True Family

Vol. 15

(Get prepared for a lecture y'all XD)

What will Picani say about Remus's mental state? Will he be able to help the boy?

~~Present day ~~

Remus listened to the adults outside. Picani was talking to Patton before coming in.

The door creaked open. A man with round glasses and a pink and blue striped tie walked in.

He smiled, "hello, I'm Dr. Picani. Do you how do?"

"What?" Remus asked.

"Its nothing." Picani waved his hand, "anyway, I just have a few questions for you. Can you do that?"

"Uh, sure." Remus nodded.

"Alright." Picani started, "Answer yes or no. Are your relationships very intense, unstable, and alternate between the extremes of over idealizing and undervaluing people who are important to you?"

"Um, I guess?" Remus shifted in his bed, "I've never really been around people."

"That sounds awful." Picani sighed.

Remus nodded, "next question?"

"Do your emotions change very quickly, and do you experience intense episodes of sadness, irritability, and anxiety or panic attacks?" Picani asked.

"Yeah." Remus mumbled, looking at the sheets.

"Is your level of anger is often inappropriate, intense, and difficult to control?" Patton asked, jotting down something on his notepad.

Remus shrugged, "I don't really get very... angry, so I guess no?"

Picani nodded, "Now, or in the past, when upset, have you engaged in recurrent suicidal behaviors, gestures, threats, or self-injurious behavior such as cutting, burning, or hitting yourself?"

Remus didn't respond, only clutching the sheets.

"Remus?" Picani asked, "are you okay?"

"Are... are you gonna tell Patton and Logan?" Remus asked.

Picani smiled softly, "No. I'm not going to tell anyone about any of this."

"I... I have done that stuff." Remus admitted.

Picani sighed, "no ones going to be mad at you for that."

Remus nodded, wiping his eyes.

"Do you have a significant and persistently unstable image or sense of self, or of who you are or what you truly believe in?" Picani asked.

"Y-yeah." Remus said, taking a breath.

"Do you have very suspicious ideas, and even paranoid thoughts at times; or experience episodes under stress when you feel that you, other people, or the situation is somewhat unreal?"

"Like, feeling I'm in a dream?" Remus asked.

"Yeah," Picani nodded, "and because of that feeling, do you have... insanity episodes?"

Remus nodded, "yes... yes I do."

Picani smiled, "do you engage in two or more self-damaging acts such as excessive spending, unsafe and inappropriate sexual conduct, substance abuse, reckless driving, and binge eating?"

Remus blinked, "what?"

"I'll take that as a no." Picani chuckled, "don't worry, you're okay."

Remus nodded.

"Do you engage in frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment by people who are close to you?" Picani asked.

"I-I... yeah." Remus whispered.

"And final question," Picani said, "do you suffer from chronic feelings of emptiness and boredom?"

Remus nodded, rolling his eyes, "constantly."

Picani chuckled, closing his notebook, "well then kiddo, that was a test for Borderline Personality disorder. You answered more than five as yes, so there's a probability you could have that."

"Okay, but what is it?" Remus asked.

"Its a mental illness characterised by emotional dysregulation." Picani explained, "Its rarely seen alone and from what Patt has told me, you might also have Bipolar Disorder."

"Bipolar Disorder?" Remus tilted his head.

Picani nodded, "it's a mood disorder. It has periods of mania and depressive episodes. Depressive episodes are caused by the adrenaline crash cause by manic episodes. Mania is... kinda like a high of energy and adrenaline. It can be anger or happinessor similar things. It's like the Avatar state, but we'll talk about that more... in the next chapter."