Surviving Abuse is Like Playing Dungeons & Dragons
In my ongoing quest to help people understand mental health struggles and triggers, I came up with this idea based on role playing games for people who easily understand the concepts of stats, critical hits and failures, hit points, levels, and character weaknesses. Even if you’re not a tabletop role playing gamer, this idea applies to basically anyone who has ever watched Pokemon cartoons or played any video game. I’ll mostly be discussing emotional abuse by a parent, but these ideas can apply to many types of emotional manipulation in a variety of relationships and throughout a person’s lifetime.
Stats and Classes
At the onset of most role playing games (RPG) like D&D, you’ll determine your character’s attributes, which usually go something like this:
- Strength — Raw physical strength
- Dexterity — Agility and grace
- Constitution — Health and hardiness
- Intelligence — IQ/raw intelligence and education
- Wisdom — Common sense and spirituality
- Charisma — Strength of personality and leadership abilities
Have you ever noticed that people tend to praise children with traumatic pasts for being wise beyond their years, great in school, or particularly mature? These…
