karissa

first, some general terms, which i'll explain in more detail later:

Autism is a disorder resulting from abnormal brain development and characterized by a severe and pervasive deficit in social interaction and communication, as well as restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. in simple terms, it is a condition characterized by a predominantly withdrawn inner life, active withdrawal from the outside world, and poor emotional expression.

Alexithymia is a psychological disorder characterized by difficulty identifying, understanding, and verbally describing one's own emotions and feelings, as well as interpreting the emotional states of others. in simple terms, it means "no words for feelings."

autism isn't an acquired disorder, but we don't really know how ghosts are "born", so even the fact that it's congenital, in my opinion, doesn't hurt. alexithymia isn't a disease or a diagnosis, but rather a nervous system disorder or personality trait. i won't delve into the medical part any further.

Autism

• lack of social interactions; • impaired mutual communication; • limited interests and repetitive behavioral patterns.

other aspects, such as food selectivity, are also common in autism but are not significant in diagnosis

let's go over three points

• lack of social interactions

Napstablook generally differs from their cousins ​​(Mettaton, Mad Mew Mew) in that they're not particularly sociable. during their very first encounter, the ghost attempts to ignore the human, feigning sleep. also, in a call to Undyne, she mentions that Napstablook refused to fight her, despite being incorporeal. in their final call to Mettaton, they conclude by adding that they "didn't want to talk for so long" and hang up. based on these characteristics, and the fact that nothing is mentioned about interacting with Mad Dummy/Mad Mew Mew or Shyren during the events of the main game, it can be concluded that Napstablook genuinely doesn't interact much with anyone.

• impaired mutual communication

also, as noted in the previous point, Napstablook rarely interacts with anyone. therefore, mutual communication (the process of constant communication, exchange of information, and so on) will be disrupted, if not completely absent.

• limited interests and repetitive behavioral patterns

throughout the game, Napstablook's behavior and interests were shown to be very narrow: relaxing in the Ruins, lying on the floor after dinner, caring for snails, making music, watching MTT… even before Mettaton left for fame, they spent a lot of time together watching television. speaking of TV, if you visit Napstablook's house after opening the barrier or choose not to lie on the floor, a description of the television will appear stating that the only button that is in perfect condition is the channel changer. this implies that Napstablook only ever watches MTT. this devotion to activities that all their relatives abandoned demonstrates the ghost's limited interests and repetitive behavior.

the following descriptions also apply to this point:

individuals with autism exhibit a variety of repetitive or restricted behaviors, which are categorized:

• compulsive behavior is the deliberate adherence to certain rules, such as arranging objects in a certain way (a cobweb in the corner of the room, old electronics). • the need for uniformity, resistance to change; for example, resistance to moving furniture, refusal to be distracted by others' interference (a reluctance to be material, pretending to be asleep). • ritualistic behavior is performing everyday activities in the same order and at the same time, such as following a fixed diet or dressing ritual (resting in the Ruins, lying down after a snack, caring for snails). • restricted behavior is narrowly focused, in which a person's interest or activity is directed, for example, toward a single TV program or toy (music, MTT show, caring for snails).

a person with autism is unable to fully engage in social interaction and often lacks the intuitive ability to sense another person's state of mind that typically occurs in others. …children are less likely to demonstrate the ability to understand social situations, are less likely to spontaneously approach others, respond to their emotional displays, or imitate their behavior, engage in nonverbal communication, or take turns with others. at the same time, they become attached to those who directly care for them.

this point also falls under the following category

Alexithymia

• difficulty identifying and describing (verbalizing) one's own emotions and the emotions of others; • difficulty distinguishing between emotions and bodily sensations; • decreased ability to symbolize, particularly fantasy; • focusing primarily on external events, to the detriment of internal experiences; • a tendency toward concrete, utilitarian, logical thinking with a deficit in emotional reactions.

alexithymia occurs in a significant proportion (up to 85%) of people with autism spectrum disorder. all of these characteristics may be present to equal degrees, or one may predominate.

during the true pacifist route, it is Napstablook who interrupts a battle between a human and Mad Dummy, forcing the latter to flee. upon arriving on the battlefield, Napstablook apologizes, thinking they interrupted their conversation. Mad Dummy, before being hit by acid rain, was laughing and shouting that they and the human would fight forever — certainly loud enough to indicate the situation they were in, but Napstablook still doesn't understand it.

on the same true pacifist route, after opening the barrier, you can wander the world and talk to all the monsters you've encountered so far. if you approach Napstablook, they'll tell you that during the battle with Asriel, seeing the white light, they did nothing and simply closed the curtains, preferring to remain in their house. any normal monster would have panicked, but the ghost clearly didn't know how to react in such a situation, so they decided to run away from the problem.

after defeating Mettaton, Napstablook is the first to call the show; they're in front of the television at the time, so they can clearly see the emotions on their cousin's face. it's clear from the robot that he's feeling guilt, sadness, and regret, and before Napstablook can hang up, he says, "WAIT, BLOO-." despite this behavior, Napstablook still hangs up, likely thinking that Mettaton doesn't want to hear from them or that they're wasting too much of his time. this further proves that they don't understand the emotions of others and doesn't know how to respond accordingly.

• Napstablook (ALMOST) doesn't use capital letters or question/exclamation marks, even for names. • the only words capitalized in the dialog box were "REAL" (oh, i'm REAL funny) and "RUINS" (i usually come to the RUINS because there’s nobody around…). • Besides Dapperblook, Blooky wore two more hats: a cap in Temmie Chang's 5th anniversary art and winter earmuffs in the winter 2022 newsletter comic. • Napstablook's sprite in the overworld is crooked— one side of their head has more pixels than the other. with headphones, however, everything is symmetrical, as you can see in the comparison on the sprite layout.

• the only time Napstablook had a dialogue sprite was in the winter dialogues for the 5th anniversary. • besides ghost sandwiches, there are other ghost foods, such as ghost juice. • if a sentence does not end with three (or more) periods, Blooky doesn't put any sign at the end. example: oh, i’m rambling again (there's no period at the end) • Napstablook can't eat normal monster food, but they can sense the heat it gives off. • according to a newspaper clipping from Deltarune police station, ghosts are visible in the photographs. • one of the "ingredients" for Napstablook's creation was a guy from Toby Fox's college, who made music on CDs. according to Toby, he had a shirt that said "i'm the guy that sucks and i have depression." • during the 10th anniversary stream at Napstablook's house, a fourth CD was added, titled "Mettaton Voice Drama CD." if you turn it on, Mettaton's "oh yes" will play at varying speeds and pitches. • Napstablook (over the entire game) used about 792 dots.