Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Don't Anime Characters Go To Therapy?
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Compelled to Reply
Posts: 358 |
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Less of a reliance on paid friendships to magically make all your problems go away doesn't make Japan "behind." We don't call them shrinks for nothing. Personally, I've never benefited from therapy. Even if they're professionals, I don't want other people knowing about my problems. I solve or regulate them myself, and I don't use them as an excuse. The whole "special snowflake" entitlement culture which has arisen from normalizing mental illness is even worse than bottling it up. |
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Ouran High School Dropout
Posts: 440 Location: Somewhere in Massachusetts, USA |
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I can so vouch for this. I spent a year in therapy that permanently changed my life, and very much for the better. Everything went right--my own frame of mind going in, my choice of therapist, and the type of therapy we settled on. And RestLessone is right: it is tiring, if not downright painful. I can't speak to America as a whole, but my family, friends, and even coworkers knew all about my sessions and supported me fully. Must have got lucky somehow... |
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider
Posts: 2209 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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Correction on the anti-depressants thing.
When I first moved to Japan six years ago, it WAS difficult to get anti-depressants. Now, however, anti-depressants, specifically the one I use, is widely available. It’s now even available in generic, and it’s covered by health insurance. I think your info might be a bit old... |
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katscradle
Posts: 469 |
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Tbh, I haven’t watched Loveless in years so I don’t have a crystal clear memory of it. I should probably revisit both the show and comic. It’s an odd franchise kind of all around. Still, it was something that spoke to me when I was younger because I grew up with a mother that has mental health issues and was also abusive. So it was both good and bad to see a portrayal of an abusive mother. I remember Yun Kouga talking about some of the inspiration she had in creating the story, expressing an interest in how parents come to abuse their children. (Another neglected issue.) Of course she also wanted to draw cute boys. So the “Ritsuka is so cute” is a facet of the series too. But, yeah I can't remember how far across certain lines it goes. Now that I think about it another sexual taboo some people like is the therapist/patient. |
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Ashley Hakker
Posts: 115 |
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I think it could be really clever. Imagine your typical high school anime insanity but one protagonist breaks down the events in therapy? "Well, I think she might like me but then she calls me a 'Stupid Idiot' and punches me." "What do you do when she punches you?" "Well, I let her, because she's a least paying attention to me." "Is that the kind of attention you really want?" "No, but... ...Oh my god... If I just stopped associating with her I wouldn't suffer that abuse but I keep coming to her because I have no idea what is good and bad attention. I just want people to talk to me, ANYBODY, even if they're accusing me of being a 'pervert' over obvious misunderstandings!" You could do a REALLY amazing deconstruction of high school anime tropes. I'd SO watch it. |
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2266 |
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Unfortunately, we sort of already got something like that in the form of The Lost Village, and that was...bad. I think the idea is sound, but yikes, did that show leave a lot to be desired in the execution department. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11543 |
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That's not what he said. It was, "Only about one in three of people with severe mental health issues seeks treatment." (emphasis added) So not a third of the population, but a third of the small sub-population that really, really need help. Of course, without knowing how large that sub-population is or what defines it, it's kinda hard to gauge how accurate the stat is.
Citation needed? Some places allow assisted suicide for terminally ill patients who are in great pain, but I've never heard of any country offering it to anyone simply for depression. |
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Heishi
Posts: 1344 |
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Because that makes too much sense.
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Watts
Posts: 8 |
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There was one anime I watched a few years ago that featured the main character seeing a therapist several times in the series about his childhood trauma. It was called Ghost Hound. He and his sister were kidnapped as children and his sister died before they were both found. They lived in a small town so I think (if I remember correctly) most people already knew who he is and his past. His friends seemed to understand his troubles, while having some of their own involving the death of someone they knew.
I don't remember if he went to see his therapist in a different town, with the office looking more modern than all the structures of his hometown. There is not a lot of talking during their sessions (mostly involving hypnosis?) but when they do, they try to piece together bits of the main character's past into some sense since he was around 3 or 4 years old when the kidnapping happened. Everything that we can know from that kidnapping is mostly only seen in detail during the therapy sessions, and I think the anime executed this way of story telling very well. We only saw as much as the main character was willing to reveal. |
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KabaKabaFruit
Posts: 1886 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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Solving and suppressing are two very different things. I can "solve" my mental instabilities too but I have no guarantee of a potential relapse which could turn into an embarrassing outburst at any given time. And nobody is being "entitled" to a normalization of mental illness so much so as they just want to be treated no different than their fellow peers who aren't provided that they don't do personal or social harm to said peers. That's not being a snowflake, that's being human. And for the record, I suffer from six forms of mental illness myself so I know the struggle all too well. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2615 |
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I had to laugh at this one, anime characters don't see therapists because therapy solves nothing. My daughter saw a therapist for two years, zero change. People help themselves, therapists at best are good advisors which helps if you take it to heart and are effectively as good as good (non-professional) friends. Actually that's how my daughter "got better", she found a good friend and that helped more than the therapist. At worst they cause you more problems, though that could make for a good drama.
Also, like a couple of commentators before me said, anime drama wouldn't go far if the characters in crisis got a therapist and got over the problems. I loved Welcome to the NHK but imagine if Sato got a good therapist when he was in college and "got over" his social anxiety. No drama, no story, the end, not entertaining. For something more current, imagine if APE got 02 a therapist for her identity issues...(why don't you try looking in the mirror Hiro gave you and accept what he sees?) |
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Jacut
Posts: 142 Location: Paris, France |
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There's also the fact that "therapy" and "going to therapy" is not a Western but a purely American habit. I am French and there are very few therapists here, typically only used for severe traumas and mostly court-ordered. Europeans, just like Asians, Africans, South Americans or Oceanians don't share the Americans interest in mental health - and note that it's note a judgement, just a fact, I understand how helpful it can be and how a lot of people are missing on that even in my family. It's a perfectly good way of getting to know oneself better and thus improve, or cure existing traumas, so I'm personally all for it but I'm in the very low minority to think like that in Europe. Don't quote me on that, but I remember reading somewhere that there were more shrinks in the US that in all the other countries of the world put together (as are lawyers by the way, ), which frankly didn't surprise me. Japanese people, living in the oppressive society they live in, would obviously benefit from some more psychology/psychiatry, but it is not a culturally accepted thing, so they don't.
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Sakagami Tomoyo
Posts: 943 Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
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In fairness, it's not like the "no-one ever sees a shrink" trope is unique to anime; it's not uncommon in other media.
It depends a lot on finding the right therapist for the patient in question; if your therapist isn't making a positive change for you, try seeing different therapists rather than just giving up on the whole concept of therapy. The mind's a funny thing, it's not like if you break a bone where any doctor could set it; you need a therapist that you can connect with and open up to and work with properly. I am happy that talking with a friend did help your daughter, but "just rely on your friends" is actually more of a crapshoot than a therapist; a therapist is a trained professional who at least probably won't make things much worse, but a friend - even perfectly well-intentioned - just doesn't have the expertise. It can work out, but I wouldn't expect it to. |
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Terrible90sDub
Posts: 168 |
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One therapist not working doesn't mean they're all useless. A lot of general therapists seem to mainly be trained for basic depression or anxiety, so if it's something else, it's best to search for someone who specializes in that condition. Even if there's no current diagnosis, getting a second opinion might be a good idea if it doesn't seem to be working. Some therapists can make the situation worse if they're a bad fit for the client, but the right therapist who recognizes the problem can help the situation. More generally, I did the whole "tough it out" slick for many years, and speaking from experience, that wasn't strength, it was a form of hiding and denial which only made it worse. Edit:
Were those perhaps raw numbers? If so, it may be because the US itself has a high population. I tried googling it, and this is the best I could find per capita, where it appears there are European countries with more mental health professionals per capita than the U.S. has. Last edited by Terrible90sDub on Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:33 am; edited 3 times in total |
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Kadmos1
Posts: 13596 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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You just offended Naruto Uzumaki. That said, two anime character that could be a respective poster boy and poster girl for therapy are Shinji Ikari and Yuno Gasai. |
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