Episode Discussion Mental Heath in Normal Again and Drusilla's insanity

[smgismyqueenjpg]

trigger warning; schizophrenia
NOTE: I ONLY KNOW THE BASICS OF THIS DISORDER!

 

[thrasherpix]

Drusilla seems believably schizo to me, with some psychic ability thrown in.

I don't think that counts for Asylum Buffy in Normal Again, however. Her fantasy world was a bit too lucid for that. Perhaps psychotic with some kind of dissociative fugue

'Course, it's just a story, and reality is bent as necessary to make it a fun or compelling one.

 

[smgismyqueenjpg]

Drusilla seems believably schizo to me, with some psychic ability thrown in.

I don't think that counts for Asylum Buffy in Normal Again, however. Her fantasy world was a bit too lucid for that. Perhaps psychotic with some kind of dissociative fugue

'Course, it's just a story, and reality is bent as necessary to make it a fun or compelling one.

I like the thought of it. I kinda believe it. For me, that`s where the show ended. But I do think Drusilla is schizophrenic.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

I think Drusilla's insanity was just a brand of "crazy" rather than an identifiable mental disorder. The show had enough difficulties showing a same sex relationship without opening the can of worms that is mental health. Drusilla still functions fairly well and is aware of her surroundings, she seems almost lucid when she interacts with Spike. I think if the writers had wanted to make a point about mental health, they wouldn't have used Drusilla especially as she disappeared after the end of season 2.

Normal Again Buffy has some sort of mental health issue which I think is more recognisable as Schizophrenia and the whole season kind of focusses on Buffy's mental health so I think that's where the show tried to tackle the mental health issue.

 

[smgismyqueenjpg]

I think Drusilla's insanity was just a brand of "crazy" rather than an identifiable mental disorder. The show had enough difficulties showing a same sex relationship without opening the can of worms that is mental health. Drusilla still functions fairly well and is aware of her surroundings, she seems almost lucid when she interacts with Spike. I think if the writers had wanted to make a point about mental health, they wouldn't have used Drusilla especially as she disappeared after the end of season 2.

Normal Again Buffy has some sort of mental health issue which I think is more recognisable as Schizophrenia and the whole season kind of focusses on Buffy's mental health so I think that's where the show tried to tackle the mental health issue.

So kinda like Harley Quinn's?

 

[Blaze]

Neither case appear to be schizophrenia to me. I don't think the writers put that much thoughts into it, they just took a bunch of different symptoms of mental illness and mashed them together. Kinda like how Hannibal doesn't fit the bill for a single diagnosis.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

So kinda like Harley Quinn's?

Kind of, though Dru doesn't have the obsessive passion for either Spike or Angelus that Harley has for the Joker.

 

[smgismyqueenjpg]

Kind of, though Dru doesn't have the obsessive passion for either Spike or Angelus that Harley has for the Joker.

Very true. I think Spike had that for her.

 

[Dora]

I think its all part of Buffy Depression, her head still trying to find somewhere nice, it shows her mum and dad together , she is back in her head to the time when her parents had put her into a mental hospital, if she convince herself Sunnydale is not real ,kill the people there,they do not matter are not real, she can go home with her Mum and Dad and be happy, fortunately she gets strong enough to realise that the hospital and perhaps happiness is in her head, and she kills the demon and saves her friends, another positive step to Buffy getting better.

 

[smgismyqueenjpg]

I think its all part of Buffy Depression, her head still trying to find somewhere nice, it shows her mum and dad together , she is back in her head to the time when her parents had put her into a mental hospital, if she convince herself Sunnydale is not real ,kill the people there,they do not matter are not real, she can go home with her Mum and Dad and be happy, fortunately she gets strong enough to realise that the hospital and perhaps happiness is in her head, and she kills the demon and saves her friends, another positive step to Buffy getting better.

I think it is too. it's better than just thinkin' that it's all fake. A lot of people say that's where should have ended and I agree anyone else with me on that?

 

[thrasherpix]

^^
I believe Dora said it was all fake, not real, that the demon poison acted upon her depression to create a delusion of her mother and father still alive.

And that brings up something for me...I really don't know what to think about "clinical depression." In many cases, it's people who are understandably frustrated, grieving, stressed out, or sad with nothing clinical needing to be present. A lot of lives suck, and a lot of times that's because of choices made (though these bad choices are what people feel pressured into and would probably be made to suffer by others if they made different ones). Instead of learning from pain they seek to learn nothing by calming it with pills. And I do know those get prescribed way too much (in the US we even have commercials peddling them because the goal is profit, not helping others).

I personally know one guy who was given pills for depression by a regular doctor when he had instead gone in to have his thyroid checked due to his constant fatigue...very first visit, not seeking therapy for depression, and he's prescribed pills for it, and when the pills start to make him giddy over a couple of weeks or so he just assumed they were supposed to (in actuality, that's a bad sign, but everyone was so intent on selling him pills that they never bothered to tell him). He later woke up in a mental ward in another town with no idea how he got there, the last thing he remembered was that someone he knew was dead came to him which felt perfectly natural (like a dream) and that he felt it was his time to die which he accepted nonchalantly. He doesn't know how he got to another town, nor does he remember the cops who thought he was a drunk or how they decided he needed to be in a psyche ward instead. All because depression is a capitalist fad. I wonder what the doctor's kickback was who got him on the meds? (He didn't ask, he just refused to see that doctor ever again.)

A lot of the mental health profession is dodgy to me, though I think laws and values in the United States exacerbate many of the problems I see with it, and that it's more ethical and competent in some other nations. I don't want the baby thrown out with the bathwater, but damn there is a lot of dirty bathwater that needs to be thrown out.

That aside...I would not have liked to see the series end with Normal Again as it would sabotage many of the positive messages and symbols that had been in place up to then...OTOH, season 6 and 7 pretty much did that anyway. Though there is a perverse part of me that would find ending it at Normal Again daringly trollish.

 

[Dora]

The demon poison obviously effected Buffy she wanted to go back to when she first told her Parents about Vampires back when she was first called back to happyness away from her depression
Depression is a funny thing, I never thought it would happen to me , but it has a couple of time mildly, I am one of those who watching Buffy pulled me though ,it kept me going all day Knowing I had Buffy to watch when I got home...ever grateful to to the cast of Buffy but especially SMG
Buffy depression was handled very badly , Buffy telling Spike it was all over then walking out in the Sunshine is not the way you get over Clinical depression she should have got some help.
Honestly I wish they had never made season six, the whole Spike Buffy thing was just horrible and all the scoobie gang apart fronTara faced complete Character assasinastion then she really got assasinated .
JW playing out his issues with SMG and the whole MN yes every body has got to miserable all the time
As for Buffy ending SMG was working very hard up to 4x the work load of others cast members frequent 18 hour days, if the Boss is showing no or little respect no wonder she walked , I felt Buffy ended too soon the whole Spike Sunnydale thing had been flogged to death, but when Buffy looked up that road I thought endless possibilities

 

[Blaze]

^^
I believe Dora said it was all fake, not real, that the demon poison acted upon her depression to create a delusion of her mother and father still alive.

And that brings up something for me...I really don't know what to think about "clinical depression." In many cases, it's people who are understandably frustrated, grieving, stressed out, or sad with nothing clinical needing to be present. A lot of lives suck, and a lot of times that's because of choices made (though these bad choices are what people feel pressured into and would probably be made to suffer by others if they made different ones). Instead of learning from pain they seek to learn nothing by calming it with pills. And I do know those get prescribed way too much (in the US we even have commercials peddling them because the goal is profit, not helping others).

There's a big difference between situational depression and clinical depression. The former is completely normal in certain situation, for example you would expect a person to be depressed if said person just lost someone and is grieving. The latter is completely independent of the situation, although it might be exasperated by situations, and is actually proven to be a chemical imbalance of the brain. Clinical depression can actually be measured by brain activity, there is a physical and quantifiable difference between a person with or without clinical depression. It has absolutely nothing to do with pills. I am not medicated but I still have clinical depression, whether I take the drugs or not. The illness is there regardless.

And yes, there is a problem with over medicating people in North America, but keep in mind that some people with clinical depression lack certain neurotransmitters that people with a healthy brain readily produce. So at that point there is no difference between the body making those transmitters, or the person taking store bought neurotransmitters. Unfortunately there are many causes to depression, which is why medication doesn't always work (and some medication have worst side effects than others). For example the most common type of medication for depression is SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), and all they do is prevent the serotonin from being essentially reuptaked too quickly. It's proven that this is the cause of depression in some people. Of course, that's not the case for everyone, so the medication only works for a select group of people. But when they do work, those pills can be life saving. They often do come with other side effects though, but sometimes the good they do strongly outweighs the side effects. The opposite can absolutely be true, but unfortunately it's a bit trial and errors. It's just not accurate to paint all medication as completely evil though, since they do save a lot of people. And of course a lot of research is done on finding new therapies with less side effects.

 

[Bluebird]

I think schizophrenia is one of those illnesses that people feel it's ok to make light of, whereas that's a taboo with other mental illnesses. You still hear things like 'the guy went total schizo' or variations thereof. I'm sure Buffy said things like that too, although she's a bit of a relic in cultural terms now. She still called people retards. It was the 90s!

But yeah, in tv and movies, it's the standard 'crazy' illness used. So much so I end up pointing it out - it's a schizophrenic again. Is it because it's a mysterious illness to people? It sure doesn't help people who suffer from it that this is the portrayal it's given in popular culture.

Not directed at the OP, I'm just talking in general.

 

[Foxy]

I wonder what the fan backlash would have been like if the show ended up with Buffy waking up in the mental asylum! I would give them kudos for daring, but oh man people would have gone crazy (pun intended)!

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I wonder what the fan backlash would have been like if the show ended up with Buffy waking up in the mental asylum! I would give them kudos for daring, but oh man people would have gone crazy (pun intended)!

I would have loved that, but I do think it would ruin many people's opinion of the show and kill the rewatch value. As much as I liked the first season of Heroes I cannot watch it again because of what the show turns into. If Buffy ended with Normal Again it would really taint everything that preceded it. Of course, that's always why I hate the whole Dawn thing, but hey. Whatever.

 

[Foxy]

I would have loved that, but I do think it would ruin many people's opinion of the show and kill the rewatch value. As much as I liked the first season of Heroes I cannot watch it again because of what the show turns into. If Buffy ended with Normal Again it would really taint everything that preceded it. Of course, that's always why I hate the whole Dawn thing, but hey. Whatever.

I totally agree with your point, but it would have really epic, though. Imagine how angry people would have been? Oh man!

In the classic comics they did stories set before season 1 with Dawn in it. It made me appreciate her character more.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

In the classic comics they did stories set before season 1 with Dawn in it. It made me appreciate her character more.

I have no issue with Dawn per se, my issue is that with the advent and the history of Dawn, she would have fundamentally changed many of the core group of scoobies. Certainly Buffy and Joyce would have been different, but I think so too all of her friends.

 

[Foxy]

I have no issue with Dawn per se, my issue is that with the advent and the history of Dawn, she would have fundamentally changed many of the core group of scoobies. Certainly Buffy and Joyce would have been different, but I think so too all of her friends.

I agree with you there, again. The characters should have been different or at least some of the dynamics. They could have given us a few memories/flashbacks to give Dawn a place in the show. Her introduction was a bit too harsh? I guess that's the word I am looking for, because they did not try to ease us into understanding this character and her feelings.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

They could have given us a few memories/flashbacks to give Dawn a place in the show. Her introduction was a bit too harsh? I guess that's the word I am looking for, because they did not try to ease us into understanding this character and her feelings.

Well, they did that for the ruse of making us think that Dawn was !EVIL! but yes, once we established she wasn't they could have done that, but by that time they were knee deep in the story and didn't really care about the whole backstory. And honestly, if it was the final season as it was meant to be I don't think it would have been as important; but I think not having that hurt the later seasons.

But we're off topic, so getting back onto topic of mental issues... I don't think in genre shows such as Buffy they really categorize the illness. They just call it mental illness and use whatever aspects of various things that fit. Dru was crazy, Buffy was thinking she was crazy. I don't think the writers had a DSM on hand- nor did they want one.