Soo,, Humans are Weird,,

delotha:

what-are-even-humans:

whatismylifeanymoreugg:

I’ve read alot of the “Humans are weird/space orcs” “Earth is space Australia” posts, And one thing I havent seen addressed yet is Mental Illnesses. How would aliens react to their crewmate having something about their brain that makes it difficult to accomplish certain tasks?
Our brain is very complicated, and maybe alien species just don’t have them? Imagine there being a new human crewmate onboard the ship, and after awhile the aliens notice the human talking to themselves as if they’re talking to another person, or staring at a wall or a corner of a room, or getting scared or nervous for no apparent reason.
Imagine a new human crew member having something like Deppression, Anxiety, Bipolar disorder, Autism, scitzophrenia, psycosis, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Dissasociative Identity Disorder (DID), etc and having to explain what that is to the aliens on the ship. Lot’s of people don’t really want help, and believe they are just fine without the professional assistance. And then there are other people who believe they need the help very badly.

On a similar topic, triggers are quite odd as well. Some people will have a panic attack over certain objects or words, alien species may not have to deal with that, and their mind may be structured to completely avoid mental illnesses alltogether-

Someone please write about this I’m terrible at writing stories hah a

I’ve actually got a short about that here, and another one about intrusive thoughts coming up shortly (like tomorrow, I think?) 

Xlipnor spent months preparing the ship for the arrival of their human crewmate.  The Galatic Council had, in xir great wisdom, deemed that every fleet ship should house at least once human.  Even the frigates with small crews.  Xir captain had to choose which of xir crew to let go in order to make room for the new human.

In short, Xlipnor was not happy about this new addition.  Not only had xe lost a crewmate xe liked, but xe and the rest of the crew had to do research on humans to ensure xe were prepared for it’s arrival.

The human arrived with no fanfare.  Xlipnor – having done the most research, being the medical officer – was in charge of ensuring the human was comfortable and well-integrated with the rest of the crew.

*What is your designation?* xe asked, allowing the translator to do the work.  It was an invention of humans, ironically enough.

“Second Lieutenant Erica Hayes, sir!” the human replied.  The translator gave Xlipnor everything xe needed to know – usename of Erica, from clan of Hayes, of the military caste.  The human’s mouth stretched, but did not bare her teeth.  “What can I call you?”

“I am Xlipnor of Clan Kl’Zep, from the medical caste.”

The human paused as xir words were translated, then smiled again without baring her teeth – a trick Xlipnor was glad she has learned.  She turned and retrieved a small file chip and gave it to xir.

“Doctor, right?  I’m supposed to give this to you.”

Xlipnor accepted it, and began rest of the introductions and tour.  At the end, Xlipnor showed the human her quarters and let her know the ship would be setting off in fifty-two hours.  The human nodded – a gesture that meant affirmative or as an acknowledgement of information received – and Xlipnor went to prep the rest of xir things for the journey.

It had been some time since they left the station with the human in tow.  Xlipnor had no problems with the human, nor had any of xir other crewmates.  She did her job as security officer (the captain’s decision, that, based on research of humans and their capacity for pack bonds, endurance, and ability to not only survive, but to ensure the survivability of those they pack bonded with).  There were no incidents that required the human to perform at capacity.

Xlipnor was inspecting a newest sample from a potential life-sustaining planet when the human walked in.

“Hey, um, so were you able to take a look at that chip I gave you?” she asked, hesitantly.  For Xlipor, some of her words translated as something akin to mandible clicks used to indicate anxiety.

“I have not yet, Lieutenant,” xe replied, but turned to look at the human.  Her face underwent several fascinating changes.  Her forehead wrinkled slightly and the corners of her mouth turned down.  Then the distortions cleared and her lips pressed together.  There was no translation for them – body language was still beyond the translator – and so Xlipnor waited to see if the human would speak again.

“It’s just… I need my medication,” she said finally.

Xlipnor looked her over, but saw no injury or evidence of illness.  “Are you ill, Lieutenant?”

“Sorta,” she admitted.  Her forehead wrinkled again as the fur above her eyes drew together.  Her lips were thin once more.  Xlipnor had seen such an expression on her face before, or one similar, when she was working on upgrading the security systems to her preferences.  “It’s to help regulate my brain chemistry.”

“Explain.”

“Humans sometimes have an imbalance in the ways their brains work,” she said, “or so my doctor told me.  Something doesn’t quite work right, and we don’t know exactly why.  So some of us take medication so we can… function.”

“And you need this medication for your brain to function?” Xlipnor asked, making sure xe understood the situation.

“Yes,” she replied, sounding relieved.  “If you could take a second to look through my file, it has everything you need to manufacture my meds.”

Xlipnor was thankful the translator they had not only directly translated human speech, but also translated the idioms and word shortenings humans seemed obsessed with.  Xe said xe would, and the human seemed happy enough with that and left.

It took Xlipnor some time to find the chip, but started to review it almost immediately.  Xir mandibles clicked irritably.  The human might have made mention she had a medical condition xe would need to care for.  And what were the human leaders thinking, sending their people out that were in less than perfect health?

When Xlipnor saw the compounds necessary the create the human’s medication, xe called the human to their medical bay immediately.

“What’s the problem?” she asked, breathing heavily.  Given how quickly she arrived, she must have ran.

“Have you seen what is suggested?” Xlipnor demanded, showing the human what xe found.  She looked at it for a long moment, before furrowing her brow and looking at xir in confusion.

“That… looks normal,” she said slowly.  “What’s wrong?”

“According to your own species’s medical publications, some of these chemicals and substances are toxic to your system,” Xlipnor told her, mandibles clicking angrily.  “It would be poisoning you to give you this so-called medication!”

She blinked at xir for a moment.  “Well, yeah, the side-effects suck, but that’s why you give me the other stuff, right below it.  It helps negate some of the side effects – I guess some of the toxins – and keeps me from, you know…”

“Dying?”

“Well, no.  I’ve been taking this stuff for a while, long before they had the supplement.  It’s not so bad.”

Xlipnor’s mandibles clicked once, and were still in utter shock.  This human had just admitted to taking highly toxic substances for the sake of bringing balance to her brain chemistry.  Such a thing was so completely foreign that Xlipnor needed a second to process this information.

“And… what is the alternative?” Xlipnor asked, not sure if xe wanted to know.

The human jerked her shoulders in what was known as a shrug – a common human gesture for uncertainty or negation.  “Well, I have some hallucinations.  Usually auditory, but some visual as well.  Most of the time, I can tell they aren’t, you know, real, but sometimes… And there’s other things, but that’s the major one.”

Xlipnor felt xir antenna still as well, and xe stared at the human for a long, long moment.

“You are saying that your people have deemed you healthy enough for space travel, despite suffering from an illness which causes hallucinations?” xe asked weakly.  “And to avoid such, you must take highly toxic substances?”

“I AM healthy enough for space travel,” she shot back angrily.  “I have schizophrenia, is all.  Lots of people have it, and are perfectly fine!  And some of them don’t take any kind of medication for it at all!”  Her expression was dangerous, and Xlipnor felt xir mandibles twitch.  “I just have it in such a way that I need the medicine.  Are you going to be a dick about this?”

The subtle threat and overt insult spurred Xlipnor into responding, and xe drew xirself up to xir full height – towering over the human.  She continued to glare at xir, showing no signs of backing down.

“I am of the medical caste,” xe told her.  “It is my duty to see to the health of everyone on board, including you.”

“Then you’ll make my medication?” she demanded.

“If it was deemed necessary by your human doctors, then yes,” xe replied, mandibles clicking.

Her entire posture relaxed, and she smiled.  “Good.  When will they be ready?”

“Within twelve hours,” Xlipnor said, somewhat confused.  Xe had known humans to be mercurial in their moods, but had never seen such a change in body language – from anger to happiness.  It would have been fascinating under other circumstances.

“I’ll be back in twelve hours!” she said, and walked out.

Xlipnor did make the medication the human insisted she needed, but also spent much of that time researching the medical condition known as “schizophrenia” – as well as many other human conditions of the brain.  Xlipnor made a note to write into the Galactic Library to add to the human files, and that being that such conditions were considered so common that they were not deemed as basis for excluding humans from serving in their military – probably right alongside with the addendum that loss of limb was not basis for being unfit to serve.

((Not everyone with mental illness needs medication, and are perfectly fine without it.  I hope it was able to come across as more alien reaction to human mental illness and the treatments we have, and less mentally ill people need medication to function.))