History Main / MentalShutdown

** It's eventually revealed that there's a principle known as Rossum's Trinity. This principle posits that a Transformer has 3 vital interlinked parts, and enough damage to (or total destruction of) any one component can cause the other two to shut down and result in death. One of those parts is the brain module, while the two parts are the transformation cog and the [[OurSoulsAreDifferent Spark]].

!!As a DeathTrope, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff spoilers are unmarked on this page]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

* ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation'': Upon learning that the stick figures escaped from the parkour trap, King gets so angry that he makes an example out of an innocent Piglin by casting the noAI command, eliminating its sapience.

** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'': The ultimate fate of Kars after getting launched into the stratosphere on Isola di Volgana. He's launched into space at escape velocity and freezes before he can reverse his direction, floating off into space as an unkillable, completely stationary superbeing. Eventually, he stops thinking.

** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'': The ultimate fate of Kars after getting launched into the stratosphere on Isola di Volgana. He was launched into space at escape velocity and froze before he could reverse his direction, floating off into space as an unkillable, completely stationary superbeing. Eventually, he stopped thinking.

** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'': The ultimate fate of Kars after getting launched into the stratosphere on Isola di Volgana. He was launched into space at escape velocity and froze before he could reverse his direction, floating off into space as an unkillable, completely stationary superbeing. Evenutally, he stopped thinking.

** A Zero point is a form of injury that can occur when a Transformer takes damage to the head or chest. The Spark travels through the body, turning the otherwise lifeless metal into the parts of a living Transformer; a Zero point is a microscopic fissure that opens and prevents the Spark from making its way through the body. This leaves the Transformer alive but comatose, slowly dying as the body shuts down due to loss of contact with the Spark. Ultra Magnus was said to have recovered from this kind of injury, while Springer likewise [[JustForPun springs back]] after his comrade Roadbuster manages to trigger an emotional reaction.

* ''Creator/IDWPublishing'':
** In IDW's ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comics (including ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries'' and ''ComicBook/TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers''), it's eventually revealed that there's a principle known as Rossum's Trinity. This principle posits that a Transformer has 3 vital interlinked parts, and enough damage to (or total destruction of) any one component can cause the other two to shut down and result in death. One of those parts is the brain module, while the two parts are the transformation cog and the [[OurSoulsAreDifferent Spark]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond:'' Jackson Chappell, Bane's caretaker and Venom dealer, ends up in this state after a combination of Venom overdose and a chemical explosion. Batman finds him in the ruins relatively unharmed, but ''completely'' unresponsive to any stimuli, just staring straight ahead and drooling. He's never seen again after his episode, either.

** "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E21And22WildCards Wild Cards]]:" The Joker claims InsanityImmunity when it comes to Ace's MindRape powers, but when she discovers he had been using her just like everyone else in her life had, she decides to test how far this goes and turns her powers up to the max. The result drives Joker into such a pit of madness he just collapses onto the floor, utterly catatonic and entirely gone. While chronologically this takes place before ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' and thus he presumably recovered, this is the last time he's ever seen in the series.
** "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E24To26Starcrossed Starcrossed]]:" Martian Manhunter accidentally shuts down a Thanagarian pilot called Kragger in this manner, after being forced to "[[ImmunityAttrition try harder]]" to read his mind and figure out how to fly his ship. Kragger needed to be mounted into advanced, specialized machinery to make him anything more than a vegetable in later episodes, and even then he was ''very'' feebleminded.
** After defeating Mordred in the episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E3KidStuff Kid Stuff]]," he loses his eternal youth, [[AgeWithoutYouth but not his immortality]]. This leaves him completely unresponsive, trapped in a body that has aged thousands of years in seconds.

* Done to death (or lackthereof) in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.

** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spren]] can't be killed, but can be driven into permanent catatonia by overwhelming injury or pain. Also, if they [[OathboundPower bond with a Knight Radiant]] who then breaks their vow, the spren is reduced to a mindless automaton called a Deadeye. In ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'', a Deadeye shows signs of recovery for the first time in history.

* ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation'': Upon learning that the stick figures escaped from the parkour trap, King gets so angry that he makes an example out of an innocent Piglin by casting the noAI command, eliminating it's sapience.

* Clinical depression can cause anhedonia, or the inability to derive pleasure from things you once enjoyed. Some cases can even induce [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_affect_display constricted affect]], reducing a person's range of emotional expression and sometimes making it nearly impossible to express them at all (shallow or "flat" affect). [[FromBadToWorse On top of that, depression can be a risk factor in contracting Alzheimer's disease]]...

** ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'': Due to [[TheMagicGoesAway the loss of their magic]], Elantrians [[MortalityGreyArea can neither die nor heal]], so all their injuries hurt as if they were fresh. If they're hurt too badly, the pain drives them into permanent catatonia. [[spoiler:Zig-zagged at the finale when TheMagicComesBack and heals them.]]
** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spren]] can't be killed, but can be driven into permanent catatonia by overwhelming injury or pain. Also, if they [[OathboundPower bond with a Knight Radiant]] who then breaks their vow, the spren is reduced to a mindless automaton called a Deadeye. In ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'', [[spoiler:a Deadeye shows signs of recovery for the first time in history.]]

** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spren]] can't be killed, but can be driven into permanent catatonia by overwhelming injury or pain. Also, if they [[OathboundPower bond with a Knight Radiant]] who then breaks their vow, the spren is reduced to a mindless automaton called a Deadeye. In ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'', [[spoiler:a Deadeye shows signs of recovery, an apparent impossibility that had never been seen before.]]

** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spren]] can't be killed, but can be driven into permanent catatonia by overwhelming injury or pain. Also, if they [[OathboundPowers bond with a Knight Radiant]] who then breaks their vow, the spren is reduced to a mindless automaton called a Deadeye. In ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'', [[spoiler:a Deadeye shows signs of recovery, an apparent impossibility that had never been seen before.]]

!As a DeathTrope, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff spoilers will be unmarked on this page]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': This was Junko's ultimate plot in orchestrating the killing game. With the avatars of the remnants dead, their bodies in the real world are left without functioning brains. Junko planned to infect the dead students' brains with her conciousness, but Hajime uses his newfound hope power to summon Usami and destroy her. At the end of the game, the living students isolate themselves on the real Jabberwock Island to hopefully restore the brains of their friends.

** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Batttle Tendency]]'': The ultimate fate of Kars after getting launched into the stratosphere on Isola di Volgana. He was launched into space at escape velocity and froze before he could reverse his direction, floating off into space as an unkillable, completely stationary superbeing. Evenutally, he stopped thinking.

* Done to death (or lackthereof) in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure''.

%%** Depending on the player's choice, this can happen to Yukino in ''VideoGame/Persona2: Innocent Sin'' after her Shadow commits suicide.

!!As a form of DeathTrope, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff spoilers will be unmarked on this page]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

What if your brain stopped working, but you aren't dead? Well for one thing, that would certainly lead to a lot of SurrealHorror, after all the catatonic state of not being able to think is certainly harrowing. Common causes include: [[DespairEventHorizon an extremely traumatic incident one can't recover from]], [[MindRape an assualt on your senses to the point where the brain shuts down]], and [[MindReformatDeath having your personality be overwritten entirely]].

The brain is the orchestrator of the symphony known as the human body. All functions of your body are monitored, regulated, and controlled by your brain, wheter you consciously think about it or not. If your brain's connection to your body is severed, so to will your soul be to this mortal coil. At least, that's the working theory.

What if your brain stopped working, but you aren't dead? Well for one that would certainly lead to a lot of SurrealHorror, after all the catatonic state of not being able to think is certainly harrowing. Common causes include: [[DespairEventHorizon an extremely traumatic incident one can't recover from]], [[MindRape an assualt on your senses to the point where the brain shuts down]], and [[MindReformatDeath having your personality be overwritten entirely]].

** After defeating Mordred in the episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E3KidStuff Kid Sutff]]," he loses his eternal youth, [[AgeWithoutYouth but not his immortality]]. This leaves him completely unresponsive, trapped in a body that has aged thousands of years in seconds.

* ''Videogame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2:'' Conversations with Team Plasma members after the final confrontation mention [[spoiler:Ghetsis Harmonia]] got stuck in such a state after his VillainousBreakdown, driven to such depths of furious madness by his final defeat that he just burned out and stopped responding.

* ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'': Happens briefly to Doctor Octopus after Peter administers his cure. It gives everyone a scare that they're in the hands of someone who'll accidentally kill them until he jolts back into consciousness with a more optimistic attitude.

** Depending on the player's choice, this can happen to Yukino in ''VideoGame/Persona2: Innocent Sin'' after her Shadow commits suicide.