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{{trope}}
▲[[File:dilbervertical 1708.jpg|link=Dilbert|right]]
{{quote|''In the dark I like to read his mind
''but I'm frightened of the things I might find''
|[[Til Tuesday]], "Voices Carry"}}
[[Alice and Bob|Alice's]] life is going swell until she gains the ability to [[Mind Reading|read minds]]. She becomes very distraught when she discovers that the vast majority of the people around her have rather disturbing thoughts, thoughts better left unread. Random people think disgusting things all day long. Her friends are only using her. Her lover has been cheating since day one. Most likely, all of the above and more.
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Can be related to [[Power Incontinence]].
{{examples}}▼
{{noreallife|at least until we have proof that there's a telepath out there somewhere in Real Life.}}
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Yoshiki, a high school student in ''[[Boogiepop Phantom]]'', gains an incontinent ability to hear peoples' thoughts in episode nine, "You'll Never Be Young Twice". He promptly discovers that all of his friends dislike him, only sticking around to leech his money. He then [[More Than Mind Control|gives his mind away]] to a bad guy out of desperation.
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* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', the mind-reader Murota seems to have no problem with his telepathic powers... until he reads the mind of Sensui {{spoiler|and his other six personalities}}, after which he has a severe nervous breakdown before being taken out by one of Sensui's henchmen.
* ''[[Shaman King]]'': This is part of the reason main antagonist Hao went batshit insane and became a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]. An accident left him with a very dangerous ability, Reishi ("Reading the Heart"), that he could not control. The negative emotions and thoughts of others constantly overwhelming him and, since he was unable to turn his Reishi off, the deluge of negativity eventually drove him to become the Shaman King so that he create a Shaman only kingdom on earth.
** Anna also had a powerful Reishi ability as a child. By the time she first met Yoh in person, it was causing her to accidentally manifest demons when she was around other people. She lost her Reishi powers not long after that meeting, sealing it herself after {{spoiler|Matamune [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificed]] himself to help Yoh defeat the [["Wake
* A ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' doujin rewrote Schuldig and Omi’s confrontation to have Omi fighting Schuldig ‘s mind reading abilities by first imagining Schuldig in a Tutu… followed closely by a Schuldig/Reiji Takatori romantic scene. Schuldig ended up begging for mercy while Omi threatened to imagine even more vivid scenarios.
* Shiho from ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'' has the ability since birth. At the beginning of the series she is somewhere around 12 and pretty much despairs of humanity.
** Made even worse by some of the ways others use her powers. Her ''own father'' the police chief has her read evidence in murder investigations, meaning she has been exposed to visions of horrible killings and corpses. She is a tad morbid and disturbing as a result.
* The minor character of the boyfriend of Shin's babysitter on ''[[
* Whenever Nodoka in [[Mahou Sensei Negima]] uses her artifact in any situation that's not very serious, she tends to learn things she really wishes she hadn't. Not ''terrible'' things, but very awkward. First she tries it on herself and realizes she's a [[Covert Pervert]]. Later she tries testing out some new equipment she got and learns that she accidentally set up a love triangle among some new friends. {{spoiler|And after that when she tries reading Negi's mind when he's gone berserk the diary pages literally go black with rage and hatred. Since she presumably still had on that equipment, imagine what horrible things she must have heard.}}
* In ''[[School Rumble]]'', Yakumo's ability to see the thoughts of people who are infatuated/in love with her (As text floating in the air) generally only makes her miserable. She gets asked out/confessed to/propositioned by boys all the time, but is put off by what they REALLY want. (Except for Hanai, who actually thinks what he says, but he puts her off in other ways.) Even worse, she can't read the guy she's actually interested in, because he's one of the few guys she knows that is NOT infatuated with her.
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** In another strip, the Pointy Haired Boss is talking about how the company with whom they are merging is made up of mental giants who can read employees' minds and torture them mentally if they dislike what they find. Wally, not terribly frightened despite having just witnessed a demonstration of the latter ability, remarks that "if they try reading mine, they'll go blind." A later comic where Catbert does indeed go blind from reading a paper readout of Wally's mind seems to prove him right.
** As the author Scott Adams noted in one of his annotated Dilbert compilations, he's glad women don't know what men are really thinking.
== Fan Works ==
* In [[DC Nation]], [http://community.livejournal.com/dc_nation/116814.html?view=509294 Mento was recently revealed to be a decent telepath], even without his helmet. However, he hadn't any ability to ''block out'' thoughts. Rita (his wife) and The Chief knew, but he never thought to say it to anyone else. Worse, his brief superheroing career was with [[Doom Patrol]], a group of [[Blessed with Suck]] superheroes with dubious acceptance among not only the community they served, but the superheroing community as well.
* Played for laughs in the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' [[fanfic]] ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5092454/1/ Need to know]'', in which Ron suddenly starts hearing people's thoughts and is understandably horrified to learn that, among other things, [[Ho Yay|Harry and Draco secretly fancy each other.]]
* In Maldoror's ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' AU fanfiction [https://web.archive.org/web/20110805000529/http://raygunworks.net/maldoror/monsters.html ''Monsters''], the pilots are vampires, werewolves and so on. Except for Quatre who (as in the series) is an empath. The "steady diet of fear, greed, lust, anger, and the occasional nugget of happiness" makes him the most scarily psychotic of the lot.
* In the ''[[Daria]]/[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' crossover ''Legion of Lawndale Heroes'', Cadet David Allen Farrington - one of the uber-powerful 'Class Five' psionics at the [[Academy of Adventure|U.S. Academy of Extranormal Studies]] - is seen by most of the people around him, as well as the Legionnaires, as a [[Jerk with a Heart of Jerk]]. This comes into focus when you realize that his primary power is not ''telepathy'', ''[[The Empath|but empathy]]''... and that not only [[Hearing Voices|can he feel the emotions of everyone around him]], but (except for when he [[Brought Down to Normal|takes a power-suppressing drug]]) [[Blessed with Suck|has been able to do just that since he was a week old.]]
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* [[Kim Newman]]'s Richard Jeperson, agent of the [[Diogenes Club]], developed psychic powers at school, where he was horrified to discover that many teachers fantasized about killing the boys. He soon realized that the ones to [[Beware the Nice Ones|really be wary of were the ones who didn't]], since they had the same frustrations, [[Stepford Smiler|but no safe release for them]].
* [[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]] discovers several things that he didn't want to know, though they inevitably help him save the world, through Dumbledore's pensieve. On one occasion, what he sees tarnishes his image of his father.
* [[Playing with a Trope|Played with]] quite a bit in [
* The world of [[Chaos Walking]] is one where everyone hears everyone's thoughts. There is no off button. Most of the people there are used to it {{spoiler|but when newcomers arrive on the planet, they... have a little more trouble adjusting.}}
* In [[Mephisto In Onyx]], Rudy Pairis is a telepath who has yet to encounter a mind that doesn't make him want to vomit. Unfortunately, he frequently finds himself in situations where he is tempted to reach out and touch some mind. The story gets rolling when a friend he can't turn down asks him to read the mind of a convicted serial killer to prove him innocent. [[It Gets Worse]] from there.
== [[Live
* Toshiko Sato of ''[[Torchwood]]'' gains telepathy in the episode "Greeks Bearing Gifts". She races home hurt and angry after hearing the thoughts of her co-workers. On the other hand, it does help her stop a man from killing his wife and kid.
* This happens to Buffy in the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "Earshot". The problem more arises from being overloaded with hearing people's thoughts, as opposed to being shocked at what people are truly thinking. Though she was surprised to learn that [[All Men Are Perverts]].
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* ''[[Firefly]]'': River is distraught by the thoughts of shipmates in the last episode, experiencing several upsetting emotions. In particular, it's implied that her brother Simon blames her for the loss of his successful medical career. Simon never outright says this, though he does nearly slip up at times ("And I would be back there right now if she hadn't... I mean, if THEY hadn't done those things to her."), but just because he never says this to the audience or the crew can't prevent him from thinking it on occasion. Of course, such thoughts are probably as pure as the driven snow compared to others River is bombarded with from the rest of the crew, and Simon very clearly loves her enough not to regret his own sacrifice.
** Subverted in one instance: When River reads Jayne's mind, she sees what appears to be {{spoiler|regret for trying to sell her out to the Feds.}} It's surprisingly sweet considering that he's spent the whole series trying to get rid of the Tams.
** In ''[[Serenity]]'' the Operative believes this to be the reason for River's insanity, or at least a major part of it - She was driven crazy by the secrets she inadvertently picked up from the Alliance Parliament. It's also the reason the mere presence of Reavers is enough to send her into a [[Heroic BSOD]] until the film's climax.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'':
* The ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "Tin Man" has Tam Elbrun, a Betazoid who has had his ability from birth (most get theirs during puberty). He has this reaction to everybody. He was quite relieved when he met Data, who had no (organic) mind to read.▼
** In the original series, the Vulcan Mind Meld can potentially be this any time it is used, as it takes an incredible toll on both the user and the recipient. Two examples stand out:
*** In "Devil in the Dark", Spock experiences incredible pain attempting to use the technique on the Horta, not just because of its inhuman nature but because it is badly wounded due to surviving a phaser blast in an earlier scene. On his second attempt he is more successful, possibly due to the creature trusting him more.
*** In "By Any Other Name", even a brief glimpse into the minds of [[Humanoid Abomination| the Kelvans]] (where he glimpses their true, horrific form) causes Spock a great deal of mental shock, their thought process being completely alien to that of humans.
▲** The ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "Tin Man" has Tam Elbrun, a Betazoid who has had his ability from birth (most get theirs during puberty). He has this reaction to everybody. He was quite relieved when he met Data, who had no (organic) mind to read.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Pretty much every teep ever.
** Reading the minds of dying people is implied to be even worse than other cases, because the mind reader can be "dragged" down together with the dying person. Bester, the resident creepy Psi Cop, specialized in deathbed scans... one too many of these are implied to have made him the [[Complete Monster|cheerful fellow]] that he is.
** Played for laughs when Talia gets into an elevator with Garibaldi, then shortly afterwards hits
** There is a severe shortage of telepaths willing to work in the area of mundane (i.e., non-Psi Cop) criminal justice. Crawling around in the brains of murderers and rapists is nobody's idea of a good time.
* The '90s ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' episode "What Will the Neighbors Think?"
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* ''[[The Collector (TV series)|The Collector]]'': The Devil doesn't exactly take well to hearing the pain and evil thoughts of [[The Omniscient|everyone in the universe]].
* In ''[[My Hero (TV)]]'', George gains mind-reading powers, and is soon shocked at the twisted thoughts within the minds of the human race.
== Music ==
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* [[Played for Laughs]] when [[The Nostalgia Chick]] gained the power to read guy minds. She kidnapped [[Todd in the Shadows]] as usual and actually fell over in frustration when she found out [[Obscurus Lupa]] was the ''only'' thing that existed in his brain. Not like that stopped her obsession, however.
== New Media ==
* Penta from ''[[Vigor Mortis]]'' has a hard time not reading her host's mind. Her host is Vita, who often has murderous thoughts. And a ''considerable'' amount of these murderous thoughts are about killing Penta. Vita doesn't consider these thoughts to have much sway on her actions (particularly the ones about killing Penta), but it's not clear how much Penta believes Vita on that. What is clear however is that Vita's thoughts give Penta a great deal of anxiety.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[GURPS]]: Psionic Powers'' has rules for letting a psi trap an attacker inside her mind. More mundanely people with Anti-Psi can make their mind such a void that when people try to read it that the abyss gazes back into them.
* In the ''[[Dungeons
* ''[[Warhammer
** Except of course the Chief Librarian of Mary Sue chapter, Tigurius. I mean, it wouldn't be fair if something was impossible for the Ultramarines.
* In ''[[Dark Heresy]]'', using any telepathy power on any character who has more [[Sanity Meter|insanity points]] or [[Karma Meter|corruption points]] than yourself may lead to 'spillage' and having the telepath gaining a few of their own. Playing a telepath quickly leads to the character either becoming the craziest, most corrupt member of the team, or learning to only use them on people you already know to be pure.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[Martian Manhunter]] goes through this from time to time; his ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' incarnation almost left the team because he was so depressed at hearing the selfishness of human and [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|wondered why he should even help them]]. He regained his faith in humanity, though, [[Rousseau Was Right|when he stumbled upon a search party looking for a little girl in the woods]] and "heard" all the thoughts concerned purely with helping a lost little kid.
* Variant: In ''[[The Fairly
** Specifically, he's abusing his power and doesn't care about the consequences, but then his psycho fairy-obsessed teacher gets everyone to stand around him and think. He then has to find Cosmo to [[Reset Button|unwish]] his wish by [[It Makes Sense in Context|trying to use the ability specifically on various green things until he 'hears' elevator music]], because [[What an Idiot!|instead of thoughts to read all Cosmo has is]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|elevator music]]. He looks for just Cosmo and not Wanda because that causes him to be easier to find.
* In the fourth ''[[Futurama]]'' movie, Fry suddenly gains mind-reading abilities, and is soon overwhelmed by the random brain-chatter of everyone around him. After he figures out what's going on [[The Ditz|(and realizes he isn't invisible)]] a mind-reading hobo gives him a [[Epileptic Trees|tinfoil hat]] to block the brainwaves.
* In the ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' episode "Out of the Past", the heroes encounter an alien monster called a "Spirit Drinker" (well, [[Sealed Evil in A Can| that's what it's now-dead jailers called it]], anyway) which is either intangible or an [[Energy Being]] ([[Bizarre Alien Biology| hard to tell]] which). Jean tries to read its mind, but is hurt by mental backlash by its truly alien thought process. After this, it is assumed the thing is pretty much "mindless" and they stop trying to communicate with it.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Sour Grapes Tropes]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]
[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]
[[Category:Mind Manipulation Tropes]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read, A}}
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