Reluctant Psycho: Difference between revisions

[[The Mad Hatter]] doesn't suffer from insanity, they "enjoy every minute of it". If only the [['''Reluctant Psycho]]''' was so well-off. They may or may not understand the details, but they are well aware that ''something'' is wrong with their own psychology and are [[Heroic Willpower|fighting it to the best of their ability]], possibly with the help of medication. Success will vary; perhaps they ''do'' manage to present a normal façade but are fighting a constant inner battle to maintain it, or maybe they've found an outlet to channel their issues productively, or, in the most tragic cases, they are constantly fighting a losing battle and may only realise they've given in again once it's too late. Whatever the details, they both ''know that they are mentally unwell'', and ''desire to cancel or curtail the effects of their illness''.

Contrast [[The Mad Hatter]], which is about the cartoonish kind of insanity, and [[Fighting From the Inside]], in which they are not only trying to keep control but to take it back from [[Demonic Possession|someone else]]. Compare [[Evil Me Scares Me]].

{{examples|Examples:}}

* ''[[Soul Eater (Manga)|Soul Eater]]'' has Dr. Franken Stein who, while pretty unnerving in his own right, spend much of the first season fighting the Madness inside him.

{{quote| '''Riddler''': "You don't understand. .. I really didn't want to leave you any clues. I really planned never to go back to Arkham Asylum. But I left you a clue anyway. So I... I have to go back there. Because I might need help. I... I might actually be crazy."}}

* [[Batman (Franchise)|Batman]] himself, and other members of the Bat family, are sometimes implied to worry about their own mental health. In an issue of ''Robin'', the titular boy wonder says he's afraid Batman might be going crazy. His girlfriend, also a masked vigilante, just laughs and says, "Well, look at us."

* In the ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' [[Alternate Universe Fic|AU]] ''[[Point of Succession (Fanfic)|Point of Succession]]'' Light is implied to be one. [[Mind Rape|While talking]] [[Critical Psychoanalysis Failure|with Beyond]] [[Break the Cutie|he seems to realize that there might be something fundamentally flawed with his own psychology]]:

{{quote| '''Light:''' You knew this was a temporary arrangement. It's not like we could talk forever.<br />

'''Beyond:''' [[Hannibal Lecture|I think we could.]] [[Flaw Exploitation|And never get bored.]] You aren't a boring individual {{spoiler|[[Terms of Endangerment|Sweetie Jam]]}}, [[Stepford Smiler|despite what you try so hard to show the world.]] And me, [[Ax Crazy|I know I'm not boring.]]<br />

'''Light:''' Don't be too sure [[Foe Yay|hun]], [[Bored Withwith Insanity|the killing people thing gets old real fast.]]<br />

'''Beyond:''' How would you know?<br />

* Light in ''[[Ragnarok (Fanficfanfic)|Ragnarok]]'' a ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' [[Alternate Universe Fic|AU]] where his father caught onto Light's growing mental problems early enough to retrain him out of his [[Black and White Insanity]] [[Grey and Gray Morality|to follow a different moral code.]] He constantly struggles with this, often catching himself thinking of the criminals he pursues as a detective as "Evil" and has to constantly remind himself [[Grey and Gray Morality|"Shades of gray, Light. The world exists in shades of gray."]]

{{quote| '''Dr. Oatman:''' You didn't tell me [[Career Killers|what you did for a living]] for ''four'' sessions. ''Then'' you told me. And I said, "I don't want to work with you any more." And yet, you come back each week at the same time. That's a difficulty for me. On top of that, if you've committed a crime or you're thinking about committing a crime, I have to tell the authorities.<br />

* John Wayne Cleaver [[I Am Not a Serial Killer|is not a serial killer]], but he is acutely aware of how likely he is to become one. He's not technically a sociopath, but only because [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Conduct_disorder:Conduct disorder|until he turns 18 the relevant diagnosis is Conduct Disorder]]. He has [[Heroic Willpower|a strict list of rules to adhere to to keep himself functional]], barely managing to pass himself off as normal most of the time... [[Urban Fantasy|and then events conspire to give him every good reason]] to [[It Got Worse|start breaking his rules to protect himself and his family]].

* Patrick Bateman in ''[[American Psycho (Literature)|American Psycho]]'' fantasises about killing people and often takes drugs to suppress his urges. However he gets worse, and finds himself killing people regularly just for the thrill of it. He mentions this to other people as a cry for help, but they don't even notice it. Because of this, it can be interpreted that nobody seems to mind (after all, he's part of a rich class who could buy themselves out of prison), that no one is actually listening to anything he says (it is a parody of the 80s yuppie culture) or that he's totally deluded and that he never killed anyone nor mentioned it to anyone.

* [[Dexter]] is an excellent example of the [[Reluctant Psycho]] who uses a productive or at least acceptable outlet to relieve his issues - through vigilante justice, in his case.

* [[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]] is typically perfectly willing to embrace his [[Sociopathic Hero|sociopathic tendencies]], but occasionally shows hints of inner turmoil over whether they are actually more of a strength or a weakness. (John is helping him deal with the aspects that cause him problems; Mycroft is not nearly so conflicted.)

{{quote| '''Sherlock:''' Look at them. They all ''care'' so much. Do you ever wonder if there's something wrong with us?<br />

** In ''The Reichenbach Fall'', {{spoiler|he consciously becomes a full [[Reluctant Psycho]] after the police department's perception of him, heavy on the 'psycho' and light on the 'reluctant', [[It Got Worse|goes wrong in the worst possible way]].}}

* ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'': [[The Ophelia|River Tam]] early on appears to be simply insane, but as the series progresses it becomes clearer and clearer that she can understand what's happening and recognizes how very screwed up she's become. [[Joss Whedon (Creator)|Whedon]] pulls no punches in showing just how much this hurts her.

* In the ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Friends Like These" the unsub was said to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and insomnia. Once his medications stopped working his hallucinations taunted him into murder since the only way he could sleep was after the adrenaline rush from the kills. Throughout the episode he was begging "his friends" to just go away because he didn't want to kill and just wanted to sleep.

* ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'' - there was an episode called "The Core Of It" where the main suspect/witness was a young woman suffering from Dissociative Personality Disorder. When they got around to talking to the original personality she was a wreak because she had no control over the other personalities - a law student and a prostitute. She is trying to fight it - just failing.

* Through the entire first season of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' this was the struggle for Nikki Sanders.

* A sort of odd example in Druitt from ''[[Sanctuary (TV)|Sanctuary]]''. He's an abnormal whose power is to teleport, but each time he teleports he becomes susceptible to an energy being who eventually takes up residence in him. This drives him to becoming [[Jack the Ripper]], but once he's not a villain in the series he's struggling to make sure he doesn't go mad again and even takes medication to make sure. It's ''not a possession'' - the presence of the being ''just'' makes him mentally unbalanced in the form of bloodlust and rage, not actually forces him to do anything.

* [[Three Days Grace (Music)|Three Days Grace]] has the song ''Animal I Have Become'', from the [[Reluctant Psycho]]'s perspective.

* Similarly, [[Skillet (Music)|Skillet]]'s ''Monster''.

* ''[[American McGee's Alice (Video Game)|American McGee's Alice]]'', especially in ''Madness Returns'', when she's consciously aware that she's been in an insane asylum.

* ''[[A Miracle of Science (Webcomic)|A Miracle of Science]]'' - A known issue for those recovering from [[Science -Related Memetic Disorder]].

{{quote| '''Djaya Sumatera:''' When you're a recovering mad scientist, you're always afraid you'll lose control and wake up some morning with a half-built time machine in the living room and a plan to go back in time to pants Hitler.}}

* Jack Delitt from ''[[Newheimburg (Webcomic)|Newheimburg]]'' has a major problem controlling his paranoia.

* [[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Vriska Serket]], to oversimplify grossly, cycles between 'I know exactly what I'm doing, and anyone who [[Verbal Tic|8urns themselves on all the irons I've got in the fire]] totally deserved it 8ecause I'm JUST TH8 AWESOME!!!!!!!!' and 'I'm a horri8le person, what the hell is wrong with me, why doesn't everyone h8 me????????' which then tends to lead back into the former by way of 'You SHOULD h8 me! I'll MAKE SURE that you h8 me!'. She starts out in a fairly low-key phase two, but the phases intensify and she spends increasingly more time in the first category as the series progresses, since SGRUB is basically tailored to feeding her megalomania.

* [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]]. He regrets his psychotic episodes, doesn't want them to happen, and tries to tell people that he's down to earth and logical instead.