Greece go crazy - The Psychology of Greece
The entire time I've been playing Greece, I've always played him more towards the kookier side. My take on him is that he's not very mentally stable, and never really has been. This is just a tiny look into some of his... issues.
He suffers from dissociative amnesia. Unlike regular amnesia, which is caused by physical trauma to the brain where the experience isn't "written down" into the memory banks, dissociative amnesia is often caused by severe emotional stress or traumatic events where the memory exists, but is repressed from consciousness. There are several different theories for why this happens, but most stem around the idea that it is used as a coping and survival mechanism. For instance, a victim of severe child abuse might need to block out memories of the trauma if the abuser is someone the child needs to rely on for food and shelter.
The specific subcategory of dissociative amnesia that Greece suffers from is called Systematized Amnesia. Instead of forgetting certain events or a set chunk of time, the victim forgets entire categories of information:
Greece remembers who his mother is and what she represents to him... all the logical things of what a mother should be... but he's completely forgotten what she looks like, what she did for and to him, how he truly feel towards her... basically all the personal stuff. When Spain attacked Greece out of nowhere and for no reason (that Greece was aware of), and seriously injured him, Greece responded by forgetting ever knowing Spain while retaining memories of everything else. Sometimes certain events might trigger the return of dissociated memories, like when Greece unknowingly slept with his own mother. And then later, after spending the night at Turkey's, he suddenly developed another episode of dissociation where he forgot the entire events of that night.
~~~~~
As a child, Greece suffered from Reactive Attachment Disorder
Severe Problems or Disruptions in early relationships Physically, Emotionally or sexually abused Experienced prolonged isolation or neglect Multiple or traumatic losses or changes in primary caregiver Overly social or familiar, even with strangers
From a little-known-facts thread with an anon:
Reactive Attachment Disorder is generally diagnosed in children only, I believe... but if it were to carry over to adulthood, then I'd say he would probably fit the disorganized-avoidant category. Highly independent, prides himself of independence and doesn't allow himself to have any really close emotional relationships. These types think relationships aren't important, and typically aren't very intimate. However, since in my headcanon, he considers love and sex completely separate things, I suppose that last bit (conveniently) wouldn't apply to him. And as for being overly familiar, I interpret that as... since he doesn't develop close relationships, he tends to treat everyone in the same manner, whether they are a friend or a stranger. That's why he has no qualms sleeping with someone he just met. Granted, there's an exception to every rule, so just because he doesn't like having close relationships doesn't mean he won't. There are maybe... 2 people he's close to and 1 person he's extremely close to.
~~~~~
Types of abuse: Physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, emotional abuse
Episodes of child abuse and neglect, whether chronic or sporadic, can disrupt the important process of attachment, and interfere with children's ability to seek comfort and to regulate their own physiological and emotional processes. As a result, maltreated children are more likely than other children to show an absence of an organized attachment strategy.
This leads back to the Reactive Attachment Disorder.
This results in problems regulating emotions and behavior with others. Difficulties modulating emotions can be expressed as depressive reactions as well as intense angry outbursts. Accordingly, as maltreated children grow older and face new situations involving peers and other adults, poor emotional regulation becomes more and more problematic, resulting in unusual and self-harmful behaviors. Over time, this inability to regulate emotions is associated with internalizing disorders, such as depression and fearfulness, as well as externalizing disorders, such as hostility, aggression, and various forms of acting-out.
I believe this is a great parallel to Greece's adolescence. As he grew older, he became more angry and violent, his only way of expressing the rage he feels inside. This revolt against Ottoman eventually led to the Greek Independence War. However, after the war, when Greece is forced to face the world outside of Ottoman rule, he is unable to connect with anyone, leading to feelings of fear and confusion. As the World Wars rolled around, the increased stress that tore away at him built up until he is unable to keep his emotions contained, which manifested itself as self-harm - The Greek civil war.
Note to self: Wtf happened during the Junta?
For Karpussy: Girls and boys tend to differ in the ways they process and express their turmoil. Maltreated girls tend to show more internalizing signs of distress, such as shame and self-blame; boys, on the other hand, tend to show heightened levels of physical and verbal aggression.
For Tourkokratia: Their models of relationships have elements of being a victim and a victimizer and during interactions with peers, maltreated children may alternate between being the aggressor and being the victim. Their strategies for adaptation, such as hypervigilance and fear, evolve to become highly responsive to threatening or dangerous situations. As a result, some maltreated children, especially those with histories of physical abuse and neglect, may be more distracted by aggressive stimuli, and misread the intentions of their peers as being more hostile than they actually are. [...] They show less skill at recognizing or responding to distress in others, since this has not been their experience. [...] Physically abused children engage in more stealing behavior.
I guess this explains the Klephts. It also explains my characterization of Greece as unable to handle children and their need for affection and attention.
Some child sexual abuse victims may show specific symptoms of sexualized behavior.
And that explains Greece's promiscuity.
"The body mends soon enough. The broken spirit, however, takes the longest to heal."
~~~~~
Stress, Trauma and Memory
Taken from the book The Developing Mind by Daniel J Siegel. Some more information on how trauma and stress can affect memory, basically more notes to myself on how Greece should act.
Spellcheck does not work on science.
Stressful experiences may take the form of highly emotional events or, when overwhelming, overtly traumatizing experiences. The degree of stress will have a direct effect on memory: Small amounts have a neutral effect on memory; moderate amounts facilitate memory; and large amounts impair memory. [...] Chronic stress may produce elevated baseline levels of stress hormones and abnormal daily rhythms of hormone release. The effects of high levels of stress hormones on the hippocampus may initially be reversible and involve the inhibition of neuronal growth and the atrophy of cellular receptive components called dendrites. High levels of stress not only transiently block hippocampal functioning, but excessive and chronic exposure to stress hormones may lead to neuronal death in this region, possibly producing decreased hippocampal volume, as found in patients with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. [...] Excessive stress hormone or catecholamine release appears, respectively, to impair the hippocampal and amygdala contributions to memory processing. (ie - to save the mind from suffering severely traumatic experiences, the brain effectively breaks itself to prevent remembering)
Under some conditions, explicit memory may be blocked from encoding at the actual time of an experience. Trauma may be proposed to be such a situation. During a trauma, the victim may focus his attention on a nontraumatic aspect of the environment or on his imagination as a means of at least partial escape. Divided-attention studies suggest that this situation will lead to the encoding of parts of the traumatic experience implicitly but not explicitly. [...] The outcome for a victim who dissociates explicit from implicit processing is an impairment in autobiographical memory for at least certain aspects of the trauma (explicit blockage may refer to "psychogenic" amnesia). Implicit memory of the event is intact and includes intrusive elements such as behavioral impulses to flee, emotional reactions, bodily sensations, and intrusive images related to the trauma. Individuals who dissociate during and after a traumatic experience have been found to be the most vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress disorder. [...] Under such conditions, future explicit processing and learning may be chronically impaired.
On the basis of this information, one can propose that psychological trauma involving the blockage of explicit processing also impairs the victim's ability to cortically consolidate the experience. With dissociation or the prohibition of discussing with others what was experienced, as is so often the case in familial child abuse, there may be a profound blockage to the pathway toward consolidating memory. Unresolved traumatic experiences from this perspective may involve an impairment in the cortical consolidation process, which leaves the memories of these events out of permanent memory. But the person may be prone to experiencing continually intrusive implicit images of past horrors. Nightmares, occurring during the dream stage of sleep and involving active REM sleep disturbances, may reveal futile attempts of the brain to resolve and consolidate such blocked memory configurations. Dream stages of sleep are thought to play a central role in reorganizing memory and in reinforcing the connections between memory and emotion. (This reinforces headcanon that Greece has constant bad nightmares, and possible new headcanon as to why Greece sleeps so much?)
We can further propose that autonoetic consciousness of traumatic events is disturbed in individuals who have experienced trauma that remains "unresolved". As we'll see in future chapters, this unresolved state of mind has important implications for the mind's functioning and for interpersonal relationships. Some individuals may become flooded by excessive implicit recollections, in which they lose the self-monitoring features of episodic recall and feel not as if they are intensely recalling a past event, but rather that they are in the event itself. Others have knowledge of a traumatic event but no sense of self: they have noetic but not autonoetic awareness of the experience.
Traumatic states may remain isolated from the normal integrative functioning of the individual and thus impair development. Implicit elements of major and perhaps even minor traumatic events may continue to shape the individual's life without conscious awareness. In this view, negative influences on development may impair mental health by blocking the normally unrestricted flow of information within the mind.
He suffers from dissociative amnesia. Unlike regular amnesia, which is caused by physical trauma to the brain where the experience isn't "written down" into the memory banks, dissociative amnesia is often caused by severe emotional stress or traumatic events where the memory exists, but is repressed from consciousness. There are several different theories for why this happens, but most stem around the idea that it is used as a coping and survival mechanism. For instance, a victim of severe child abuse might need to block out memories of the trauma if the abuser is someone the child needs to rely on for food and shelter.
The specific subcategory of dissociative amnesia that Greece suffers from is called Systematized Amnesia. Instead of forgetting certain events or a set chunk of time, the victim forgets entire categories of information:
~~~~~
As a child, Greece suffered from Reactive Attachment Disorder
From a little-known-facts thread with an anon:
Reactive Attachment Disorder is generally diagnosed in children only, I believe... but if it were to carry over to adulthood, then I'd say he would probably fit the disorganized-avoidant category. Highly independent, prides himself of independence and doesn't allow himself to have any really close emotional relationships. These types think relationships aren't important, and typically aren't very intimate. However, since in my headcanon, he considers love and sex completely separate things, I suppose that last bit (conveniently) wouldn't apply to him. And as for being overly familiar, I interpret that as... since he doesn't develop close relationships, he tends to treat everyone in the same manner, whether they are a friend or a stranger. That's why he has no qualms sleeping with someone he just met. Granted, there's an exception to every rule, so just because he doesn't like having close relationships doesn't mean he won't. There are maybe... 2 people he's close to and 1 person he's extremely close to.
~~~~~
Types of abuse: Physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, emotional abuse
Episodes of child abuse and neglect, whether chronic or sporadic, can disrupt the important process of attachment, and interfere with children's ability to seek comfort and to regulate their own physiological and emotional processes. As a result, maltreated children are more likely than other children to show an absence of an organized attachment strategy.
This leads back to the Reactive Attachment Disorder.
This results in problems regulating emotions and behavior with others. Difficulties modulating emotions can be expressed as depressive reactions as well as intense angry outbursts. Accordingly, as maltreated children grow older and face new situations involving peers and other adults, poor emotional regulation becomes more and more problematic, resulting in unusual and self-harmful behaviors. Over time, this inability to regulate emotions is associated with internalizing disorders, such as depression and fearfulness, as well as externalizing disorders, such as hostility, aggression, and various forms of acting-out.
I believe this is a great parallel to Greece's adolescence. As he grew older, he became more angry and violent, his only way of expressing the rage he feels inside. This revolt against Ottoman eventually led to the Greek Independence War. However, after the war, when Greece is forced to face the world outside of Ottoman rule, he is unable to connect with anyone, leading to feelings of fear and confusion. As the World Wars rolled around, the increased stress that tore away at him built up until he is unable to keep his emotions contained, which manifested itself as self-harm - The Greek civil war.
Note to self: Wtf happened during the Junta?
For Karpussy: Girls and boys tend to differ in the ways they process and express their turmoil. Maltreated girls tend to show more internalizing signs of distress, such as shame and self-blame; boys, on the other hand, tend to show heightened levels of physical and verbal aggression.
For Tourkokratia: Their models of relationships have elements of being a victim and a victimizer and during interactions with peers, maltreated children may alternate between being the aggressor and being the victim. Their strategies for adaptation, such as hypervigilance and fear, evolve to become highly responsive to threatening or dangerous situations. As a result, some maltreated children, especially those with histories of physical abuse and neglect, may be more distracted by aggressive stimuli, and misread the intentions of their peers as being more hostile than they actually are. [...] They show less skill at recognizing or responding to distress in others, since this has not been their experience. [...] Physically abused children engage in more stealing behavior.
I guess this explains the Klephts. It also explains my characterization of Greece as unable to handle children and their need for affection and attention.
Some child sexual abuse victims may show specific symptoms of sexualized behavior.
And that explains Greece's promiscuity.
"The body mends soon enough. The broken spirit, however, takes the longest to heal."
~~~~~
Stress, Trauma and Memory
Taken from the book The Developing Mind by Daniel J Siegel. Some more information on how trauma and stress can affect memory, basically more notes to myself on how Greece should act.
Spellcheck does not work on science.
Stressful experiences may take the form of highly emotional events or, when overwhelming, overtly traumatizing experiences. The degree of stress will have a direct effect on memory: Small amounts have a neutral effect on memory; moderate amounts facilitate memory; and large amounts impair memory. [...] Chronic stress may produce elevated baseline levels of stress hormones and abnormal daily rhythms of hormone release. The effects of high levels of stress hormones on the hippocampus may initially be reversible and involve the inhibition of neuronal growth and the atrophy of cellular receptive components called dendrites. High levels of stress not only transiently block hippocampal functioning, but excessive and chronic exposure to stress hormones may lead to neuronal death in this region, possibly producing decreased hippocampal volume, as found in patients with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. [...] Excessive stress hormone or catecholamine release appears, respectively, to impair the hippocampal and amygdala contributions to memory processing. (ie - to save the mind from suffering severely traumatic experiences, the brain effectively breaks itself to prevent remembering)
Under some conditions, explicit memory may be blocked from encoding at the actual time of an experience. Trauma may be proposed to be such a situation. During a trauma, the victim may focus his attention on a nontraumatic aspect of the environment or on his imagination as a means of at least partial escape. Divided-attention studies suggest that this situation will lead to the encoding of parts of the traumatic experience implicitly but not explicitly. [...] The outcome for a victim who dissociates explicit from implicit processing is an impairment in autobiographical memory for at least certain aspects of the trauma (explicit blockage may refer to "psychogenic" amnesia). Implicit memory of the event is intact and includes intrusive elements such as behavioral impulses to flee, emotional reactions, bodily sensations, and intrusive images related to the trauma. Individuals who dissociate during and after a traumatic experience have been found to be the most vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress disorder. [...] Under such conditions, future explicit processing and learning may be chronically impaired.
On the basis of this information, one can propose that psychological trauma involving the blockage of explicit processing also impairs the victim's ability to cortically consolidate the experience. With dissociation or the prohibition of discussing with others what was experienced, as is so often the case in familial child abuse, there may be a profound blockage to the pathway toward consolidating memory. Unresolved traumatic experiences from this perspective may involve an impairment in the cortical consolidation process, which leaves the memories of these events out of permanent memory. But the person may be prone to experiencing continually intrusive implicit images of past horrors. Nightmares, occurring during the dream stage of sleep and involving active REM sleep disturbances, may reveal futile attempts of the brain to resolve and consolidate such blocked memory configurations. Dream stages of sleep are thought to play a central role in reorganizing memory and in reinforcing the connections between memory and emotion. (This reinforces headcanon that Greece has constant bad nightmares, and possible new headcanon as to why Greece sleeps so much?)
We can further propose that autonoetic consciousness of traumatic events is disturbed in individuals who have experienced trauma that remains "unresolved". As we'll see in future chapters, this unresolved state of mind has important implications for the mind's functioning and for interpersonal relationships. Some individuals may become flooded by excessive implicit recollections, in which they lose the self-monitoring features of episodic recall and feel not as if they are intensely recalling a past event, but rather that they are in the event itself. Others have knowledge of a traumatic event but no sense of self: they have noetic but not autonoetic awareness of the experience.
Traumatic states may remain isolated from the normal integrative functioning of the individual and thus impair development. Implicit elements of major and perhaps even minor traumatic events may continue to shape the individual's life without conscious awareness. In this view, negative influences on development may impair mental health by blocking the normally unrestricted flow of information within the mind.