Mental Illness in Video Games: Three Houses

[vanguard333]

I was recently watching this video on Mental Illness in video games; ways in which games can be therapeutic for the mentally ill, ways in which games can be informative for those who aren't mentally ill, etc., and it got me thinking about Three Houses, and I thought I'd create a thread for discussing it. 

There is a lot of focus on mental illness in Three Houses, with a lot of characters suffering from different forms of it. I guess the question on my mind, as someone who has so far only played two routes of the game, was this: how well does the game handle this topic? Is it therapeutic? Is it informative?

 

In case anyone's wondering, this is the video:

 

[Anacybele]

I think Dimitri suffers from PTED, or Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder, that's for sure. But I'm not sure what mental illness any other character in the game could have.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Anacybele

[Heir of Dragons and Beasts]

I think Edelgard and Rhea suffer from PTSD  Edelgard from the experimentations on her and her siblings

Rhea I think from the whole Nemesis and losing her siblings and mother.

[Etrurian emperor]

There was a decently topic in the past speculating what sort of issues the Three Houses cast was struggling with. I didn't agree with all of them but Fodlan is certainly the continent where its cast gets mentally battered the most. 

Three Houses doesn't entirely handle the concept with grace though. ''Ha ha lets all laugh at cute traumatized Bernie'' isn't exactly handing the subject of a traumatized shut in with care. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Etrurian emperor

[vanguard333]

2 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

I think Dimitri suffers from PTED, or Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder, that's for sure. But I'm not sure what any other character in the game could have.

I'm not an expert, but, going by the symptoms, I'd say that Bernadetta has some form of Persecutory Delusion. It's literally in the name of her personal skill. 

Anyway, I remember that you @Anacybele have had depression; what did you think of the video (if you watched it)?

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I'm not an expert, but, going by the symptoms, I'd say that Bernadetta has some form of Persecutory Delusion. It's literally in the name of her personal skill. 

Anyway, I remember that you @Anacybele have had depression; what did you think of the video (if you watched it)?

I never recruited Bernadetta in any path, so I wouldn't have known about that. I see.

I haven't fully watched it. It's fairly long.

[Icelerate]

Hello Future Me makes a lot of good videos. Thanks for linking. 

[vanguard333]

2 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

I never recruited Bernadetta in any path, so I wouldn't have known about that. I see.

I haven't fully watched it. It's fairly long.

Not even Crimson Flower or Silver Snow, where she's part of the group from the get-go?

Okay. 

1 minute ago, Icelerate said:

Hello Future Me makes a lot of good videos. Thanks for linking. 

You're welcome. You watch his content too? Huh. 

[Anathaco]

I think most people would agree that

Spoiler

Jeritza suffers from dissociative identity disorder,

along with the other ones mentioned in the thread.

Constance is another case I find interesting. I've heard some people speculate that she suffers from DID as well, but I'd put her changes down to a bipolar disorder instead (specifically cyclothymia because she doesn't appear to have any periods of remission). Though I have absolutely no medical experience, so correct me if I'm wrong.

[vanguard333]

Funny, I created this thread less as a, "who in the game has mental illness" and more, "how well does Three Houses explore and handle the topic". Don't get me wrong; sorting out which characters actually are mentally ill is important for that latter topic, but I just thought there would be a bit more of the latter than the former.

To be clear, I'm not upset or anything; just surprised. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by vanguard333

[Anathaco]

1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:

Funny, I created this thread less as a, "who in the game has mental illness" and more, "how well does Three Houses explore and handle the topic". Don't get me wrong; sorting out which characters actually are mentally ill is important for that latter topic, but I just thought there would be a bit more of the latter than the former.

To be clear, I'm not upset or anything; just surprised. 

Well in regards to how well I think it's handled:

Obviously the big one is Bernadetta, who feels like she was meant to be a comic relief character rather than an actual exploration of how social anxiety/paranoia (honestly at times it feels like she suffers from both) can severely damage an individual. I will say that post-timeskip Bernie is a little better, in this regard (particularly in Crimson Flower), because it feels like she actually makes a conscious effort to improve and get over her disorder. But pre-timeskip is, well, yeah.

I haven't seen many of Constance's supports yet, so I only really know her from Cindered Shadows. The story didn't do much to actually elaborate on her condition, and it did kind of feel like it was being played for laughs at times. Her Balthus support is the only one I've seen that goes into it at all, but it's not so much Constance trying to overcome it as it is Balthus trying to cheer her up while she's down. So from what I've seen, her mental illness just kind of isn't handled. However, (and this is assuming that Constance was meant to be written as having a bipolar disorder) I think it was portrayed well- during the manic state of bipolar, individuals tend to be overly energetic, ambitious and goal driven, which explains Constance's obsession with restoring House Nuvelle, which is a good thing because I think a lot of people (myself included) may have been turned off by that part of her personality initially. It's just good to have a reason for it to be there, imo.

[eclipse]

Interesting topic?  Somewhat.  But given my stance on how I handle mental illness in SD, I can't leave this thread open.  It's clear that no one in here is remotely qualified to be any sort of mental health professional.