"stress" [19/5/2010]

[Sun tzu]

Putting aside how Lightbringer's getting cagey and evasive (which isn't a first - remember how he wouldn't even address the issue of the mayor back when Crane first tried to raise it?)...
Putting aside how this is addressing some important concerns...
...I just want to say that visually, today's update is awesome.

[Celey]

Visually, it is indeed very awesome...

Hmm... Is Lightbringer being cagey and evasive? He says he's having a hard time concentrating because of him bending all the light particles and everything...

But you're right about the whole mayor thing... Maybe Lightbringer is having a hard time coming to grips with the situation. It's good to see him struggle with this, though... It demonstrates how human his character is.

And I have to wonder if all the pressure and stress might be wearing on his nerves... He might be due for a breakdown anytime now...

[Nifar]

"Due for a breakdown"? Am I the only one who remembers that the man thinks his dead parents talk to him through the picture he has of them? I'd say we're seeing the beginning of a slow spiral into paranoia and deeper insanity.

[Celey]

Yeah, I remember that he talks to his dead parents (considering he's older now this has gone way past what is healthy)... Although, it could also be something of a therapeutic thing for him.... It's still rather not normal...

However, Lightbringer has managed to stay fairly sane and kept his wits about him both in normal appearances and in his superhero appearances... The thing is I'm thinking that that part of him is beginning to lose grip, and the inner turmoil he's been keeping inside him, letting it out only to lash out at his dead parents, is catching up with him... This is why I say he is about due for a breakdown.

... I don't know why, but I really like to psychoanalyze characters. I find Lightbringer, in particular, fascinating (I feel the other characters really need more development.)

But this is one of the reasons I've always thought to myself that there needs to be a psychiatrist in these superhero worlds that specializes in the psychology of superheroes.

[Gear001]

Well I think you are right that he´s going to snap at some point. I´m just wondering when and how.
1) What will push him over?
2) What is the state of his mind going to be? (e.g. Homicidal, reclusive, schizophrenic.)
3) What effect would that have on his world? (e.g. Osprey temporarily taking over, harsher punishment on heroism)
I think we´re going to find out soon enough..........

[Celey]

I doubt it'll be homicidal... He really maintains a strict 'no-kill' code... And killing someone would only serve to push him deeper over the edge...

Schizophrenic, on the other hand, might be a possibility. I'm not sure how old Lightbringer is, but if he's in his 20s, it's entirely possible for him to develop schizophrenia. Schizophrenia also tends to be more common in men than women, too...

Still, schizophrenia is something that really never goes away. I mean, medicine can control it to a certain extent. Depending on how bad the schizophrenia is, the person could get through their entire life with very few psychotic episodes. Some people, though, aren't so lucky and may have several psychotic episodes within each year.

I'm not sure if Lewis would want to write something like that, though... If he was going to write a psychotic episode, he would probably want it to be something brief..... A nervous breakdown or something along those lines... Although, if he did have plans for something like that, I would hope he would do research before writing it. Nothing annoys me more than when people confuse dissociative identity disorder (formerly multiple personality disorder) with schizophrenia when they are pretty much nothing alike.

I suppose another possibility is PTSD... Post traumatic stress disorder. It's not uncommon for people other than soldiers to develop PTSD. Even kids have been diagnosed with it in the past (and tend to be more susceptible to it as well... due to their young age). People in positions where they're likely to see... well... horrible things... tend to be more susceptible as well... Police, for instance. Or in this case, perhaps, superheroes...

Actually, Lightbringer does seem to display a couple of symptoms...

Dissociation... (Earlier on in the comic, when he was able to just sort of tune out the bad happenings around him... like an outsider looking in...)

Reliving events... kind of debatable.... I haven't seen any indication of him reliving a traumatic event... But he does seem to be reliving memories of when his parents were alive.... and I think Lightbringer might have mentioned having frequent nightmares at one time.... but I could be remembering that wrong...

Hmmm... He did seem pretty hopeless about the future at one time..... and now, he does seem to have trouble concentrating... but these could also just be indicative of depression instead of the avoidance/numbing symptoms associated with PTSD...

Symptoms of anxiety and increased emotional arousal, though... I think that tends to fit Lightbringer to a tee... Irritability or anger (he's displayed that when having talks with his parents... and on other occasions as well, though, generally, it's well-warranted.. Recently, though, he did snap at the... err... police chief dude? I forget his name now...)... Overwhelming guilt or shame... Lightbringer did have overwhelming guilt for a while... from feeling like he could stop what was going on in the city... but didn't... He doesn't seem to have that as much anymore, though.... Trouble sleeping... The police dude could at least see that Lightbringer needed to get some rest... So, it's clear he hasn't been sleeping well lately... but again, these sort of symptoms could be indicative of depression, too... It's hard to tell.

He hasn't shown himself to be easily startled... but I imagine, being a superhero, it's going to get to the point where he might start getting a little jumpy...

[Gear001]

Wouldn´t it be interesting though to find out he does have some form of repressed Second Personality? Like if he has Dislocative Personality Disorder, what would his other side be? Would the man be kill crazy or a complete Pacifist? Perhaps he does have PTSD, or depression. I´m just interested in how Lewis handles this and how LB responds to it.