Slopās BLOPS Mental Health Headcanons
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I wish I had a better title for this but this is straight to the point I guess hohoho. Not going over every character here but Iām going to do a good handful with some short character analysis to justify these lol. I hope to discuss these in more length in the future and after I replay BO6 I might do another one of these!
*Note: Pretty much every character in Call of Duty history would be more than likely diagnosed with PTSD, which is why I wonāt be bringing it up here. Also this is allā¦ strictly headcanonā¦ and Iām not really trying to say that the intention of the writers were for them to have these disorders or that theyāre coded in that way. Itās just my brain thoughts that Iām sharing for fun!
Iāve seen it suggested a few times that Adler might be a narcissist. Iām pretty fond of this hc, but Iāve always interpreted him as having ASPD instead. The two ARE frequently comorbid, but I think Adler distinctly lacks the fragile sense of self associated with NPD. But maybe im just not Adlerpilled enough yet
We have no information about Adlerās youth, and we never get to see him in environments in which his Job isnāt focal. Therein everything I say here is TOTALLY anecdotal since ASPD is widely accepted to only be diagnosable if a person shows traits in their youth.
That being said, I can so vividly imagine Adler being boxed in as a ādelinquentā in his youth. Conduct Disorder wasnāt a recognized thing ātill Adler was already a grown man, but if it HAD been, heād definitely have that on his papers. My vision is that he had a major mean streak, and got sent off to a boarding school or some sort of corrective facility. And I think after that point he wouldāve learned āmaskingā behaviorsā he wouldnāt have stopped having criminal or violent urges, or cease any patterns of manipulative behaviors, but heād have learned what people did or did not consider socially acceptable and go from there. I donāt think heād ever be formally diagnosed ever both because of his ability to lie and also largely because I donāt think it would be so easy to recognize his behavior as āpsychopathicā back in the day, what with him being charming and levelheaded.
See: the whole Bell situation. Everything about that was totally screwed up, we all agree. And, donāt get me wrong, I really do like the interpretation that Adler felt some emotional connection, and ultimately much regret, in regards to Bell. I really do like this!! But what I saw from this was Adler portraying a peculiar lack of empathy. Heās a CIA agent: itās to be expected that he does some nasty things. We see people in COD do nasty things out of ānecessityā all the time. In this way, Adler isnāt an outlier. But I think itās not just his lack of concern towards Bell that makes his lack of empathy odd, but his disconcern for allll of his peers throughout the entirety of Cold War.
His entire relationship w Sims is one of my key points for that ^. They were in Vietnam together. Sims seems to care for Adler. But Adler is callous and frankly just not very nice to Sims š. He genuinely doesnāt seem to understand Simsās concerns or his discomfort and isnāt interested in understanding in the first place. Adler allowing Mason to exist in the same space as Bell also just comes off as so disconnected lol.
Disclaimer that this isnāt a āpeople with ASPD are evilā post or a āRussell Adler is evil postā. Adler is a flawed individual but he is not evil !! And im not saying he has ASPD because I think people with ASPD are evil !! I will do anything to have have this misinterpretedā¦
Frank Woods reads so badly as Bipolar to me Iām sorry I canāt help it. Specifically BD-I although post Panama I believe his disorder wouldāve translated into BD-NOS (his depressive episodes would conflate in severity while his mania episodes would be fewer and far between but significantly more severe with distinct psychotic symptoms). Iām also a Woods BED believer but I have zero proof for that youāve just gotta believe me.
Woods was homeless throughout basically the entirety of his youth as far weāre aware, being a runaway. BD is observed FREQUENTLY in homeless individuals due to the reckless behaviors influenced by this disorder. Woodsās situation is a bit different as, we know explicitly that he left home to escape an abusive environment, not that he was kicked out of housing or anything like that. But it feels important to note, as the instability and vulnerability of homelessness is noted to severely exasperate symptoms . Mental disorders can sprout up in people as a cause OF becoming unhomed and I think this + the abuse + expected genetic vulnerability would be what sprouted it in Woods. His own dada mightāve had it but I canāt project too much lest we be here all day
Itās hard to fully say with things like these because, again, we donāt see him outside of the Job environment very oftenā and given how high stress his career is, his behaviors can look exaggerated. But I meanā¦ come on
The whole thing with Josefinaā¦ Iāve seen it theorized that he was high on crack during that scene but tbh for the longest time itās read as manic to me and I canāt get it out of my head. He almost kills EVERYONE because of his urgency to get rid of Menendez and he ended up offing a defenseless disabled woman as a result of him just being so deeply unable to get out of his own head. Old Man Woods freaking out over the prisoner swap, as much as that is PTSD, his freak out and specifically his anger towards Hudson reminds me pretty distinctly of the way a person with Bipolar might approach their personal traumas. Anger and grudge!!
Also the binge eating hc comes from his time in the crate. Idk. I feel like after being left without food for so long it would only be natural for him to develop. Biological rebound that never quite went away because now heās always a bit scared (subconsciously) that he might have to go without food. And maybe thatās why heās so damn beefy in Cold Warā¦
Mason has some of the most to work with in canon by far, but I also think heās really quite difficult in some areas to get a handle on because of his brainwashing. Like namely, Mason shares a lot of traits with Borderline individuals, but I definitely donāt think that he *is* borderline, since these behaviors were crafted via his Vorkuta and he more than likely didnāt behave that way beforehand. In canon, one formal diagnosis given to Mason that we get to read about is Dissociative Identity Disorder (Mason actually avoids the āevil alterā stereotype with his Reznov identity. Shic), however, I think the more accurate diagnosis for him ought to have been OSDD, which I believe would exist in comorbidity with Major Depressive Disorder and EDNOS.
Dissociative Identity Disorder, as we understand it today, can only be developed during a personās youth, when the situation they find themselves living in his unlivable, before the person already has any real established identity (thus the formation of several different identities). If we wanna say that Mason has DID his whole life and it just became more obvious post Vorkuta, then that is an awesome headcanon and I love it. But from our understanding and the analysis done by Masonās psychiatrist, Masonās dissociative symptoms only began post Vorkuta.
Mason absolutely definitely has a dissociative disorder though !! He was written that way and there are a lot of scenes in BLOPS 1 in which it seems like heās being depicting dissociating (also in Cold War he just seems. Gone.). Thus my perception of Mason having OSDD via Identity Disturbance due to Prolonged and Intensive Coercive Persuasion. OSDD is actually viewed in a lot of brainwashing (primarily cult) victims because of this andā¦YEAHH we know what happened to Mr. Mason. The subtypes of OSDD arenāt really used in actual medical situations but this is referred to sometimes as OSDD-2.
If youāre wondering: no I donāt think Mason would be a āsystemā, at least not what the current viewpoint of a system is on the internet rn, but he does technically have at least one distinct āidentityā and thus is pluralā¦
My EDNOS headcanon comes from his time in captivity much like Woods. A lot of the food they were giving people up in Vorkuta was notā¦ particularly edible. There would also be times where they just wouldnāt be fed which was probably especially true for Mason. I think heād have a level of contamination anxiety surrounding food and sometimes just feel anxious about eating if that makes any sense?? This usually falls under a symptom of contamination OCD but I donāt think heād have that anxiety about anything else other than food.
The Major Depressive Disorder was based off of. Well. Read his emails to his therapists.
I have a lot of ideas about David Mason. Tapping my chin. Iāll probably go more into detail abt this later but we see and know more about his childhood more than most any other character itās a lot easier to establish bits and pieces about his psychology. I think right now my biggest headcanons are that he suffers from Quiet BPD (not really how it traditionally presents in men ), comorbid with MDD (just like his dada). Iām also going to specify on his PTSD here just because I think itās especially important with him: I think he wouldāve received a diagnosis at a very young age after everything that happened in Panama, and I think sorcificallyyy heād be dealing with C-PTSD.
On the BPD I think itās really really important to look at the overall instability of Davidās youth. His mother passed when he was incredibly young, and his father opted to āgo to the armyā instead of provide for David during this time of uncertainty and grief. Itās assumed Jenny Hudson was taking care of David full time at this point, and eventually Alex returned and took him away from her, pedaling him back to Alaska. And Alexxxxā¦well. Yeah. Wasnāt exactly providing the best child care in the world. Then, of course, traumatic event in Panama, and I imagine there was probably some weird custody stuff going on after he was orphaned. This is like, key environment and history for BPD to develop in a person. I imagine heād also have the genetic predisposition thatās believed to be present in most Borderlines.
David just seems to internalize a lot of things and have a lot of self anger to me. He also seems to struggle with his impulsesā definitely not to the same level as Woods, but more like how things were with his biological father, with him being willing to take some extreme risks not present in other individuals, even with the circumstances of his Job. I think he also sort of struggles with his attachment to others
Major Depressive Disorder is frequently comorbid with BPD AND C-PTSD, so it just makes sense to me. Also genetic vulnerabilities making a return. David is tired.
I donāt have much to say about this one but Iām a Hudson OCPD believer. Obsessive Compulsive PERSONALITY DISORDER !! The distinction is important I swear. I like the idea of Adler and Hudson both having personality disorders, just from different clusters, itās a bit funny to me I think.
I think out of all the Black Ops characters Hudson tends to be the most self aware. I think he understands his own psychology to a degree and tries to keep himself in check when he can. But of course he is still very much a flawed individual with issues very many issues
What first introduced this idea to my head was the break up letter he receives from an ex partner in BO1. She really heavily laments the way he prioritizes his work and speaks very strongly on his rigidness and how she doesnāt feel as if sheāll ever be his first choice. Being a workaholic doesnāt automatically mean you have a personality disorder, obviously, but I think Hudsonās dedication, his initial lack of comprising, and his need for control over certain situations is at least somewhat telling.
Through his relationship will Jenny, it can be inferred that he worked on some of the behaviors complained about by his mystery woman, but he still appears to be working just as much up until heās killed in Panama, arguably due to his own prexisting fixations. So. Keeping it in patterns.
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Also two things Inhave no evidence forā¦(yet)ā¦I like audhd Weaver and NPD Park. Ok? Ok. IM SORRY ILL STOP YAPPING NOW I WROTE MORE THAN I THOUGHT I WOULD
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