Yang Xiao Long Has PTSD and its Amazing

actually putting a read more, cause spoilers

(Now im no EXPERT in mental illness but being a long time sufferer i know a few things from many doctor visits and a hospital stay after my last suicide attempt, so get ready to at least get something out of this)



Before i jump in and make my case I want you to know my credibility.

I suffer from Major Depression Disorder, Social Anxiety, paranoia and PTSD.

So the fact that Blank flat out gets called paranoid and Yang had an intense flashback piqued my interest a little.

I straight up watched the episode two more times before deciding that i am UTTERLY OVER JOYED.



Don’t get me wrong, I ADORE Yang to pieces (… not intended i swear) and though its saddening to see literal Sunshine Yang Xiao Long, the embodiment of Strength and wonderful female bad-assery be… well no longer that i have to applaud the shit outta RT for not making her accept her robo-arm and get her straight on the road to ass kicking.



To start us off officially let me break down PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for anyone who’s not too aware about the condition. PTSD is a disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, such as but not limited to: sexual assault,warfare,traffic collisions, near death experiences, or serious injury.

Let me step a little further and tell you that PTSD is a SERIOUS condition, its not all flashbacks and nightmares as one would think and then it goes away.

If its a minor case it can go away within months or a few years with therapy but With how recent Yang’s trauma was and seeing that she’s been home the entire time lets look at it from an even more medical stand point. I’ll make it as easy as possible.



So when you’re experience Trauma your brain goes into “oh shit i need more adrenaline to help me survive” mode and it tends to over-flood itself in hormones. The biggest victim to this is your Hippocampus (hypocampus? look here ive never won a spelling bee bare with me ) the part of your brain responsible for holding in your memories, storing the old and writing down the new… It also tells you that the past is the past and the present is the present, BUT after certain evens your brain gets holy-shit backwards confused and it Shrinks (yes your brain can deteriorate with mental illness, like a depressing raisin on a window sill). The lower your hippocampal volume the harder it is figure out if the thing that happened half a year ago happened just now.



A good example of this would be a Veteran (our most common sufferers) not being able to watch a movie about war, or watch a fire work show Their brain goes into “HOLY FUCK ITS HAPPENING” mode and throws them in for the shittiest panic attack ever.



getting bored yet, I hope not cause there’s ONE more part of the brain(well technically two but they’re partners in crime here) i want to talk about. That’s the prefrontal cortex(the center front side of your brain behind the actual front) and the amygdala (basically brain kidneys idfk).



What your prefrontal cortex does is it regulates your negative feelings like Fear or anger when they get “triggered” (its not just a fancy tumblr word i promise this is a thing that is real and they suck. think of a gun but instead of bullets its depression and anxiety).

Basically this also shrinks and Amygdala just rolls up like “hey, this is a thing! you should freak out now” like that shitty older kid in middle school that peer-pressured you to set a trashcan on fire.

Except this is your brain. So brain kindies tells your cortex to flip ship and throw you into an Anxiety attack when things that have nothing to do to your trauma happen… See what im getting at here?

No?

The thing that set Yang off was a glass breaking, now i dunno about you but i dont think slippery dishes have anything to do with getting your arm sliced off your body like soft butter. (well they’re harder to hold-)

This not only set her off, but it set her off badly to the point she nearly falls over in utter distress.

Judging by how short her panic attack was and how pissed she got about it after it happens means she’s been dealing with it since Adam first hurt her. Earlier she was able to watch a news story about him, focusing intently before her father came home.



so we got the after affects down, but mind you PTSD though common is a bit of a tricky bitch.



Lets get to some behavioral things. I’m going to talk about myself for a moment because i feel its appropriate. I was molested at a young age and when my abuser vanished, i was still terrified of him. Even though i was so afraid… I still was curious about him. “Did he stay in my city” “is he in prison for touching other kids” “did he transfer else where” “will he hurt me again”



Yang flips through the cable which for some reason only broadcasts News channels, that for some reason are talking about the aftermath the same event at the same time, you’d think there’d be at least an inspirational puppy story. I digress. She only stops and listens to the story about Adam.

I wont say she’s obsessed about it but, she’s clearly distressed hearing about him yet she doesn’t turn off the story until its pretty much over and her father comes home with a sweet ass robo arm from Iron wood.



Like some victims, yang is focused on her trauma, she literally glances at her nub plenty of times, I feel its hard to not remember how you lost your limb whenever you do.



she’s so occupied by the tragedy yet she turns down a solution to her problems.

When she’s shown her arm there might have been a moment she was happy, but she sits there, in a daze, almost confused unsure of what to do. I cant for sure say what she’s thinking but if its anything like your good-ol’ PTSD inflicted OP here, She’s unsure if she even deserves it.

if no that its definitely the fear of change.



For months now she’s been learning how to live with a single arm, learning how to do normal functions or chores. Its scary. She lost her arm in just a quick motion, and spent months getting accustomed to it being gone, and so suddenly she was brought a new one. An artificial piece of herself. She didn’t expect the gift, Especially not from ironwood who I’m positive sent it to her because of his guilt. (yea yang fought hard but it still was Ironwood’s brainwashed robo-army that caused mayhem too).



Sometimes Sufferers dont want a solution because they’ve felt so weak for being afflicted perhaps accepting help would be a bigger weakness.

So does yang have ptsd? Yes I’m sure she does



Was Adam the reason?

well duh… well he was the nail in the coffin.



how would you feel if i told you Yang’s shit storm started with Mercury Black?

“duh Eve, of course he kinda ruined her life, but its obvious adam is the reason”



Why yes, yes he is, But There’s a reason I’m reminding you.



pretend you’re Yang (awesome right?), You’ve trained most of your life in your fighting style, you’re surrounded by loving friends, a supportive team consisting of your cute sister, a rich girl who’s pretty cool, and a furry (no im kidding i love blake she’s perfect). Your uncle has come to visit for some unknown to you reason, but you’re pretty excited.

He tells you about his cool supportive team where your estranged mother you’re obsessed with was part of, and how she wont save your ass again.

Everything is still pretty okay.



But then at your one on one Match with hipster bayonetta your brain told you You were going to get hurt badly, so you shoot a kid in the kneecap potentially ruining his future as a huntsman, a dream many of your age have and hold dearly (you dont know he has fake legs).



There’s panic, people are calling you a cheating prick “he attacked me first! I saw him”



yang looks up at that playback that the entire stadium saw

Everyone is against her, she has Military fire readily aimed at her, This teenage girl is treated like a criminal in front of multiple schools. I dunno about you

but thats pretty damn stressful. By this time She’s already stressed out beyond what your typical teen should be.

to top it off Her own teamates and friends doubt her, even for a little bit

at her age Validation is super important, sure this is a fantasy anime and everyone has super abilities and dangerous fire power, but she’s still a kid.

Her heart is shattered already, even when her closest friends and sister tell her she’s trusted the damage is already done. It takes 5 times the positivety per every negative occurrence for someone to bounce back.

Its like sending get well soon cards, the sentiment helps in healing.



though she doesnt get that emotional break she needs, she didn’t get a chance to bounce back.



Soon after, Beacon went to shit. Everyone is being attacked by monsters, your team mates are no where to be seen until she found Blake, her close friend getting stabbed by her shitty fuckboy ex-boyfriend.

Adrenaline kicks in, she has to get to her, she has to punch a hole in his face. She has to look out for her friend and team mate, she’s already nearly lost their trust, she can’t lose any of them entirely.

Her brain is full on “fight” mode.

In a split second she loses her limb, not only is it her fucking limb and im sure getting your arm cut off kind of hurts like a lot, he primary fighting stile has been taken away and she’s left defenseless again.





“okay eve, she’s got PTSD we believe, you but why does it matter?”



She didn’t accept her arm immediately, she didn’t pull an edward elric and immediately decided to train her trauma away.

Rooster Teeth took this teenage girl who was seemingly perfect, and they broke her into a wounded fighter with mental damage, and they didn’t let her become an op refurbished power house.

.Rooster teeth is letting Yang recover at her own pace.

thats AMAZING to someone like me.

Suffering from nightmares, flashbacks and constant looking over my shoulder when someone i dont know is behind me for 10+ years.



The only ptsd rep we get are 60 something soldiers who are passed off as martyrs in films and tv, or phsyco-killers taking their traumas out on people.



RT gave us a teenage girl, someone who was seemingly the happiest character in the show in terms of deposition towards life, and have her suffer mentally in one of the most realistic and well displayed way i’ve ever seen in media.



Yang Xiao Long is Mentally and Physically disabled and I’m ecstatic.



i may talk about Blake’s paranoia and depression next time but its 3 AM and i need sleep.