It seems that these days we are a lot more aware of our mental health than ever before, but there is still a certain stigma that goes with mental health problems. And it seems that some of our beloved super heroes also suffer mentally as well as physically. So Doctor xerox-kitty has searched through the archives and has broken her hippocratic oath to present three examples of heroes in need of a little help.
Case 1: The Hulk
Dr Bruce Banner hasn't had it easy. Not only did he physically transform into a not-so-jolly green giant, but the metamorphosis unlocked something deeper down. Something more primeval. It wasn't long before Dr Banner was fighting for control of his body against a variety of hulking personalities. In other words, the Hulk is one of the most famous comic characters to suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
The majority of the general public are under the delusion that there are just the two personalities vying for control; Banner & the Hulk. One a mild-mannered scientific genius, the other a child-like super-strong monster with anger management issues. However, the Savage Hulk was not the only addition in Banner's mind. As well as the classic green Hulk, there was the Grey Hulk; a more mature-minded, logical & manipulative Hulk who identified himself as Joe Fixit. The grey-skinned Joe Fixit represented Banner's dark side; the years of anger & sexual repression combined with the Hulk's strength & Banner's intelligence.
After sessions with my medical colleague, Doctor Leonard Samson, Banner was forced to confront the heavy emotional baggage he'd been carrying around for years; the fact that his mother was killed at the hands of his father. Inside his mind's eye, the image of Banner's mother spoke to the three separate personalities & convinced them to 'merge'. The combination of compassion, strength & cunning created another personality, The Professor. The 'Merged' Hulk appeared to be the ideal Hulk, as he had the Savage Hulk's strength, Mr Fixit's lack of inhibitions & Banner's intelligence. Most men feel profess to feeling comfortable with their sexuality if they wear pink, but the Professor shot down the bad guys while wearing a Bruce Willis vest & pink fluffy bunny slippers.
However, there has never been a happy ending for the Hulk. As such, he went on to suffer from an increasing amount of multiple personalities. The Professor installed a mental fail-safe, that if the Savage Hulk ever tried to take dominance then the body would revert back into the form of Dr Bruce Banner, but with the savage angry mind of the Hulk. And therefore the Savage Banner was created. Previously there was a Mindless Hulk, where the body had been completely abandoned by all personalities after prolonged mental duress inflicted by Nightmare.
When it comes to the Hulk, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It is an essential background that most the general public is unaware of. It demonstrates that life has never been easy for either Banner of the variety of Hulks that lie within the deep recesses of his mind. He has gone on to be a world conquering power, yet the Hulk's greatest fight is always with himself. If he didn't have this internal torment, then would the Hulk have enjoyed many years of prolonged popularity?
Case 2: Penance
The originally light-hearted Masked Marvel, Speedball has been forced to endure so many stressed & traumas over the last few years. Previously he'd led an otherwise typical super-teenaged life. Like the Hulk, Robbie Baldwin was exposed to experimental energies when a scientific test raged out of control, but he lived in Springdale (CT) where masked heroes were outlawed & his father was the lead prosecuting District Attorney. None of that compared to the physical & mental anguish that followed on from the events at Stamford (CT) when the New Warriors charged at a group of drug-enhanced super villains as pat of their reality TV show. The events that kick-started the Civil War were broadcast to the nation. As the only apparent survivor, Baldwin was blamed for the deaths of 612 people and labelled 'American's Most Hated Man'.
His powers were the only thing that saved him during Nitro's explosion, but they had been exhausted. Therefore when he was imprisoned, his powers weren't there to protect him from the assaults in the prison yard. However, it soon became apparent that his powers were changing; instead of protecting him from external kinetic collision Baldwin discovered that he stored energy upon receiving flesh piecing cuts. He abandoned the name & appearance of Speedball in preference of the new Penance persona who wore a metallic armoured iron maiden that would fuel his power.
Inducted into the Thunderbolts programme, Baldwin was confused; flitting between coldly-logical & emotionally incoherent. He was able to memories all 612 names of those who died at Stamford, escape the ever-watching eyes of the government's agents, intimidate Doctor Doom into co-operation and exact his revenge upon Nitro. However, by the time his long-time fan-girl Squirrel Girl caught up with him Baldwin had mentally regressed to such a point that when confronted with logical & emotional pleas he could only respond by head-butting the brick wall. This sort of extreme frustration seemed extremely out of character for young Baldwin, yet headbutting has been recorded as a sign of frustration in human beings for many years, particularly among children & more innocent minds.
It seems that Baldwin suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, having been exposed to such a traumatic event at Stamford. He was then subsequently forced to re-experience by being labelled with the guilt of a nation and emotionally distanced himself from the logic & reasoning that Squirrel Girl provided. Even though Norman Osborn had used Penance as a weapon, Trauma was able to sneak some positive therapy into his sessions thus giving Baldwin some comfort during his Pet Therapy sessions (although Baldwin was unaware he was petting his own cat Niels). This helped to spur his rebellion against Osborn & eventually return to the Speedball identity. However he still 'cuts' himself in private, which was revealed as a method to keep his secondary powers as opposed to 'self-harming'. Clearly, Baldwin hasn't slipped back into his old carefree frame of mind and sometimes over-reacts when teaching the Avengers Academy students. However, it seems that he has made progression and is slowly recovering from the accumulated traumatic experiences of the last few years.
Case 3: Legion
Just as the gammar explosion has done with Dr Banner's mind, David Haller's traumatic experience was the trigger that began to splinter his mind & his powers. It is no great surprise that the son of the powerful telepath Charles Xavier would have even greater powers. Long before he had ever met his father, young David Haller was living in Paris as the son of an ambassador. His mutant powers kicked in on the day they came under attack from Arabian terrorists. The leader of the terrorist group Jemail Karami was killed & his consciousness was accidentally absorbed into David Haller's mind. Jemail Karami was once a living person, but the other two personalities inside Haller's mind were pure constructs from his own mind. Each with individual control over a different aspect of Haller's mutant powers; Jemail was telepathic, the rogue cowboy Jack Wayne was telekinetic while the punk girl Cyndi was 'pyrotic' (pyrokinetic). The only powerless personality was David himself. As the Legion of different personalities fought & grew, it became impossible for Haller to be cared by normal carers. Instead he was taken to Muir Island where Dr Moira MacTaggert became a surrogate mother for him. While there, he came into contact with the New Mutants and later became a pawn of the Shadow King. Left in a coma for many months, Haller's mind was healed when he awoke. In a frenzied desire to help his father's dream of co-existence, David Haller accidentally caused the Age of Apocalypse.
In order to save reality, David Haller was killed in Egypt. However, it was not the last of the different personalities who had been residing inside his mind. They managed to escape the physical restraints of Legion's mind and ran amok in Egypt where Excalibur encountered them. It seems that even though he believed his mind was finally consolidated, they had lay dormant and took the first opportunity to escape.
Having come back from the dead, the situation inside Legion's mind has worsened. Not only did he accidentally absorb the life & consciousness of little Marci Sabol, but the number of residents inside his mind has increased from three to over a thousand. The population inside Legion each managed to take control over his body whenever they took possession of a doll called 'Moira'. While fighting for their lives inside Legion's mind, Magik & Karma used the Soulsword to kill Jack Wayne & other malicious personalties. Since his incarceration on Utopia, Legion has been kept unconscious and has been wheeled out occasionally to fight off villains so powerful that even the combined forces of the X-Men were powerless against.
Unlike Hulk & Speedball, Legion hasn't had any therapy sessions with experts like Doc Samson or Trauma. There hasn't been any attempt to care for David Haller. Instead, as he has forcibly undergone a combined psychic & scientific process to cull the excess of personalities by Stepford Cuckoos & Doctor Nemesis. Professor X has expressed concerns over the severe 'care' for his son. At this point it is unclear how it will happen, but Legion has been lined up in Rogue's future team of X-Men. Whether he'll be in full control of his faculties remains to be seen. However, as he is named after the Biblical man who was possessed by many demons, it seems unlikely that any methods of treatment will be successful any time soon.
Overview
What strikes me most is that mainstream comic books try to use real world problems, but often twist them beyond belief. Speedball's transformation into Penance seemed out of character, but when a human being is forced to endure those kind of stresses then it is understandable how someone light-hearted could suffer depression & post traumatic stress. Meanwhile, both the Hulk & Legion are extreme examples of how a genuine problem (Dissociative Identity Disorder) is used as an excuse to house different powers. The term 'Women In Refrigerators' was coined because of the way that female characters are used & abused to further the development of a male character. Somehow it seems that mental health problems are used as a way to further develop the character who is suffering, yet they rarely receive the kind of specialised treatment necessary for someone in their predicament. Ultimately, I can't help but wonder if anyone feels that they learn or understand mental health problems because of these characters?
Obviously, I'm not a real doctor. But if anyone wants to know more about real mental health issues, then there are places like Rethink who are there to help break down the misconceptions about mental health problems.
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