>after some really dark shit PC ends up with recurring nightmares

>>53059234
>"It feels real enough-- and calling me broken doesn't help. The attempt's appreciated, but I think a beer or two before sleeping and maybe someone to hold is good enough."

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>>53059234
Eh, I found that pretty encouraging.

>>53059234
>Also I like broken things that people care enough to painstakingly fix! :3"
I guess momma doesn't want to see them until they man the fuck up.

>>53059234
The problem is that consueling never actually helps. If anything, it tends to make the problem worse.

There was an article in national geographic where these humanitarian workers were brought in to council some victims of an african genocide, the natives basically told them to get lost cause they were bringing them down.

>>53059910
Counseling has an abysmal track record. Reporting is skewed because of magical thinking, i.e. "If I think positively then positive things will happen"

The idea that if I think counseling is helping, then it is, is what drives the mental health industry. Its basically just a pharmacology playground where 90% of the shit is a placebo and 10% is just a weaker form of narcotic.

>>53059234
>"Oh, you can learn from weakness. And they're just nightmares, they aren't real! Also I like broken things that people care enough to painstakingly fix! :3"

You have no idea how annoying that shit is when you are in recovery.

>>53059942
>>53059910
As someone recently having been professionally diagnosed with clinical depression, can confirm. I cannot put to words how annoying it was to have the psychiatrist to talk in circles and ignore everything I said just because he had a piece of paper that claimed he knew what he was talking about despite not knowing anything about me.

Basiclly told them to fuck off and keep their meds after a few months and have been doing better off them than when I was.

>>53059956
Given op's end, I think he strongly suspects.

I'm friends with someone getting a graduate degree in psych, and while I'm sure she'd tell me her specialization doesn't cover this, and people are complicated, dynamic puzzles, the impression I've gotten is that psychologists don't fix people, people fix themselves. The 'fix' is to be supportive and understanding, and try and help them where they need it because it isn't easy.

>>53060966

Yes, its guidance. Change can only come from inside, breaking cycles of vice and downfall spirals. Help comes in the form of providing a stronghold to endure and guide to a good path.

Well, thats western approach, you also have tribal approaches which arguably work faster but require specific culture/belief/context... where the tribe gathers, forces the individual out of their comfort zone, attribute their problem on an external force (demon), perform a mass symbolic ritual where everyone is involved in removing the demon from the person and expelling it from the village, hold festivities where the person must participate, show support and move on.

>>53061142
Interesting. The latter bit sounds a lot like an intervention.

>>53061236
It sounds like the same tool for the same job, and different cultures happen to decorate it in sciency-jargon, beads, or feathers as they find appropriate.

So, question; does a player trying to rp out ptsd, actually tend to come across well? Or just hammy, disrespectful, or drama-queen-ish?

A-asking for a friend.

>>53059234

It's boundary violation on his part. Counseling is only for professional settings where both parties have agreed and consented to it.

He is being rude by doing this to you, and therefore it would be okay to be rude (at least a little bit back) to get him to stop.

But, if he doesn't know that it's a boundary for you, bring it up nicely the first time. Something like, "I appreciate what you were trying to do, but it didn't land, and I ask that you don't do something like that again."

>>53063611
> boundary violation
What, like the NAP? He's the GM playing an NPC in a fantasy setting with no APA guidelines.

>>53063666

It's a psychological boundary, and as such, retaliation/correction would only be justified in the psych-realm as opposed to the physical one, like if your neighbor's child-sex slaves had stepped on your property and so you throw a hatchet and it takes off the child's leg so that he can't step on your property again.

Do you like receiving unsolicited advice? Most people don't. This is what the GM was doing.

It's also funny how you mention the NAP, this universal principle, and then make an argument from authority in regards to psychological boundary violations.

>>53063718
See, the NPC was bent nosey, but she's literally the PC's mother so that's hardly unexpected. The PC was reluctantly confiding her issues in her mother, which was an implicit request for guidance or help.

The nap was mentioned because I didn't know what kind of border violation you're talking about, and wanted an amusing example.

Currently my plan is to put on a brave face for mother, then totally ignore her advice and keep on keeping on.

>>53064526
That's what I was wondering about the 'mothers' response. I don't know your GM, but it may be that he actually would agree that that was a poor attempt at counseling irl, but was simply playing the mother.

Lying about taking the 'advice' to heart seems to be a fairly believable response. If the GM says anything like "why are you still acting this way?" ooc then you'll even have clear proof that he thinks what he said should have been helpful.