Brainstorming: Is Effy crazy? Discuss!

[cobalt_siren]

Ok, first, brief description of the fic I'm planning: Post-4.5, Effy has a lucid dream while unconscious in the hospital, and takes an Alice-Through-the-Looking-Glass-style allegorical journey through the problems faced by her circle of friends and her own mental issues.

My question to pose to group discussion is this: Do you think Effy is

Comments

[xthe_ingenue]

if you take her entire character into account (from series one on), i don't think you get a picture of a crazy girl at all. not to say she doesn't have issues, because she certainly does, but i don't think she's truly mentally ill. freddie's web md self diagnosis aside, they never even gave a proper name to what effy supposedly had.

personally, i think she became overwhelmed by her situation (family life, no tony, cook & freddie problems, etc)/emotions throughout s3 and s4, which led to her having a breakdown. but past that meltdown in 4x05, i don't believe effy is crazy. not for a second, actually. i think she's led to believe by other people that she's crazy, specifically freddie and doctor foster. but as for actually being truly mentally ill? nope. no way.

[immortality]

Mm, I agree with this. I think it was a mental breakdown due to stress. Freddie's Web MD diagnosis of course would give the impression that she's crazy, because a) symptoms of a mental breakdown could coincide with other mental illnesses and b) he probably sought out the most "crazy" definition, based on his mom.

Frankly, the whole situation that is presented to us in Freddie's episode is unreliable, as we're only seeing what/how Freddie sees Effy doing/acting. He's basing his perception off his mother -- and who knows what her issues were -- so everything is tilted more towards the "crazy" angle.

But seriously, Effy's "sane" in every episode except 405 and (most of) 407. Even in 408 she acts fine -- she doesn't even freak out when Cook arrives, like she did in 405. She's more like, Yeah, cool, whatever.

[lioness_rawr]

Though can't one argue that her "Yeah, cool, whatever" can be as much of a sign of instability as her behaviour in E5? I don't know, people put masks on like Effy does and I see it all the time - that's what I saw.

[immortality]

I suppose you could make that argument, true, but I don't think that was a conscious part of BE to write it like that -- instability, I mean.

Tbqh, I don't think she was ever intended to be written as a character with a mental illness -- or really, not "crazy" -- and that JB just wanted to give a character a mental illness to push his own "therapists are bad" agenda. (Which he basically said he did anyway, so.)

I suppose you could take the perception that she was crazy all along, and I wish I could agree with your theory of bi-polar disorder, but I just don't see it. I had a roommate in high school who was bi-polar and it was ... I guess "consistent" is the word I'm looking for. S4 aside, I just don't think Effy embodies that illness. *shrug*

If I was just looking at 405 exclusively? Absolutely, it's bi-polar disorder. But examining Effy's character/life as a whole? It doesn't fit.

[lioness_rawr]

Oh, I can totally agree with you on the writing - it certainly wasn't a conscious decision.

I don't even want to get into JB and his crazy and frankly irresponsible little messages because it pisses me off so much considering I'm wanting to get into that line of work but I just thought that no matter the agenda was, it was pretty damn accurate imo.

Though, bi-polar depression can vary quite a lot, to me it was the mirroring of behaviour and words to my ex who was bi-polar, just so much of it. I can analyse this episode to death (no pun intended) but what I'd go into wouldn't have been consciously executed by the writers. If it was, then I take my hat off to them.

[immortality]

his crazy and frankly irresponsible little messages because it pisses me off so much considering I'm wanting to get into that line of work

It pisses me off too. The few therapists I've seen have been nothing but helpful. I'm sorry he had a bad experience with it, but I hate him making this blanket statement about it.

I'm not an expert on mental illness, obviously, but 405/407 aside, I just really never felt like they were aiming to give Effy any mental illness at all. xthe_ingenue below me mentioned depression and I think that combined with a stress-induced mental breakdown could give the impression of insanity. But Idk

[lioness_rawr]

Worry not, your exhaustion is nothing compared to my current state of intoxication. So, I apologize in advance for any serious errors in my comment

[xthe_ingenue]

definitely. maybe a bit of depression thrown in (which i would attribute to the sudden lack of tony as a stabilizing force in her life), but definitely nothing truly "crazy".

freddie pushed effy into thinking she was crazy because of his own oedipal/hero complex thing he had going on. foster pushed her into thinking she was crazy so she would be completely dependent on him and he could brainwash her and turn her into a stepford wife. but there was never any progression into "craziness", no signs prior to 4x05... i really don't believe she was crazy. she acts completely normal in 4x07, when she's with cook, because he's not pushing her to believe she's anything. that's pretty telling.

exactly! she mostly just acts depressed, but should we automatically assume that every person with depression is crazy? no, of course not. even when she's in the hospital, whatever she supposedly has never even gets a name put to it. she's most definitely not ~crazy~.