|
|
Post by hp on May 4, 2021 3:53:17 GMT
GK needs to hire a psychologist for their staff
|
|
|
|
Post by Gemminie on May 4, 2021 5:24:27 GMT
I'm re-evaluating my opinion of this page's first three panels. I had been thinking that Tony was being sarcastic in panel 3, saying to Jones basically, "Yes, that sure sounds simple, doesn't it, but I've tried it 100 different ways and it never works."
But I don't know anymore. Now, looking at how it fits into the narrative, I think panel 2 is a light bulb going on. I think panel 3 is Tony having that idea. And I think the next page will be that idea in motion. "I've tried setting pen to paper, but I freeze just the same," perhaps he is thinking. "I try typing an email, but no words come. I try typing an email to someone else, intending to change the recipient to Antimony when I finish, and that changes nothing, as I know my own intent. I try recording an audio message, a video message, anything – as soon as the thought strikes me that Antimony will hear it, I can say nothing beyond flat platitudes. But I've recorded a message to her just now, haven't I?"
That idea is asking Jones to tell Annie what he just told her. We're going to see Jones tracking down Annie. I think we may see Jones get hugged and cried upon.
|
|
|
|
Post by Elysium on May 4, 2021 6:00:01 GMT
Yeah, or he could tell a robot how he feels... One could say that he has just done something similar over the past few pages. LIES AND SLANDER |
|
|
|
Post by sebastian on May 4, 2021 6:35:39 GMT
I would submit that a being completely free of emotion would not keep a photo album of past and current friends. especially so if one had a perfect recall of every instant of her life existance. |
|
|
|
Post by sebastian on May 4, 2021 6:49:41 GMT
About the Therapist: How do you know he didn't? Something that is neither stated or implied by the story didn't happen. And where it is implied that Tony never go to see a therapist? |
|
|
|
Post by sebastian on May 4, 2021 6:54:47 GMT
Pfft that's ridiculous, Jones doesn't have feelings. Humans have feelings, and they're far too interesting and cool and worthwhile for her to be like them. Jones should spend more time learning about animals before she makes statements about what's uniquely human. Elephants, for example, grieve when a herd member dies and even have funerals. More proof that Jones is not really what she says, if she was around for thousands of years she would know how elephants and others grieve. Its time to face the truth, Gunnerkrigg court is a mental hospital, and Jones is just another crazy person. There are no such things as fairies and coyotes and fire elementals that have sex with humans and somehow make babies and Jones that have been around since beginning of earth, and Boxbot is not terrible. You almost had me, but that part is just too much. |
|
|
|
Post by rimwolf on May 4, 2021 11:11:58 GMT
"Dearest Antimony,
I am very sorry.
I am a terrible fool.
Please forgive me.
with love, Anthony
(also: HOMEWORK)"
|
|
|
|
Post by saardvark on May 4, 2021 12:18:08 GMT
I would submit that a being completely free of emotion would not keep a photo album of past and current friends. especially so if one had a perfect recall of every instant of her life existance. its almost as if for Jones, recalling someones face in her mind was not enough - she wanted the ... dare I say, pleasure?... of being able to look on them again physically. |
|
|
|
Post by machiavelli33 on May 4, 2021 15:11:18 GMT
Is this another thing I missed? The only suggestion about mental health services I recall seeing in comic is that Lindsey is an accredited couples therapist. I have to assume she does that for the Court, I mean thats not really a hobby. Its...not something that was ever explicitly stated. But more something some of us have inferred due to its absence, you know? I personally think its patently clear that no one in the court gets regular therapy, including those who clearly need it - Annie and most of her peers would qualify, and even faculty like Eglamore are boilers of unresolved issues. Its all very "English boarding school", which I'm sure is the atmospheric intent, which also makes it almost natural to assume the lack of mental services as a norm since that's how its traditionally gone in that sort of setting. Hogwarts was the same way. Lindsay would be an exception. THE exception. She's also an unaccountable eldritch being of untold dimension and import. If THE only exception we have to the rule is somewhat absurd - well, I actually don't doubt Lindsey's credentials one bit... but I do feel like she is the exception that proves the rule, in this case. |
|
|
|
Post by rimwolf on May 4, 2021 15:58:09 GMT
Its time to face the truth, Gunnerkrigg court is a mental hospital, and Jones is just another crazy person. There are no such things as fairies and coyotes and fire elementals that have sex with humans and somehow make babies and Jones that have been around since beginning of earth, and Boxbot is not terrible. There was an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer like that. Vampires? Demons? Hellmouth? One girl in all the world? Pfft. |
|
|
|
Post by maxptc on May 4, 2021 16:33:39 GMT
Is this another thing I missed? The only suggestion about mental health services I recall seeing in comic is that Lindsey is an accredited couples therapist. I have to assume she does that for the Court, I mean thats not really a hobby. Its...not something that was ever explicitly stated. But more something some of us have inferred due to its absence, you know? I personally think its patently clear that no one in the court gets regular therapy, including those who clearly need it - Annie and most of her peers would qualify, and even faculty like Eglamore are boilers of unresolved issues. Its all very "English boarding school", which I'm sure is the atmospheric intent, which also makes it almost natural to assume the lack of mental services as a norm since that's how its traditionally gone in that sort of setting. Hogwarts was the same way. Lindsay would be an exception. THE exception. She's also an unaccountable eldritch being of untold dimension and import. If THE only exception we have to the rule is somewhat absurd - well, I actually don't doubt Lindsey's credentials one bit... but I do feel like she is the exception that proves the rule, in this case. This reads like speculation or personal insertion to me, no offense meant. Speaking about Hogwarts lack of a psychologists isnt really an accurate comparison to the Court, only the school section of the Court. The Wizard world absolutely has mental health services, big part of the story in fact, and based off of being shown that an individual in the court has training in this area, which I assume happened in court (cause where else could Lindsey go to school, considering what she is) its pretty reasonable to assume such facilities exist. I dunno how she is an exception that proves the rule, she seems more like evidence that metal health services are a thing somewhere in the Court. To each there own I guess. |
|
|
|
Post by exterminatecake on May 4, 2021 16:44:23 GMT
Jones is really going for the jugular here. Pointing out that Anthony has no middle ground, only either lets grief consume every one of his actions or represses it fully beneath his many layers of neuroses...
I'd like to see him and Annie doing something to process their grief together at some point. Holding a vigil, maybe. Some sort of physical, real-world way to memorialize both Surma as a person, and their shared commitment to moving on (which it seems Annie's made, and now Tony really needs to jump on board at this point, lmao).
|
|
|
|
Post by Gemminie on May 4, 2021 18:30:36 GMT
especially so if one had a perfect recall of every instant of her life existance. its almost as if for Jones, recalling someones face in her mind was not enough - she wanted the ... dare I say, pleasure?... of being able to look on them again physically. Jones may have perfect recall, but only she can see those memories. Photos would allow her to show others who and what she was talking about. I wonder whether she knows how to paint or draw, or whether the results have turned out satisfactorily if she's tried that. |
|
|
|
Post by Gemminie on May 4, 2021 18:43:09 GMT
Its...not something that was ever explicitly stated. But more something some of us have inferred due to its absence, you know? I personally think its patently clear that no one in the court gets regular therapy, including those who clearly need it - Annie and most of her peers would qualify, and even faculty like Eglamore are boilers of unresolved issues. Its all very "English boarding school", which I'm sure is the atmospheric intent, which also makes it almost natural to assume the lack of mental services as a norm since that's how its traditionally gone in that sort of setting. Hogwarts was the same way. Lindsay would be an exception. THE exception. She's also an unaccountable eldritch being of untold dimension and import. If THE only exception we have to the rule is somewhat absurd - well, I actually don't doubt Lindsey's credentials one bit... but I do feel like she is the exception that proves the rule, in this case. I've been looking at things the other way. If no therapist of any kind had ever been mentioned in the comic, I would right now be saying that there's no evidence of any therapists in the Court at all. But since there's one, that implies that there's a means by which someone becomes one, and that in turn means there could be others. In fact, I'd say it's likely. Why set up an infrastructure to train therapists and then train one therapist? Perhaps Lindsey's therapy certification comes from outside the Court, someone may ask? Where exactly in the world outside of the Court would there be a therapy certification program that a very large crustacean could apply to and complete? And speaking of the outside world, why are we all assuming that there's no way for anyone to go outside the Court for therapy? I mean, I suppose the Court might be worried about Tony letting slip something about the Omega Device during his sessions, but then again, he'd also be talking about how the wolf-coyote-god turned his daughter into two daughters and how he cut off his hand to make a magic antenna to contact his dead wife, so anything he said aside from his own feelings about the here and now would be taken as ... part of his personal system of internal symbolism, perhaps? Considering he might be locked up, he might want to keep the crazy-sounding Court-specific occurrences out of it and just talk about things like his current experiences or his childhood (unless it was also full of out-there experiences). |
|
|
|
Post by mturtle7 on May 4, 2021 18:55:06 GMT
Its time to face the truth, Gunnerkrigg court is a mental hospital, and Jones is just another crazy person. There are no such things as fairies and coyotes and fire elementals that have sex with humans and somehow make babies and Jones that have been around since beginning of earth, and Boxbot is not terrible. I was with you...right up until that last part. GET OUT OF HERE, YOU MONSTER!! |
|
|
|
Post by antiyonder on May 4, 2021 19:29:26 GMT
Its time to face the truth, Gunnerkrigg court is a mental hospital, and Jones is just another crazy person. There are no such things as fairies and coyotes and fire elementals that have sex with humans and somehow make babies and Jones that have been around since beginning of earth, and Boxbot is not terrible. I was with you...right up until that last part. GET OUT OF HERE, YOU MONSTER!! Boxbot is awesome. |
|
|
|
Post by foxurus on May 5, 2021 2:30:55 GMT
This reads like speculation or personal insertion to me, no offense meant. Speaking about Hogwarts lack of a psychologists isnt really an accurate comparison to the Court, only the school section of the Court. The Wizard world absolutely has mental health services, big part of the story in fact, and based off of being shown that an individual in the court has training in this area, which I assume happened in court (cause where else could Lindsey go to school, considering what she is) its pretty reasonable to assume such facilities exist. I dunno how she is an exception that proves the rule, she seems more like evidence that metal health services are a thing somewhere in the Court. To each there own I guess. Even if the Court has therapists, it's not good at providing people with the mental health treatment they need. In the most obvious example, all these kids are now in a warzone and we haven't heard any mention of any of them being connected to therapists. Also, Annie has publicly flipped out two times with obvious, property destroying, fiery anger and no one has referred her to a therapist. Jones is ostensibly having this whole conversation because people in the Court are concerned about her mental wellbeing, but she has not been visited by a mental health professional. She has, though, been given prompt medical treatment when she needed it. Maybe therapists technically exist in the Court. But how do you go about setting up appointments with them if you've never heard about them, and if you've lived your whole life in a place that didn't suggest counselling for anything, when would you ever develop the idea that that's an option for you and you should pursue it? I've been looking at things the other way. If no therapist of any kind had ever been mentioned in the comic, I would right now be saying that there's no evidence of any therapists in the Court at all. But since there's one, that implies that there's a means by which someone becomes one, and that in turn means there could be others. In fact, I'd say it's likely. Why set up an infrastructure to train therapists and then train one therapist? Perhaps Lindsey's therapy certification comes from outside the Court, someone may ask? Where exactly in the world outside of the Court would there be a therapy certification program that a very large crustacean could apply to and complete? The Court likes romantic relationships. From what we've seen, they haven't ever dissuaded any romantic relationships with non-robots, despite having the ability to. Tony & Surma and Donald & Anja were both childhood sweethearts from the Court who got married and had a child, and Smitty's parents can be assumed to be in the Court as he was born there. Perhaps the Court encourages committed relationships because they often lead to children, and special abilities seem to be genetic, and it's easier to have kids born in the Court than have to go fetch them from the outside world. Children who have some emotional stability in their life (like undivorced parents give) are more likely to not explode into flames and run into the forest, and have more time to focus on honing their special abilities which will help the Court. It also establishes ties to the Court; if one half of the couple wants to stay, the other is naturally going to be enticed to stay as well, as will any children they have. Adults in the Court keep it running, and it makes the investment in the children worthwhile. There are reasons why a place like the Court would have couples' counselors but not general counselors. Also, is the outside world quite as normal as ours? What do we have established about it? There's outsiders who know about the Court's workings, people like Paz's family who know she can talk to animals, so there's at least some understanding of magic by some people. Alistair's parents weren't from the Court, yet they knew how to arrange turning into birds. Maybe there's people who can train giant sapient crustaceans. |
|
|
|
Post by Gemminie on May 5, 2021 4:48:34 GMT
Also, is the outside world quite as normal as ours? What do we have established about it? There's outsiders who know about the Court's workings, people like Paz's family who know she can talk to animals, so there's at least some understanding of magic by some people. Alistair's parents weren't from the Court, yet they knew how to arrange turning into birds. Maybe there's people who can train giant sapient crustaceans. Just so many good points here, though I think perhaps a couples therapist would still have enough general background to be able to at least start with other types of therapy. But anyway, we've established that there's an England (with a Queen, though not the Queen Elizabeth of the real world), a Birmingham that has a Good Hope Hospital like the real-world Birmingham, entertainment industries that have produced The X-Files and Hellboy, as well as various musical artists who also exist in the real world. There's a Scotland and an Italy. There's a New World that at least had a Jamestown colony and an ill-fated Roanoake colony. The geological timescale is similar to the real world's. My theory, anyway, is that the world is about the same as the real world on the macroscopic scale, the broad brush strokes. But the fine details differ a bit. Most people wouldn't believe a place like Gunnerkrigg Court exists, but that's most people. A few do, enough to make interesting stories happen. And in a world like that, a crustacean (or whatever a merostomatozon counts as) attending a school somewhere would, if word got out, be an international sensation, enough to interfere with that education. Although I suppose other places like GC could exist, meaning secretive places that seek out or at least accept the unusual and are also difficult to find and get to, and they might also train therapists of non-human species. I'm going with my own argument that where one exists, there could be more. That would imply that it isn't necessarily true that there are other therapists in the Court at all; Lindsey wasn't necessarily trained and certified at the Court. |
|
|
|
Post by foxurus on May 5, 2021 7:06:52 GMT
Just so many good points here, though I think perhaps a couples therapist would still have enough general background to be able to at least start with other types of therapy. But anyway, we've established that there's an England (with a Queen, though not the Queen Elizabeth of the real world), a Birmingham that has a Good Hope Hospital like the real-world Birmingham, entertainment industries that have produced The X-Files and Hellboy, as well as various musical artists who also exist in the real world. There's a Scotland and an Italy. There's a New World that at least had a Jamestown colony and an ill-fated Roanoake colony. The geological timescale is similar to the real world's. My theory, anyway, is that the world is about the same as the real world on the macroscopic scale, the broad brush strokes. But the fine details differ a bit. Most people wouldn't believe a place like Gunnerkrigg Court exists, but that's most people. A few do, enough to make interesting stories happen. And in a world like that, a crustacean (or whatever a merostomatozon counts as) attending a school somewhere would, if word got out, be an international sensation, enough to interfere with that education. Although I suppose other places like GC could exist, meaning secretive places that seek out or at least accept the unusual and are also difficult to find and get to, and they might also train therapists of non-human species. I'm going with my own argument that where one exists, there could be more. That would imply that it isn't necessarily true that there are other therapists in the Court at all; Lindsey wasn't necessarily trained and certified at the Court. Or she could've been trained entirely by other merostomatozon, we don't really know what their society looks like... Lindsey probably could be an adequate therapist for general things, but Tony (and a lot of the cast!) definitely needs a specialist. It's possible she doesn't even work as a counselor any more, she's got another job after all. Being potentially the only therapist in the whole Court would be horribly draining! There's a bunch of canon-established video games too like Kojima's games, and Studio Ghibli (or at least Princess Mononoke). I like to theorize that people have a broad general understanding that Weird Stuff happens sometimes, and weird people, and there's just a lot of unexplained stuff that happens in the world. Kind of like how we go, "Huh, wow, people can hold their breath for thirty minutes/eat cars/keep growing for their entire lives, that's wild," and then carry on with our day cause that's just a weird thing that exists. The Court likes to be secretive, so it specifically is probably not a thing people know about -- nor the fact that actual literal gods exist in the Gillite Woods. People who care about the weird stuff they hear about enough to look into it probably end up in the Court anyway (or a similar place, like you said). But like. A fingerprint showed up on the moon one day. City fairies are an established thing in the comic, and fairies don't seem to have any invisible-to-normal-people-eyes abilities. There's GOTTA be some kind of general awareness of magicky weirdness being a thing, I think. |
|
|
|
Post by sebastian on May 5, 2021 7:07:29 GMT
And speaking of the outside world, why are we all assuming that there's no way for anyone to go outside the Court for therapy? I mean, I suppose the Court might be worried about Tony letting slip something about the Omega Device during his sessions, but then again, he'd also be talking about how the wolf-coyote-god turned his daughter into two daughters and how he cut off his hand to make a magic antenna to contact his dead wife, so anything he said aside from his own feelings about the here and now would be taken as ... part of his personal system of internal symbolism, perhaps? Considering he might be locked up, he might want to keep the crazy-sounding Court-specific occurrences out of it and just talk about things like his current experiences or his childhood (unless it was also full of out-there experiences). You know, I have never considered it from that angle. My idea was tat Tony could have took therapy in the period he was working at the Good Hope hospital ( I assume that in a hospital there will be someone that specialize in psychiatry, if not a specific department) but after this I am not so sure. I mean, talking about hybrid fire elementals, shadow men, forest gods and that time he had stood up a valkyrie. It could get reaaaaally awkward. |
|
|
|
Post by pyradonis on May 5, 2021 8:41:41 GMT
especially so if one had a perfect recall of every instant of her life existance. its almost as if for Jones, recalling someones face in her mind was not enough - she wanted the ... dare I say, pleasure?... of being able to look on them again physically. Of course she does not experience pleasure and is merely mimicking how humans like to remember their departed. Its...not something that was ever explicitly stated. But more something some of us have inferred due to its absence, you know? I personally think its patently clear that no one in the court gets regular therapy, including those who clearly need it - Annie and most of her peers would qualify, and even faculty like Eglamore are boilers of unresolved issues. Its all very "English boarding school", which I'm sure is the atmospheric intent, which also makes it almost natural to assume the lack of mental services as a norm since that's how its traditionally gone in that sort of setting. Hogwarts was the same way. Lindsay would be an exception. THE exception. She's also an unaccountable eldritch being of untold dimension and import. If THE only exception we have to the rule is somewhat absurd - well, I actually don't doubt Lindsey's credentials one bit... but I do feel like she is the exception that proves the rule, in this case. This reads like speculation or personal insertion to me, no offense meant. Speaking about Hogwarts lack of a psychologists isnt really an accurate comparison to the Court, only the school section of the Court. The Wizard world absolutely has mental health services, big part of the story in fact, and based off of being shown that an individual in the court has training in this area, which I assume happened in court (cause where else could Lindsey go to school, considering what she is) its pretty reasonable to assume such facilities exist. I dunno how she is an exception that proves the rule, she seems more like evidence that metal health services are a thing somewhere in the Court. To each there own I guess. Then how do you explain that literally no cast member is getting any kind of therapy, despite at least half of them sorely needing it? And speaking of the outside world, why are we all assuming that there's no way for anyone to go outside the Court for therapy? I mean, I suppose the Court might be worried about Tony letting slip something about the Omega Device during his sessions, but then again, he'd also be talking about how the wolf-coyote-god turned his daughter into two daughters and how he cut off his hand to make a magic antenna to contact his dead wife, so anything he said aside from his own feelings about the here and now would be taken as ... part of his personal system of internal symbolism, perhaps? Considering he might be locked up, he might want to keep the crazy-sounding Court-specific occurrences out of it and just talk about things like his current experiences or his childhood (unless it was also full of out-there experiences). Now that's a valid question. Which you partly answered yourself... first, you have to find a therapist who you can tell this crazy stuff! But partly I think there's more. Smitty has spent his whole life at the Court. This is the first time he is in a real forest (what an awful life)! It seems people born inside the Court are not exactly encouraged to ever seek anything outside its borders. Just so many good points here, though I think perhaps a couples therapist would still have enough general background to be able to at least start with other types of therapy. But anyway, we've established that there's an England (with a Queen, though not the Queen Elizabeth of the real world), a Birmingham that has a Good Hope Hospital like the real-world Birmingham, entertainment industries that have produced The X-Files and Hellboy, as well as various musical artists who also exist in the real world. There's a Scotland and an Italy. There's a New World that at least had a Jamestown colony and an ill-fated Roanoake colony. The geological timescale is similar to the real world's. My theory, anyway, is that the world is about the same as the real world on the macroscopic scale, the broad brush strokes. But the fine details differ a bit. Most people wouldn't believe a place like Gunnerkrigg Court exists, but that's most people. A few do, enough to make interesting stories happen. And in a world like that, a crustacean (or whatever a merostomatozon counts as) attending a school somewhere would, if word got out, be an international sensation, enough to interfere with that education. Although I suppose other places like GC could exist, meaning secretive places that seek out or at least accept the unusual and are also difficult to find and get to, and they might also train therapists of non-human species. I'm going with my own argument that where one exists, there could be more. That would imply that it isn't necessarily true that there are other therapists in the Court at all; Lindsey wasn't necessarily trained and certified at the Court. Or she could've been trained entirely by other merostomatozon, we don't really know what their society looks like... Lindsey probably could be an adequate therapist for general things, but Tony (and a lot of the cast!) definitely needs a specialist. It's possible she doesn't even work as a counselor any more, she's got another job after all. Being potentially the only therapist in the whole Court would be horribly draining! There's a bunch of canon-established video games too like Kojima's games, and Studio Ghibli (or at least Princess Mononoke). I like to theorize that people have a broad general understanding that Weird Stuff happens sometimes, and weird people, and there's just a lot of unexplained stuff that happens in the world. Kind of like how we go, "Huh, wow, people can hold their breath for thirty minutes/eat cars/keep growing for their entire lives, that's wild," and then carry on with our day cause that's just a weird thing that exists. The Court likes to be secretive, so it specifically is probably not a thing people know about -- nor the fact that actual literal gods exist in the Gillite Woods. People who care about the weird stuff they hear about enough to look into it probably end up in the Court anyway (or a similar place, like you said). But like. A fingerprint showed up on the moon one day. City fairies are an established thing in the comic, and fairies don't seem to have any invisible-to-normal-people-eyes abilities. There's GOTTA be some kind of general awareness of magicky weirdness being a thing, I think. Another example: Parley senior. He is a certified psychic who officially completed a well-known psychic challenge and (because he "put them suckers right outta business") likely won a huge sum of money for this. He has got to be known to people outside the Court. |
|
|
|
Post by silicondream on May 5, 2021 10:12:20 GMT
Perhaps Lindsey's therapy certification comes from outside the Court, someone may ask? Where exactly in the world outside of the Court would there be a therapy certification program that a very large crustacean could apply to and complete? And speaking of the outside world, why are we all assuming that there's no way for anyone to go outside the Court for therapy? I mean, I suppose the Court might be worried about Tony letting slip something about the Omega Device during his sessions, but then again, he'd also be talking about how the wolf-coyote-god turned his daughter into two daughters and how he cut off his hand to make a magic antenna to contact his dead wife, so anything he said aside from his own feelings about the here and now would be taken as ... part of his personal system of internal symbolism, perhaps? Considering he might be locked up, he might want to keep the crazy-sounding Court-specific occurrences out of it and just talk about things like his current experiences or his childhood (unless it was also full of out-there experiences). These are extremely good points. Counterargument! |
|
|
|
Post by saardvark on May 5, 2021 11:29:12 GMT
its almost as if for Jones, recalling someones face in her mind was not enough - she wanted the ... dare I say, pleasure?... of being able to look on them again physically. Of course she does not experience pleasure and is merely mimicking how humans like to remember their departed. of course not! merely mimicking! (... that's what she'd say anyway.... perhaps even to herself) |
|
|
|
Post by pyradonis on May 5, 2021 12:01:01 GMT
By the way, I would like to add that after seeing Lindsey in "The Torn Sea" I would never ever consider scheduling a therapy session with her.
If the Court has therapists and they are all like her, it's no wonder no one seeks them them out.
|
|
|
|
Post by maxptc on May 5, 2021 13:30:49 GMT
Then how do you explain that literally no cast member is getting any kind of therapy, despite at least half of them sorely needing it? If the Court has therapists and they are all like her, it's no wonder no one seeks them them out. Sorry about combining two different quotes. About 95% of the people I know who need/needed therapy don't/didn't seek it out easily, at best it was a struggle to come to the decision and at worst it was something they only did when forced to, and then for as little time as possible. I mean the real world has therapists that aren't Lindsey like, and a lot of people won't seek them out. A lack of the resources as a whole or a Court plot to stop people from going seems to me like an explanation for a situation that's rather common: people don't like seeking out therapy regardless of if they need it or have access to it. |
|
|
|
Post by DonDueed on May 5, 2021 14:49:57 GMT
Just so many good points here, though I think perhaps a couples therapist would still have enough general background to be able to at least start with other types of therapy. But anyway, we've established that there's an England (with a Queen, though not the Queen Elizabeth of the real world), a Birmingham that has a Good Hope Hospital like the real-world Birmingham, entertainment industries that have produced The X-Files and Hellboy, as well as various musical artists who also exist in the real world. There's a Scotland and an Italy. There's a New World that at least had a Jamestown colony and an ill-fated Roanoake colony. The geological timescale is similar to the real world's. My theory, anyway, is that the world is about the same as the real world on the macroscopic scale, the broad brush strokes. But the fine details differ a bit. Most people wouldn't believe a place like Gunnerkrigg Court exists, but that's most people. A few do, enough to make interesting stories happen. And in a world like that, a crustacean (or whatever a merostomatozon counts as) attending a school somewhere would, if word got out, be an international sensation, enough to interfere with that education. Although I suppose other places like GC could exist, meaning secretive places that seek out or at least accept the unusual and are also difficult to find and get to, and they might also train therapists of non-human species. I'm going with my own argument that where one exists, there could be more. That would imply that it isn't necessarily true that there are other therapists in the Court at all; Lindsey wasn't necessarily trained and certified at the Court. Or she could've been trained entirely by other merostomatozon, we don't really know what their society looks like... Lindsey probably could be an adequate therapist for general things, but Tony (and a lot of the cast!) definitely needs a specialist. It's possible she doesn't even work as a counselor any more, she's got another job after all. Being potentially the only therapist in the whole Court would be horribly draining! Another possibility: Lindsey and Bud were once humans, but were converted by the court much as Alistair's family was. In that case, Lindsey could have been trained as a therapist in the wider world before coming to Court and being Merostomatazonned. |
|
|
|
Post by DonDueed on May 5, 2021 14:56:18 GMT
By the way, I would like to add that after seeing Lindsey in "The Torn Sea" I would never ever consider scheduling a therapy session with her. If the Court has therapists and they are all like her, it's no wonder no one seeks them them out. Well, they do say you need to shop around to find the therapist who's right for you. ;-) |
|
|
|
Post by foxurus on May 5, 2021 18:08:15 GMT
Sorry about combining two different quotes. About 95% of the people I know who need/needed therapy don't/didn't seek it out easily, at best it was a struggle to come to the decision and at worst it was something they only did when forced to, and then for as little time as possible. I mean the real world has therapists that aren't Lindsey like, and a lot of people won't seek them out. A lack of the resources as a whole or a Court plot to stop people from going seems to me like an explanation for a situation that's rather common: people don't like seeking out therapy regardless of if they need it or have access to it. Mental health is inherently difficult to work on, which is why people in US colleges who are struggling are referred to campus counselors instead of just left to figure it out on their own, and why my doctor sat with me, called a therapist, and scheduled an appointment for me after I filled out their mandatory how-are-you-these-past-two-weeks sheet, because I wouldn't have done it by myself. The Court, as a entity which has its own culture, seemingly exists in a mostly-economyless bubble of socialism, and has a huge amount of information on and power over everyone in it, should have an obligation to connect people with the support they need. There is a certain point where the barriers to entry are high enough that it is equivalent to not having the resource at all. Tony actively wants to work on his mental health; he doesn't have any logistical setbacks like lack of money, transportation, or time; and he's able and eager to talk about his problems in one-on-one settings. Maybe most people don't want therapy, but it sure seems like Tony would appreciate it, so I'm searching for an explanation for why he's not getting it. |
|
|
|
Post by todd on May 6, 2021 0:26:13 GMT
The Court, as a entity which has its own culture, seemingly exists in a mostly-economyless bubble of socialism, and has a huge amount of information on and power over everyone in it, should have an obligation to connect people with the support they need. There is a certain point where the barriers to entry are high enough that it is equivalent to not having the resource at all. I still suspect it's a case of the Court taking a stance of "It's not hampering his ability to work on the Omega Device - and if he *did* get more stable, he might start wondering whether it's a good idea to work on a project with the word 'Omega' in it". |
|
|
|
Post by maxptc on May 6, 2021 0:29:44 GMT
Sorry about combining two different quotes. About 95% of the people I know who need/needed therapy don't/didn't seek it out easily, at best it was a struggle to come to the decision and at worst it was something they only did when forced to, and then for as little time as possible. I mean the real world has therapists that aren't Lindsey like, and a lot of people won't seek them out. A lack of the resources as a whole or a Court plot to stop people from going seems to me like an explanation for a situation that's rather common: people don't like seeking out therapy regardless of if they need it or have access to it. Mental health is inherently difficult to work on, which is why people in US colleges who are struggling are referred to campus counselors instead of just left to figure it out on their own, and why my doctor sat with me, called a therapist, and scheduled an appointment for me after I filled out their mandatory how-are-you-these-past-two-weeks sheet, because I wouldn't have done it by myself. The Court, as a entity which has its own culture, seemingly exists in a mostly-economyless bubble of socialism, and has a huge amount of information on and power over everyone in it, should have an obligation to connect people with the support they need. There is a certain point where the barriers to entry are high enough that it is equivalent to not having the resource at all. Tony actively wants to work on his mental health; he doesn't have any logistical setbacks like lack of money, transportation, or time; and he's able and eager to talk about his problems in one-on-one settings. Maybe most people don't want therapy, but it sure seems like Tony would appreciate it, so I'm searching for an explanation for why he's not getting it. Which is fair, he needs it and should be seeking it out, and the Court should do better at giving people the option or making the option known. But I'm not convinced a lack of the facilities existing is an answer. Tony just not seeking it out despite needing and wanting seems more likely. The Court not making it easy and or not encouraging it makes sense and is very plausible to me, but honestly the answer that makes sense to me is that therapy sessions are tough to write/pace in an authentic way and aren't very dynamic within this type of story. Also this world has strong supporting characters(Jones being a great example) that can serve the same story function as therapists, without having to write therapy scenes and simultaneously give said characters more screen time. Tony without therapy would be a disaster in the real world and I'd be super worried about the situation, but I have confidence something equivalent is happening right now or in the near future. |
|
