES, I love the possibility of Joshu being on the spectrum! And I've read a lot of great character analysis on this subject, so I'm sure many other people also headcanon him as high-functioning (level one support) autistic too.

Actually, this is such a common perspective that I don't think there's much I could add that would be particularly productive. So instead of offering my own analysis, I'd like to link a few posts that explore Joshu's psychology in depth, covering topics like his childhood neglect and possible autism:

https://www.tumblr.com/joshuhigashikatafucker/711327895826644992?source=share ;

https://www.tumblr.com/arr-jim-lad/622099155273318400?source=share ;

https://www.tumblr.com/joshuhigashikatafucker/712542993509466112?source=share ;

But I do have a quite controversial opinion about this (I'm guessing is controversial[?]); while I don't  disregard him being autistic - one diagnosis doesn't exclude the other, of course -, I do think most of Joshu's struggles are more clearly linked to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) rather than with ASD.

Cluster B disorders can also cause various social difficulties, some of which can overlap with autism. I believe that's what's happening in Joshu's case.

Joshu’s entire arc is probably a summary of most typical BPD symptoms: tendency toward unhealthy limerence, intense feelings of rejection and insecure attachment, impulsivity, black-and-white thinking (often categorizing things as either great or terrible), suspicion of anyone who enters his life, troublemaker behavior, and a deep dependence on external stimuli/feedback to regulate his own self-value and self-esteem.

According to the DSM-5 (and earlier versions as well), he actually fits a number of the criteria:

INCLUDING the possible environmental causes of BPD:

Examples of moments that may illustrate the nine diagnostic criteria: 

🔩 1. Thrigger by fear of abandoment.

🔩 2. Unstable interpersonal relationships characterized by alterning betweens idealization and devaluation.

(That's a tricky one. His relationship with his family seems pretty stable, but he does idealize both Jobin and Yasuho in a very unhealthy way. With Josuke and other characters he's less familiar with, it seems to be more of a push-and-forth, reactive relationship with far more instability).

🔩 3. Unstanble self-image or sense of self.

🔩 4. Impulsivity in pottentially self-damaging areas.

I'm considering the areas that most often trigger his impulsivity to be money and sex.

🔩 5. Suicidal/ self-mutilating behavior.

🔩 6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood.

🔩 7. Chronic feelings of emptiness.

Well… I couldn't think of any particular moment where Joshu explicitly says he feels some emptiness inside, but I believe that his obvious depression and signs of not fitting in are enough to assume that he chronically needs something he's incapable of fulfilling on his own, so it's at least suggested (?).

🔩 8. Innaproprieate, intense anger.

🔩 9. Stress-related paranoid ideation/ dissociative symptoms.

 He's stress-related paranoid FOR SURE, but I can't recall any moment that indicates dissociation or derealization that wasn't caused by extremely specific and temporary situations (such as him being attacked by WoU, maybe [?]). So I'm not adding anything to that factor.

So...

To evaluate how these two conditions might overlap, I've also quickly marked what >> I << consider to be more visible in the character.

Again, this is my personal opinion and I'm not a professional. I truly respect everyone's view on this character, as well as acknowledge the right of any neurodivergent person to relate to and identify aspects of a character's persona that I won't be able to. Despite any attempt to apply psychological methods, this is >> for fun <<.

I'm not borderline myself, but I've had close contact with two borderline people for several years now, which is probably part of the reason I can appreciate Joshu so deeply. I feel like he resonates with the difficult symptoms of this condition... especially the struggle, the deep emotional suffering, and the misunderstanding they often go through.

I'm always open to listening to other interpretations and to correcting any offensive or misguided information provided here.

And you're right: psychological conditions aren't an excuse for everything he did wrong, but they are certainly a way to add depth to the character's interpretation and to better understand what Araki was trying to convey through him in his story.

Thanks so much for the ask!! 💖❤️ I really appreciate it. 🥹

[fandomnerdshark]

Hey all!! Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to be very active recently because fair week is coming up where I live and I do 4H, which has been exciting but also a bit draining ^^’

To make up for it, have a Wilbur redesign because it’s the last day of disability pride month!

P.s. sorry to anyone who’s drawn him ^^’ If you’ve shared it with me or if we discussed it, I have your art saved to his gallery in Photos and still love it!

[aliasceratops]

girl why u so geen.?

old doodles of Vee from the hit game Dandys world for a filler activity post lmao

[will-byerz]

BPD MIKE WHEELER HEADCANONS!!

Disclaimer: these are all based on my own thoughts and experiences and in no way am I trying to harm or stigmatise anyone! If there are any issues with this please feel free to dm me and we can talk about it!

El is his Favourite Person

• Which is why he’s always so emotionally charged with her and why he tried to “call” her every day for a year when she was gone!

• This is also why he can’t play dnd anymore because she’s not into it, and why he can’t concentrate on anything else when they break up.

• the idealisation comes from him being a HUGE nerd (Star Wars merch etc in his basement) and El being 1) a GIRL!! Which is new to Mike cause he’s definitely never had a girl be interested in him before and 2) she’s consistently compared to ET in the show, like she’s an alien— and to his little nerd brain that’s so crazy!! He has an ‘alien’ girlfriend! He knows a real life super human!

• this is also why he’s desperate to grow up, because he wants to spend his life with her and imitate what he’s seen happen with his own family, aka he wants to create a nuclear family with her

• he would rather lie to her (nana is sick) than risk losing her for real, because the idea of that is so terribly painful that he’ll do anything it takes not to lose her again.

• constant phone calls to her house, constant visits to her, leaving early from meeting his friends so he can go spend time alone with her. (a/n when I was 14, I would hang out with my fp and my friends all the time and my favourite part of the day was when we would walk home together alone. I would look forward to home time just for that!)

• Seeing Max as a threat when it comes to El.

Pressure in home life/Origin(?)

• His dad is shown to be very withdrawn so there’s a lot of pressure there with growing up to look after his family and be an adult

• Due to Mike’s circumstances of being a guy in the 80’s, his emotions have probably been repressed so much in his household. I imagine because of this, the emotions he does feel are super duper intense/hard to handle, especially when his environment growing up was possibly invalidating due to him being the only son.

• We see a LOT of Mike’s feelings being shut down but either his parents or by the party. Aka a lot of “Mike! That’s not okay to say!” Or “Why would you say that?” And shutting down his thoughts— the way this manifests into his possible BPD is the inability to understand WHY what he has said or done is wrong. No one will explain to him why what he has said is bad, he’s just been told it was bad. Aka more repression!

• He can sometimes be blind to other people’s emotions/a little self centred. This is shown in the infamous Byler scene in season 3 when he’s outwardly harsh to Will, because he thinks Will is being insensitive to his intense feelings over his break up— so in the spur of the moment he says the most hurtful thing he can think of— insinuating that Will is gay and/or that’s a bad thing. Obviously he immediately regrets it and goes after Will, but this decision (like a lot of his other decisions) is very impulsive. He can also be cruel to other characters in the show, including his mom, Lucas, Max and Nancy.

• He blows up on his family quite a lot/has outbursts of anger! This is seen at the dinner table in quite a few episodes, or at El when she is “wrong” about Will being alive or when she accidentally hurts Lucas really bad and Mike has… a few choice words to say to her about it.

• Struggle with authoritative figures; Hopper. That’s all I’ll say.

• once again the disregard for his emotions from his family due to him being “the man of the house” or at least growing into that title as his dad becomes more and more distant.

He shows his love in extreme ways.

• a huge lack of self preservation skills (or even “suicidal” tendencies as the DSM-5 would call it) when he literally jumps off of a cliff to save Dustin from bullies with no regard for how this could hurt him. This is also an Impulsive behaviour!! He obviously cares so greatly about his friends that he is willing to do anything for them.

• Sleeping by Will’s bed when Will is struggling, ‘saving him’ on Halloween, constantly checking up on Will, obsessing over Will’s well being (especially before El becomes his FP). Don’t even get me started on the “Crazy together” scene!

• I think his saviour complex is to cover up an inferiority complex but that’s honestly off my own back I don’t have much to back that idea up.

• He’s beyond nasty to Max because he’s scared his friends will abandon him when she joins the party!

• trouble explaining his emotions! He feels a lot but struggles to label them— aka when he tries to tell El he loves her but can’t figure out what words to say, or even if he feels certain it is love.

• Gift giving to apologise (going to the mall and trying to find a gift for El)

• Suggesting that he is the only person that cares about El and her well being, which is obviously not true but it is very much black and white thinking.

• “what if you want to join another party?” Is also a very ‘please don’t abandon me’ line hdjjdksks

—

That’s all I can think of off of the top of my head for now, but I hope these make sense!

Another quick disclaimer; all of these head-canons are based off of the canon show plot, meaning Mike is 12-15 in this! Doctors will not diagnose anyone under 18 with BPD as a lot of the symptoms are similar to just normal teenage hormones and puberty and all that! I’m not saying he HAS got it, I’m just backing up my own hcs and coping!! I was diagnosed with BPD at 17 despite the under 18 rule, and I had been experiencing symptoms since I was very young!