So, as an adjunct instructor in Psychology, and a PhD. student in the sociology of mental health, I absolutely love the topic of mental well-being and psychology. That said, I would love to see some more items on site that address psychology and mental well-being (especially for some TC items).

Now, cliché mental institution items () are okay. I mean, I wouldn’t mind a few referencing how bad the institutions were, just for TC items, but that isn’t really what I am talking about here.

These items aren’t about making fun of people, or even about labeling them as disordered or different. I would like these items to be more about awareness (maybe the descriptions of the books even give tips or list symptoms so people can know to seek help). I also suggest these items because I know people, myself included, have pets where items like this would fit their TC. These items would work well in either Quest Shop (Library for Books), Book Nook, Music Shop (which could use some love) or preferably Medicontra.

Feel free to suggest other things. I feel like I had more ideas, and just can’t think of them at the moment.

I do like this idea. Pamphlets could be pretty awesome ! A couple of Nori/Mori books are arguably in this territory (Dissociative identity disorder):

And don't other NPC's suffer from stuff ? Shinwa is pretty depressed. Connor seems to have social anxiety.

Edit: Another meditating minion:

I support more items like this, as I do relate to these suffering from various things myself. I don't know though, I would rather see pamphlets than pills, as medications can be iffy and overprescribed.

I'd love to see more of this stuff. I don't really have any meaningful suggestions despite having a hilarious six DSM diagnoses, but. I approve.

(But unlike everybody else seems to, I say "heck yes, tons of meds" because ain't no therapy, meditation, or exercise ever helped me like pills have. Medication's the greatest.)

medication works wonders when prescribed responsibly, but I don't feel like it belongs on subeta. I have been prescribed things that only made things worse and I think having items based on pills is a bit flippant.

I'm not anti-medication because I'm looking to get on some myself, however I do feel like adding medication for more uncommon disorders is going to get difficult. You can broadly say 'anti-anxiety pills' or other stress relieving pills but you can't just say 'anti-bipolar pills'. Speaking as someone who's had difficulty getting the right medication, you often have to mix and match things that are made for a number of reasons. I would hate to see a one-in-all being made to treat something very complex, like bipolar disorder, because I've been medication hopping for over a year now because just one medication won't do it and now I'm having to see a specialist. There is no such thing as anti-bipolar medication because it just doesn't work that way and while I have no personal experience, I'm assuming there are many others that aren't all in ones either. That said, I wouldn't mind generic names of things such as lithium vs. Lithobid if somebody feels so inclined to collect medications for a certain thing. I just wanted to voice caution against using the type of disorder to describe the medication, you know?

I'm all for more mental health things as long as it's treated carefully because stigma is a bitch and I personally don't need more of that in my life. Also food for thought: positive stuff for mental health is great but if this is done I'd rather it be very careful not to gloss over the negatives of irregular mental health (aka romanticizing it). Having a disorder is not cute and fun and reading a book can't always cure it. Sometimes just getting yourself to read the damn book is a struggle lol.

I see where you're coming from, but there's also a lot of "all medication is bad!!!111!!" scaremongering out in the world and I'd like to see it treated as normal. Like I felt really guilty and generally terrible for a long time about literally needing to be on medication when some people with similar conditions can manage with other treatments instead, and it took a while to get to a good place with it. And I'm still a little touchy about anything that even vaguely implies that pills = bad.

IDK. I guess it's sort of a tricky subject to deal with considering everyone's varying experiences with it.

I'm not saying all medications are bad, but I don't want medications to be on the site and treated so cavalierly. You shouldn't be on subeta and be depressed, see an item called anti-depression pills and think oh I need those! you should go see your doctor and see what is right for you, it's very possible that therapy or non-medicated options will work just as good if not better, especially for the younger people on the site. I'd also hate to see them on the site and being categorized as edible, so I'm hoping if they do make it on the site, they aren't listed as foods. That implies anyone can and should take them, which isn't the case. it is a tricky subject to deal with and I think it's best left off of subeta. there are plenty of good ideas related to mental health that don't include medication.

Thank you for the reminder on those items! I had them on my WL for one pet, and forgot I really needed them for multiples! lol But yeah, I feel like we have a few NPCs with disorders, and maybe having books that mention their stories would also work. Or even have them offering up items. Like, Connor's "Social Anxiety Mirror" where he practices conversations before he meets people. Or Shinwa's "special makeup" that helps her feel better when she is feeling especially blue (since her depression was suggested to be linked to her appearance, though it sounds more like self-esteem issues then). Maybe some NPCs could even have a "Mental Health Awareness Week" where each releases a new item, like how we had the Amy tribute items weeks. Just trying to think of some interesting ways to show that lots of people live with these kinds of illnesses, and aren't the stereotypical "crazies in the looney bin."

Yeah, the pills I was iffy about simply because of the question "does it belong on Subeta?" In the end, I left it in the suggestion, since I know that if I had a pet with anxiety disorders, I would like to have the pills in the TC. While my personal psychology philosophy has always been therapy first (and I agree there is a lot of over-diagnosis for certain disorders), there are a lot of people who genuinely need and benefit from medications, and they may want their pet's TCs to reflect their situation. I would say that the medication items are low on my list of wants (who doesn't love more books first?), but Medicontra could maybe use some of the pills, if staff was up for coming up with interesting brand knockoff names. Or putting some herbal remedies in the Spells Galore shop.

Yeah, mental health medications certainly don't work in any straightforward way. Heck, I was put on a medication traditionally used to treat depression (just for a week) when I was having migraines that nothing else helped (unfortunately, neither did this medication). The medications have a lot of uses and mixing of medications for effectiveness is also quite common. I would be quite alright with brand-ish names or generic ingredient labels (such as you said, Lithium), if medications are considered. As I said above, I have mixed feelings about medications like that on Subeta anyway, so I understand if staff just avoids them. And yeah, no book is really going to cure everything. That's for sure! Self-help books aren't enough, especially for some of the more life-changing and hard to work with disorders. I don't mind items that show the negative sides as well, I just don't want the stereotypical "they all live in asylums" stuff. Both good and bad, I would like to see items that are realistic. It is definitely a struggle, and that shouldn't be ignored.

Like I said, I'm just kind of touchy about it, so I probably overreacted a bit. I would agree with your suggestions about not giving them generic "anti-depression" type names or making them food, even if I still think the general idea is a perfectly cromulent suggestion that's not out of line with any of the other disability items already on site.

A week of NPCs releasing items related to their illnesses would be awesome. Shinwa's has some roots in her appearance, but it's not because she's self-conscious. Amy was killed by Merana for looking like her, which tore her to pieces. But overall her life really hasn't been all that grand.

Oh that's right, I forgot the details about her depression! That just goes to show we could all benefit from more discussion of the topic... if she feels up to it. :) I'll add an Awareness Week bit to the OP.

Yeah I'd definitely prefer to see knockoff brand names or just straight up ingredients if medications are added because I am currently taking a cocktail of things and would get kind of annoyed if my ongoing year plus of doctor appointments and medical bills were reduced to 'take this one thing' because for most people with mental health problems, that's literally the stuff of fantasies bc it doesn't happen that way. And I agree with , I don't want to see these edible because that's just adding a dimension to them that shouldn't be added.

Although I would like to say , it's not about seeing something on a website and thinking you need to take it. It's more about 'there are other people like me' and reminding yourself that you're not the only one that needs this. On another hand though I'd also be totally fine if medications weren't even touched. I just wanted to add some input on the off chance they were.

Oh yeah no I'd be totally mad if they added more asylum stuff that was meant to be modern because pls stop. Vintage stuff and historical stuff? I'm okay with that because sometimes it needs to be acknowledged that terrible things were done to people who just needed help. I feel like they can figure out how to walk that line because they've done a good job with other tricky stuff.

But yeah everyone likes to talk about mildly harmless depression, anxiety, etc etc. (all completely valid, just mentioned for the point of romanticization), but no one likes to talk about the irritability and the blinding rage and sudden urge to throw things or say things you don't mean or the paranoia. Because that stuff isn't cute and you apparently don't deserve help if you deal with that because people don't regard it as involuntary the same way they do depression and anxiety (not excusing abuse of these symptoms, just pointing out that they can leave you just as helpless as depression and anxiety).

Idk I feel like I'm saying too much and getting way too into this so I'm going to peace out unless someone has something they wanna discuss with me that I said.

there are people who will see the pills and think that's the only way to handle the disorder though, and that's not always the case. Sure medications are beneficial but at the same time they do cause a lot of other problems. not saying they all do, but I have been on things that made everything worse, would cause me to not sleep and gave me a shocking feeling throughout my body while I was trying to sleep. dopamine shocks. there's also the case that people do overdose on them, intentionally and otherwise. I think I would be a lot more comfortable without reminders around the site of what almost killed me.

That's true and I understand that completely. I'm perfectly fine with them being left off the site for those specific reasons as well. I'm just adding my two cents on how I'd prefer them to be handled if they do get handled because I'm always worried about the chance that things will be handled poorly. Not likely because I trust the staff to be careful with their users, but still. A lot of people don't want reminders of their daily life on site and just want to play and that makes sense to me.

I think there is a chance no matter how careful they try to be, it could be handled improperly in some way even unintentionally. it is a delicate situation that is often stigmatized and misunderstood.
Subeta has crossed a line from an escape to a mirror of the real world, and I wish it could go back to some extent. Users more and more want to see themselves in every item, both good and bad, but with that comes these issues.

Yeah, modern society definitely dreams of "fix-it" pills, where one type cures that one thing perfectly. As you know all-too-well, mental health medications are so various, fickle, and plain temperamental! Dosage changes across years and effective rates all over the place. :( As for Subeta equivalent, I honestly never even thought of the medications having an item use? Like... the other pills in Medicontra, or those edible? I thought they were just useless items for TCs! I would definitely be against the medications being edible (if they were even to be added). I honestly don't think any of the medications should really be classified as edibles... like, you don't take acetaminophen like its candy or something... And don't worry about "saying too much"! With this topic, getting comments out in the air is important! I would definitely want these items to be as you said: "It's more about 'there are other people like me' and reminding yourself that you're not the only one that needs this." Both easy and hard sides should be shown. My reason for focusing on the positive stuff was more my personal bias (my research) and the fact that I wasn't exactly sure how to suggest items for other aspects of mental health. Though, pamphlets/books describing the rougher symptoms would work just as well as those showing the "lighter" ones, and Subeta is usually good about walking the line. At the end of the day, I would be plenty happy with just some psychology textbooks or something! But raising awareness at the same time would be great, if possible.

You have a fair point there. Even the best intentions can create the worst situations.

I understand that too. On the one hand I do wish for some neutrality but I understand the importance of consuming educational media. Which Subeta isn't on a technical level, but there are younger people who play this site and are going to learn something from the message it portrays here, like how it's inclusive of people with prosthetics and wheelchairs and people of colour, etc. I think it's just reflective of the fact that for a lot of people these are the kind of things we wish we'd had to grow on. There'll always be people who just want to play a pet game though and that's fine too, it's just hard to find a line to keep everything leveled out.

I'm not sure if they're edible or not, I'm gonna go to Medicontra and check once my internet stops acting up. And yeah, you're definitely right about why I'd be happy with some of these items being added. I'd actually love some pamphlets about the rougher symptoms, just to be happy that they're on the site and because I'm planning on getting a psychiatric service dog (PSD) and working on a Subeta pet dedicated to the topic and education about PSD's and think it would make some good TC fodder.

ON THAT NOTE @ staff can we get some service dog stuff omg pretty please? Both for traditional physical disabilities and psychiatric disabilities. Medical alert dogs, all kinds of patches and vests for them would be awesome. I'd like some items for avatars too because you can never get enough avatar doggies (can one be a poodle or a goldendoodle because I'm allergic af and think that would be awesome). Service dogs are such hard workers and so pure and good and dedicated to making their owners' lives better I'd love to see some stuff acknowledging them. c:

Internet crashed twice while trying to make this post. o/

ETA: Happy to say that Medicontra pills are not edible.

Yeah, but I do think if they were to make something that did happen to be offensive in some way, they'd work with us to fix it. I think we're past the line to pick and choose what aspects of life we represent and which we don't now, we're best off representing everything because someone will be upset if they don't feel included. I do see the benefits of it, but at the same time I would love an imaginary world where there were no problems you know? it would be a far different subeta.

I typed up a post with a bunch of links last night but then I accidentally deleted it all so here's my basic summary: Yes support. Things i'd like to see: Therapy/emotional support/service animals (as minions or as wears, either way). Fidget/stim toys and jewelry (Some sites with pretty good examples: x x x)