My New Shirt

Now, my new shirt. Is this:

As a result of this new shirt, I have “WIthin You” from Labyrinth stuck in my head. And that quote “I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you.” I’ll have to watch the movie again, because I’m pretty certain that quote isn’t right.

Anyway, my new shirt and I like it very much. Enjoy

To see the artist’s gallery go to: Pika-la-Cynique’s Gallery

To see more shirts, go to: Pink Mint Pika

Pirates

My current last couple is from my current work.

Faith McKenna and Casey Williams.

Faith is a pirate; she was raised on a pirate ship by her father, Paddy Bloodbeard, and his crew. All her life, she has been considered their most precious treasure and heavily protected. Until she is captured by her father’s rival, James Lord known as Dark Lord. He is nasty and mean and brutal. She eventually escapes his ship and lands on a navy ship, which is where Casey comes in.

Casey is a naval Captain who hates pirates. He has been hunting Lord and Bloodbeard for most of his career. When his ship rescues Faith, he doesn’t know who she is. He will eventually find out and his reaction isn’t to throw her in prison and let her hang.

But this segment occurs before he finds out, so it’s okay.

WARNING: YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS OR OLDER TO READ THIS POST

Faith and Casey

Clean

The following couple are from my novel, Storyteller, which is an intricate story- sort of. But it is also my second cleanest story. People who know me should be either laughing or protesting their disbelief.

Whatever.

Leslie and Orlando are normal, modern day humans. For the most part.

They’re both dead.

Leslie Dana Richardson was an author who re-wrote old tales, such as Oberon and Titania, and Puck. When she was younger, she wrote fanfiction, which started her on her career. I pretended that she wrote fanfiction for my story The Draca Chronicles, only the original version that will never see the light of day again. She also has this ability as a Storyteller to change author-created Realities. So her fanfiction changed the timeline of the Dracas’ story. But something went wrong and has to be fixed. So the inhabitants of Arcadia (Titania, Oberon, Puck, etc) bring her to their Reality to fix it. They bring her to a different Reality by killing her- and her unborn child.

Orlando is left behind in this Reality and grieves for his wife and child, deeply. He goes through several periods of mourning and grieving. Leslie experiences much of the same thing and finds herself unable to concentrate- even when Puck brings her to the Magic Realm to meet Chloe and her entourage.

Around Christmas, (when their child would have been born) Leslie makes a wish for Orlando to be with her. There’s a car crash and he dies. Puck brings him to Leslie.

That’s where this segment begins. Leslie and Orlando’s reunion after seven months of believing they would never see each other again.

Absolute Power

Garnet and David are interesting, mostly because of the situation that I put them in.

Garnet is the most powerful mage in Legion, which is a continent of thieves, crooks, murderers- if it’s a crime, they’ve done it. It was a dumping ground for the other countries, Marclay and Tigra. Garnet is related to the royal family- her uncle is the king in a country of cutthroats- which comes down to he is a murderer. Garnet hasn’t lived in the country very long; at ten, the rest of her family died in a plague and she was sent to Tigra was mage training. She returned when she was twenty- under duress- and has lived there for two and a half years.. She isn’t happy about her situation at all, because she is mainly used as a pawn of her uncle’s and because she is feared because of her magic.

David was a prince of Tigra and had magic- he went to the Mage University on his own credits and was doing his internship as a private tutor when Garnet showed up and he became her tutor. Eventually, they fell in love and David gave up his title to be with her. He was still at the University, now paying off his debt, when she returned to Legion, so it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other.

David arrives in Legion during negotiations between Marclay and Legion and Garnet decides that she is done and wants out. To to this, she screws over both her uncle and the Blade, a resistance group that she was a part of. So now she and David are on the run and in the morning, she plans to turn herself in and neither of them know if she is going to live.

Very tragic.

WARNING: THIS SEGMENT CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT. YOU SHOULD BE 18 OR OLDER

Garnet and David

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

My friend Katie had an obsession with the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and there was an episode in the 6th Season called “Normal Again” where Buffy wakes up in a mental institution. And she hates this episode to the point where she won’t watch it.

Anyway, for my Psychology paper I wrote about that episode and schizophrenia, since that is what she is supposed to have. Now I got the paper back today and I got a 100 on it. And I’m so happy!

The conclusion of the paper would make Katie extremely happy. The conclusion is not that Buffy is delusional and believes she is The Slayer; it is that she is the Slayer and the delusion is that she is in the mental institution so that she can get away from her responsibilities.

Most proud of this paper.

 

Delusions of Grandeur:

Schizophrenia in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Kate Devine

In one episode in the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy is attacked by a demon and wakes up to find herself in a mental institution. Throughout this episode, “Normal Again,” Buffy flashes between the reality where she is the patient in the mental institution and has been there in a coma for six years, and her daily existence in Sunnydale as the Slayer and guardian of her younger sister. As the episode progresses and her flashes get worse, she questions if she really is The Slayer or if she is a patient in a mental institution and just a normal person. In one mental institution flash, the audience is informed that Buffy has undifferentiated schizophrenia. Knowing that movies and television shows often mix-up or misname disorders, this gives reason for further research. With schizophrenia as a starting point, the following questions can be asked:

1. What is schizophrenia?

2. What are the causes of schizophrenia?

3.  Does Buffy have schizophrenia or another disorder?

From the script of “Normal Again,” and some basic background knowledge on the character of Buffy, as well as the analysis of professionals and interviews of people with schizophrenia, these questions can be answered.

What is Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder. The psychotic disorders are the mental conditions that involve distorted perceptions of reality and irrational behavior, such as manic-depressive (bi-polar) and dementia. As defined by most psychology textbooks, schizophrenia is a “psychotic disorder marked by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized and incoherent speech, inappropriate behavior, and impaired cognitive abilities” (Wade and Tavris, 2008, p. 394).

In their book Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, Rachael Miller and Susan E. Mason, social workers who have both dealt with schizophrenics, describe the symptoms in detail. The main symptom of Buffy is delusions. There are several types of delusions, such as paranoid delusions, where the afflicted person believes that people are trying to harm him/her when they are not. Other types of delusions are delusions of reference, where the afflicted person believes things in the environment are directly related to him/her, somatic delusions, where the afflicted person erroneously believes something about his/her body, such as that they have a horrible illness, and delusions of grandeur, when the afflicted person believes that are a very special person, such as a prophet of God or Jesus, or he/she has special powers and abilities, such as being the Chosen One with the power to slay vampires.

Hallucinations are false sensory experiences. A schizophrenic may believe that he/she can hear/taste/see/smell/touch something that is not present. These hallucinations can be very strong, so the person absolutely believes that the experience is actually happening. One severe hallucination is hearing voices, to the point where a schizophrenic may attempt suicide to escape hearing the voices.

Schizophrenia affects the brain, so sufferers experience disturbances in thought patterns. Their minds start to play tricks on them, making things seem real or connecting two unrelated thoughts. The latter can result in disorganized speech, typically seen in the form of word salads, an illogical jumble of words. Another effect is having a thought interrupted and preventing the sufferer from thinking clearly.

Schizophrenics also act strange, or out-of-character. They may slow down or speed up their movements, stand in odd positions for no apparent reason, act child-like or aggressively, and a number of other bizarre ways that make sense to the person but not to the people around him/her.

For the case of Buffy, delusions and to a degree, hallucinations, are the two main symptoms. During the episode, she does not appear to have disorganized or incoherent speech patterns, speaking normally no matter what reality she is in, not in word-salads; the only disturbance in her behavior is disorientation, because the flashes have thrown her off-balance; her brain and cognitive abilities do not appear to be affected either, as she thinks and functions as she normal does, indicating that most of her brain is functioning normally with the exception of the delusions and hallucinations.

What are the Causes

of Schizophrenia?

“Schizophrenia is a disease of the brain that affects about one percent of the population. It affects males and females equally, often occurring between adolescence and young adulthood” (Miller and Mason, 2002, p. 35). What is not known is what causes the one percent of the population to develop schizophrenia; scientists have been unable to determine any particular causes of the disorder.

Traditionally, schizophrenia is believed to be genetically linked; in twin and adoption studies done in Europe, there is a higher risk of developing schizophrenia when a relative has it. The closer the connection, the higher the risk, so identical twins have the highest risk and siblings and unrelated people have the least risk (Wade and Tavris, 2008, p. 396).

Since schizophrenia is brain-related, there is cause to believe that it is caused by abnormalities in the brain, structurally or involving neurotransmitters. Not a lot of research has been done to explore the involvement of neurotransmitters, since neurotransmitter abnormalities occur in other mental disorders, and some of these disorders are linked to schizophrenia; it is difficult to determine if the neurotransmitters are due to the schizophrenia or the other disorders. Similar to neurotransmitters, some speculate that because medication can be used to treat schizophrenia, other biochemical problems cause the disorder. Although neurotransmitters were dismissed because of lack of research, Jackson explores the ideas of Abood in his book, The Etiology of Schizophrenia. Abood suggests that the substances exist in small quantities; it could be the presence of the chemicals at certain times that set off the episodes of a schizophrenic. (1960, 133)

However, when studying the brains of schizophrenics and non-schizophrenics, it has been discovered that abnormalities occur in the temporal lobe, hippocampus, thalamus, auditory cortex, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and in the ventricles. Abnormalities in any of these areas could be the cause of certain symptoms of schizophrenia, but no one abnormality is responsible for causing all of the symptoms. (Wade and Tavris, 2008, p. 396)

In contradiction to all of the above theories, an alternate theory is introduced by a sufferer of schizophrenia. He proposes the idea that schizophrenia has to do with fear, in particular, the fear of being discovered of wrongdoing. Since schizophrenics suffer with this fear, they continually blow the punishment out of proportion and use delusions and hallucinations to escape the horrific punishment that they have imagined. Rather than interact with society, schizophrenics withdraw so that their wrongdoing cannot be discovered. This chronic, conscious fear is what drives schizophrenics and sets off episodes of irrational, erratic behavior and speech patterns and delusions.

In order to prevent the discovery of wrong-doing and possibly to prevent future wrong-doing, schizophrenics also shut-down their various drives and processes, such as the libido. This mental “playing dead” mechanism is also a possible cause of the strange behavior of sufferers, as they lash out at themselves in a form of self-punishment. (1958, 226-236)

Any one of these theories could be the cause of schizophrenia; several elements from several of these theories could be the cause of schizophrenia. Scientists, psychologists, and various others have not determined if there is a particular cause or causes for the disorder at this point in time, although they have found that it is treatable.

Does Buffy have Schizophrenia

or Another Disorder?

In diagnosing her, Buffy would have to exhibited symptoms for at least six months (Miller and Mason, 2002, p.53). She has exhibited symptoms of schizophrenia for six years in the reality where she is in a mental institution; additionally, in the Slayer reality, she has been exhibiting some symptoms for about six to seven months.

By evaluating Buffy’s symptoms, she could have schizophrenia. She suffers from hallucinations and delusions of grandeur and to a certain degree, unusual behavior, as she exhibits a dazed, confused manner unlike her normal, in-control and take-charge manner. But her main symptoms of delusions and hallucinations could also be the result of severe depression (Miller and Mason, 2002, p. 50).

In the mental institution reality, Buffy has been exhibiting symptoms for six years, since she first became the Slayer. In looking at the months leading up to this, there is no undue stress on Buffy; she was a cheerleader, with a good boyfriend, decent grades, a close circle of friends, and a loving home. No one in her family is mentioned having schizophrenia. In this scenario, her developing schizophrenia or any psychotic disorder is very unlikely.

In the Slayer reality, she has only been exhibiting symptoms for a few months. But she has been experiencing several difficulties for the past year. She was recently brought back from the dead, her mother died the previous year and left her in charge of her younger sister, her only other adult figure has moved to England, she has had to get a job at a fast food joint to pay bills and drop-out of college, she has recently gotten out of a relationship that she has kept hidden from her friends and the other person in the relationship is threatening to tell them, her sister has been skipping classes and was recently caught stealing, and she still has all of her Slaying responsibilities.

Between the two realities, it is not likely that Buffy was not trying to escape the ordinary one and make herself into a superhero. She had a good life and was not in danger of anything. It is a better chance that Buffy wanted to get away from her Slayer reality, because it would be nice to wake up and find that she isn�t a Slayer, her mother is not dead and her parents are not divorced, and she does not have a younger sister. She could wake-up from the “delusion” and the doctors tell her that it is possible for her to get better and once her treatment is done and they work out her medications, she is able to go home with Mom and Dad and continue with a normal life. She tells the doctor “I don’t wanna go back there. I wanna be healthy again” (Whedon 2002). She wants to leave her life as a Slayer behind because it has gotten so out-of-control.

The most likely scenario is that Buffy is not schizophrenic, because the only symptoms she exhibits are delusions and hallucinations, which are also symptoms of severe depression. Based on what has been going on, in both realities, Buffy probably has severe depression because of all her responsibilities and problems in the Slayer reality. From this diagnosis, it can be concluded that the Slayer reality is her actual reality and the mental institution is the delusion that she is building up, so that she can escape those responsibilities, get better, and go home with Mom and Dad to her normal life.

 

References

Anonymous, (1958). A new theory of schizophrenia. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 57, 226-236.

Jackson, D. B. (Ed.). (1960). The etiology of schizophrenia. New York, NY: Basic Books

Miller, R, & Mason, S (2002). Diagnosis: schizophrenia. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Wade, C, & Tavris, C (2008). Invitation to psychology. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Whedon, J (Producer). (2002, March 12). Normal Again [Television series episode]. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer. United Paramount Network.

 

Favorite

Today’s post features Chloe and Lucifer, who are from my masterpiece, The Draca Chronicles. I don’t think this piece is anywhere in the story itself, but it is a very personal moment between the two.

Chloe is the leading lady of the Draca family, Heir to the family and the Draca Territory. She just fought a war against one of her exes (that is a separate story all by itself that takes me like ten minutes to explain), and spent most of her life caring for her younger sister and cousins. Chloe has undergone so many trials it is a wonder that she hasn’t cracked and just given up on love.

Her match to Lucifer was originally arranged by her mother, shortly before her mother’s death (Chloe and her mother don’t get along at all, so this could potentially have been a big issue). Chloe honored the arrangement and Lucifer stayed with her until the end of the war. In the process, he courted her and they fell in love.

The two of them are amazing and extraordinarily gorgeous. Chloe has red wine hair and emerald green eyes, and she’s short. On the other hand, Lucifer has long, dark hair that he keeps pulled back in a ponytail and tall; when he and Chloe stand next to each other, she comes up to his chest. Actually, if anyone owns The Book of Angels by Ruth Thompson, L.A. Williams, and Renae Taylor, Gabriel with green eyes is a pretty good description of Lucifer.

WARNING: THIS SEGMENT CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT. YOU SHOULD BE 18 OR OLDER

Chloe and Lucifer

An Intimate Darkness

I’ve decided to share my good mood with everyone by posting small segments of my stories. The parts that I’m posting are under a folder called Love Songs; they are comprised of the most intimate moments between my leading couples. The first one, going up today is between Marcus and Liana.

Liana is the third child and the second daughter of the elf king, Elrir; her father is a nasty, sadistic, son-of-a-bitch who has forced her to take the place of queen– in every way. She is an assassin known as Whisper and one of the best. Paranoid, skittish and unsure of herself, Liana is probably one of my more broken characters.

Marcus is the human king and his marriage to Liana is a symbol of peace between elves and men– ironically, the marriage was arranged to protect men from elves, not the other way around. He is caring and very protective of Liana and has been in love with her for years, even before their marriage.

In this scene, Liana has just had an abortion- she forced herself to miscarry by taking certain herbs. This is the third baby she is forced to miscarry because she and Marcus are not married yet.

WARNING: THIS SEGMENT CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT. YOU SHOULD BE 18 OR OLDER

Liana and Marcus