Chris and mental healthcare

Chris has a troubled relationship with psychology. He claims that he was held down by the school psychologist at grade school while his screams were recorded (most likely over dramatic bullshit), and was forced to see a psychologist for anger management classes after being kicked out of Piedmont Virginia Community College. Chris currently refuses to see a psychologist, opting to see a pastoral counselor instead.

The problem(s) with Chris

In his own mind

Chris claims to be autistic, homophobic as a genuine phobia, and a victim of Noviophobia, a made-up phobia of boyfriends. He also diagnosed himself with dissociative identity disorder in the August 30th Captain's Log, although he later revealed in Mailbag 4 that it was "a lie to momentarily derail the trolls". (Once again, Chris proved that he had no understanding of how serious mental disorders can be. Pretending to be crazy is an odd sort of Catch-22.)

Chris also seems to be at a level of incompetence that prevents him from realizing how incompetent he is. A Cornell University psychology journal details this phenomenon; it is a disturbingly accurate account of Chris's reaction to reality.

The 2004 survey

The psychiatrist who compiled a survey of Chris's issues following his troubles at PVCC in 2004 echoed the diagnosis of autism that Chris received some time in his youth, and took note of "an obsessional quality to his preoccupation with finding a girlfriend". He also administered a Folstein test, a brief questionnaire designed to detect cognitive impairment — Chris racked up a perfect score, indicating no problems with his memory or basic information processing abilities. On the Global Assessment of Functioning, the doctor rated Chris a 70, roughly halfway in between an average adult and someone with socially debilitating mental illness.

The trolls' perspective

The rest of the human race believes that Chris has way more than autism to worry about. Popular theories mark him as a sociopath and/or a pathological narcissist, for instance, and also point towards what seems like a paranoid streak (as when Chris proposed that the Greene County school board has conspired over a period of decades to make him miserable). Since the only available view is from a distance, though, there's no way anyone can know for certain if Chris's brain is garlanded with healthy chunks of the DSM-IV-TR or if he's merely a gullible idiot with a terrible upbringing and worse personality (and autism).

Until Chris gets some sustained professional attention, most of the speculation about his issues remains exactly that. Which leads to a larger problem...

Professional help?

One of the most frustrating elements of Chris is his adamant refusal to take help from any source. In the aftermath of his suspension from PVCC, his evaluators repeatedly recommended further counseling and psychiatric treatment, but Chris and his parents refused. It seems that Bob and Barbara think that the world of mental health hasn't evolved past the turn-of-the-century treatment of strait jackets and lobotomies. The only thing close to therapy that Chris has ever been in was a compulsory Anger Management class, and we all know how much good that did. About the only authority figure he listens to is Rocky Shoemaker, his pastoral counselor; he claims that he has no need for psychotherapy because his pastor is better at helping him than anyone with, you know, years of training and experience in helping people with psychiatric problems. He's shown repeated disregard for the authority of health professionals. It is suspected that, even if Chris received professional help, he would disregard most of it and undermine the therapy.

It would be likely that he could seek the help of a professional for little or no cost, as his monthly tugboat in the form of SSI does offer basic psychological services that would allow him the ability to talk to a board-certified counselor and get the help he does need. It's likely though he doesn't even know this service is available, as he only regards his SSI check as income or a cheap means of getting PS3 games, LittleBigPlanet or Guitar Hero DLC, and sex toys rather than a reassurance that he is covered under federal Medicaid or the equivalent state Medicaid program offered by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

It seems Chris only acknowledges his personal flaws if they get him pity or used to demonstrate that he's beaten them already. Notice how often Chris claims to have won the battle over autism, only to fall back on "I have autism!" as an excuse. Similarly, he wrote Nintendo Power Magazine to tell them he conquered Noviophobia, only to say later that his fear "came back like a boomerang."

Chris refuses to get help because he doesn't think he needs any, and because he has better things (games, anime, porn) to spend his money on. Regardless of how blatantly stupid his actions are, regardless of how often trolls (including a 13-year-old) trick him into doing horrible, horrible things, regardless of how any mental health worker worth his salt would pin Chris down like a butterfly to get a chance to crack open his impenetrable shell of fail, Chris will carry on as usual, justifying away everything that would inconvenience him even slightly.

Chris has no problem telling other people to seek professional help, however. In the Mailbag, he has occasionally responded to his detractors with retorts like "Go See a Psychiatrist."

History of medication

According to the 2004 psychiatric survey, at some point in his life Chris was prescribed the antidepressant medication Imipramine. It's not clear when he was prescribed the drug, or for what exact reason, but it was likely some time in his younger days. Since the advent of more sophisticated antidepressant drugs like Prozac in the late 1980s, the use of Imipramine to treat depression and other psychological disorders has grown less and less common. More recently, however, Imipramine has commonly been prescribed to patients who have urinary problems.

The same document notes that, as of 2004, Chris had been taking the antidepressant Paxil for four years in order to deal with his stress and anger issues. One of the survey's recommendations was an increase in his daily dose of the drug, but it's not clear how long Chris continued taking it afterward.

Chris continues to take antidepressant medication to this day, but he is no longer on Paxil specifically. In Mailbag 13, he explained that he switched to a different medication in order to avoid some of Paxil's side effects. He didn't specify what those side effects were or what medication he's now taking; only that the Paxil caused problems that "only hit adults". Paxil may have been making it difficult for Chris to achieve orgasm.

Another of Paxil's more notable side effects is the potential for substantial weight gain, which couldn't have mixed well with Chris's diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Past instances of professional help (or lack thereof)

Nathanael Greene Elementary School

When Chris attended NGES, there was an incident where he was supposedly restrained or molested, depending on whom you talk to. It has been claimed by Bob that they wanted to send Chris to an "institution." What they meant was likely a place where Chris could see professionals who could work with Chris's problems as opposed to teachers who deal with normal students. What Bob probably thought is he would be sent to a nuthouse. Either way, something that could have done some good in his early development didn't happen.

Mary Lee Walsh

Although not a mental health professional, Walsh's experience at dealing with a large body of students and their individual problems makes her experienced on the issue. She has also written a book on coping with college life. Despite her advanced knowledge and experience, Chris chose the better path of cursing her and putting her low on his Scale of Respect.

Psychiatric Papers

Following his outburst towards Mary Lee Walsh, Chris was sent to a psychiatrist for evaluation. The resulting papers easily show a number of things, most of which can easily be told by trolls themselves. Another interesting thing is that, despite the encouragement to follow up on this, Chris's parents refuse to on the account of insurance problems.

The documents note that at some point Chris received psychiatric evaluation at the Center for Learning Potential in Mt. Sidney, Virginia (a small town northwest of his home in Charlottesville). They don't say when this took place, but given the location of the Center, it was likely either during his elementary-school years or some time after the Chandlers moved back to Charlottesville in the summer of 2000.

Anger management and the shrink

Following his encounter with Mary Lee Walsh, he was ordered to take anger management classes. The only thing that seemed to arise from it were complaints that he had to pay to see a professional... and... well... he still can't control his anger. There's very little information about his anger management classes, as it occurred in the pre-ED days, and is only mentioned in a few old documents of Chris' that have surfaced. He's never really talked about it since, and it's never come up in comics or videos.

Rocky Shoemaker

Religious institutions are fond of providing counseling services to all members of their congregations, sometimes unwisely as a method of hammering them with doctrine to solve their problems, sometimes beneficially by giving them a person to talk to for free and referring them to a real professional if necessary. Whether Rocky is generally beneficial or harmful to the people who come to see her is uncertain, but she is certainly admired for her past work. What remains certain is that she is probably not the best solution for Chris because...

1. He considers her to be a perfect, all-encompassing alternative to a qualified professional.
2. He barely listens to anything she fucking says.
3. He misconstrues everything she says, accepting advice he likes and ignoring advice he doesn't like.

She has told him about his past habits being unacceptable, but Chris remains as determined as ever to be a total idiot. Although she has put a stop to trolling plans, his behavior remains the same. She also told him it would be a good idea to stop posting videos on YouTube, since they only feed the trolls.

That hasn't really worked out now, has it?

About the only thing that he has taken away from their sessions is that he can fuck someone before they are married.

Relationship Management Classes

Chris mentioned in a video from October 2009 that he had been taking some relationship management classes. Undoubtedly, Chris feels he has found some form of real life date ed. More likely, Chris has come upon a class for couples who want to manage their already established relationships as opposed to find out how to get into one. The true nature of the course is irrelevant since Chris is creepy and out of place pretty much anywhere he goes.

White knights and trolls

It doesn't take a lot of effort for anyone to see that Chris has no common sense. Likewise, common sense being... common, white knights and trolls are often quick to point out that most of what Chris does is stupid/insane/socially abnormal. He doesn't fucking get it. As a result, many trolls have become armchair psychologists pondering why exactly he doesn't get it. It doesn't matter what they come up with, the result is always that Chris doesn't listen to anyone if he doesn't want to, no matter what level they are on the ladder. Some white knights have gotten so fed up with Chris's adamant refusal to improve himself or heed advice that they've essentially moved on to becoming professional trolls.

See also

• Autism
• Autism papers
• Asperger's syndrome
• Dreams