History Main / SingleIssuePsychology

*** [[spoiler:Its more than that, Rage disorder, a chemical imbalance that can be as genetic as it is psychological, so maybe she can't help it, which explains why she just gets angrier after the story forces her to confront her issues and false assumptions that only hurt everyone, plus the fact she refuses to get treatment]]
** Ranma also averts this, his issues stem from [[spoiler:the systematic abuse from his father giving him a strict set of what a man should be, and his own morals and honor that his immoral parent didn't stamp out(probably since his wife would kill him and it makes Ranma easier to control), but more specifically in the fanfic, it comes from everyone blaming his foot in mouth coments for Akane's anger, leading even him to blame himself, no matter how far he goes to avoid anger her. Combined with how much he actually loves her, the fact that defending himself, which he is quite capable of, only makes her look at him with hate that finds worse than the injuries, this all leads to him becoming highly submissve depressed and unemotional as he feels that all of it is his fault for failing the one he loves, and feeling a failure as a man for all of this coming from a woman on top of the more emotional failings, never have I HATED Akane more than now.]]

-->-- '''[[Characters/NeonGenesisEvangelion Asuka Langley Soryuu]]''', ''[[http://www.toastyfrog.com/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailTheatre Toastyfrog's]] Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Despite the page quote, the situation with Asuka is a bit more complicated. Most of her mental issues reach back to her mother going insane and subsequently killing herself, fact, but it does seem as if she had problems beyond that. It's mentioned that her mother neglected Asuka even before her illness, and the rest of her childhood was apparently pretty bad too: her relationships with her father and stepmother seem to be horrible (in the flashback to the hanging scene, she mentions that she 'doesn't have a papa') and completely loveless respectively. She lumps them both in as people she ''hates''. Hearing her father and future stepmother going at it at the hospital probably contributed to her unhealthy attitude toward sex as well.

* Despite the page quote, the situation with [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Asuka]] is a bit more complicated. Most of her mental issues reach back to her mother going insane and subsequently killing herself, fact, but it does seem as if she had problems beyond that. It's mentioned that her mother neglected Asuka even before her illness, and the rest of her childhood was apparently pretty bad too: her relationships with her father and stepmother seem to be horrible (in the flashback to the hanging scene, she mentions that she 'doesn't have a papa') and completely loveless respectively. She lumps them both in as people she ''hates''. Hearing her father and future stepmother going at it at the hospital probably contributed to her unhealthy attitude toward sex as well.

* In a FlashBack storyline in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', Surma accidentally agrees to go on an entomological expedition despite having a severe phobia of insects. (She thought Tony said ''etymological''.) Then a bug lands on her notebook and has babies, and suddenly she loves them.

* Subverted in Literature/{{Trainspotting}}. Mark Renton (a drug addict) has several different psychiatrists trying to tell him that everything wrong with him is the result of a single issue, though they disagree on what the issue is. The fact that he doesn't believe them is confirmation that, despite being addled by heroin, he is by no means stupid.

* In ''Manga/NodameCantabile'', Chiaki is unable to pursue his dream of becoming a world-class conductor because an incident in his childhood ([[spoiler:watching a man die while their plane was crashing at the age of 10]]) gave him a phobia of flying. Partially averted in relation to the cure of the phobia, since [[spoiler: Nodame's hypnosis compels him to get on a plane, but he's still terrified, and only after many times traveling without incident does he get used to the experience]].

* In the ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fic, ''The Bitter End'', Akane's rage disorder is depicted as stemming from [[spoiler: Akane's "inability" to fight off Death and save her mother. (Note that Akane was barely older than a toddler when her mother died)]]. An obsession exacerbated by Ranma's seeming ability to overcome any opponent.
** Not quite, they list that as the starting point to her issues, which were built upon by [[spoiler: throwing herself into martial arts to make herself stronger (and yet never keeping up with Ranma later), her father emotionally abandoning all his daughters, Kuno's organized attacks souring her on men in general, and everyone supporting her unhealthy abuse of Ranma, who she ends up irrationally seeing as a trigger for her anger issues after thinking he tricked her into thinking he was female.]]

** Ranma also averts this, his issues stem from [[spoiler: the systematic abuse from his father giving him a strict set of what a man should be, and his own morals and honor that his immoral parent didn't stamp out(probably since his wife would kill him and it makes Ranma easier to control), but more specifically in the fanfic, it comes from everyone blaming his foot in mouth coments for Akane's anger, leading even him to blame himself, no matter how far he goes to avoid anger her. Combined with how much he actually loves her, the fact that defending himself, which he is quite capable of, only makes her look at him with hate that finds worse than the injuries, this all leads to him becoming highly submissve depressed and unemotional as he feels that all of it is his fault for failing the one he loves, and feeling a failure as a man for all of this coming from a woman on top of the more emotional failings, never have I HATED Akane more than now.]]

* Mel Brooks' character in the movie ''Film/HighAnxiety'', arguably a parody of this sort of thing. Arguably taken to the most unrealistically bizarre extreme possible. After spending the entire movie freaking out due to constantly being put into situations that involve extreme heights it turns out [[spoiler: his fear was not of heights but of... parents. Cue a flashback to Mel Brooks dressed like a baby superimposed behind two arguing parents, which is apparently the cause for everything. He then immediately gets over his fear of heights with no trouble whatsoever]].

* Subverted in ''Film/TheConversation''. Main character Harry Caul avoids his terror over having others harmed by his surveillance work by completely ignoring the consequences of what he does. At first, it seems like this is due to a vague job he did some years earlier involving a union dispute, but a DreamSequence has him narrate his early childhood to an unconcerned female passerby [[spoiler: including how he accidentally killed a friend of his father's]]. In the end, this isn't even the worst of his problems.

* Cleverly handled in John Carpenter's ''Film/TheWard''. The opening scene involves a seemingly insane young girl burning down a house and then being institutionalized for reasons she does not immediately understand. [[spoiler: In fact she's been there for longer than she realizes. She is suffering from split personality disorder, the other patients are not actually patients but merely her other personalities, and the ghost supposedly killing everyone is actually her true self gradually overcoming her psychological issues. As complex as all this is, it is revealed that it all started because she was kidnapped at a young age and sexually assaulted, escaping into delusions as a coping mechanism]].

* In ''Series/{{Monk}}'', while the title character has had his OCD and phobias since he was born, when he met his wife Trudy he began to suppress them and live a fairly normal life. When she was killed by a car bomb, they came back worse than ever, rendering Monk unable to leave his apartment for three years and barely able to function on his own even after he did. He's implied to get better again when he finally solves Trudy's murder [[spoiler: and meet her daughter Molly]] in the series finale.

*** Even further averted in relation to people like BigBad who are capable of hiding some issues from even the deepest mental probing, [[spoiler: the only reason you can cure Olieander is because his mind becomes tangled with the main character's less crazy mind]]. Not to mention the security guard whose mind was so twisted that Raz made him even ''worse'' after the boss fight.

** It's explored further in ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', as the heroes doubt doubt themselves and continue to wrestle with their old issues. [[spoiler: This is the basis of the Malevolent Entity's plan to steal their personas]]. They ultimately decide that they will likely never be able to resolve their issues completely, but they'll continue to work against them with the help of their friends.

* Flashbacks in ''WebVideo/{{Awkward}}'' reveal Alex's [[StalkerWithACrush stalkerish]] tendencies are rooted in [[spoiler: a series of bad dates and harsh rejections]]. Possibly justified in that the straw that broke the camel's back was him [[spoiler: being rejected for not being enough like [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Edward Cullen]].]]

* For the first fifty or so issues of ''ComicBook/{{Justice Society of America}}'', Obsidian was portrayed as a threat to himself and others and as suffering from symptoms superficially akin to schizophrenia. This culminated in his attempt to destroy the world, which was thwarted by his father's {{The Power of Love}} speech. Obsidian hasn't been in any need of treatment since then, judging by subsequent appearances: apparently, working through his daddy issues was enough to entirely cure him. In this case, the "voice" he was hearing was, in fact, genuinely another entity, making it less "paranoid schizophrenia" and more "daddy issues and receiving a metric tonne of malicious advice". It would still probably be more complicated than it was portrayed to resolve, but it's not ''quite'' as bad as curing schizophrenia. Also, in a recent issue one of his teammates worried aloud if had stopped taking his medication when he began to act strangely, suggesting that when not medicated his problems may return.

** Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' invented the proverbial "one bad day" concept, where the Joker tries to prove that a single instance of TraumaCongaLine can drive anyone insane, demonstrating it with the psychological and physical torture of Commissioner Gordon. It doesn't work on Gordon who despite being traumatized insists that Batman bring him to justice by-the-book. Psychologically speaking, Joker's literal approach i.e. spelling out exactly why he is doing and the purpose he wants to achieve on his victim is not conducive to creating the effect he wants and hence it's fairly easy for Gordon to resist. At the end of the story Batman tells Joker that his "one bad day" theory is bunk, that Joker is mentally ill, and while something bad may or may not have happened to him, Joker still has agency and culpability to try and cure himself. Joker briefly realizes this and decides that [[IgnoredEpiphany he won't get better after all]], and Batman himself laments that not only will Joker turn down his offer of help, but that he himself won't kill Joker for the greater good, since he doesn't believe himself to be sane to handle the responsibility of killing someone on his conscience. This part of Joker's characterization recurs in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but the Joker does it to [[spoiler: Harvey Dent]] this time, and [[spoiler: it works, resulting in Two-Face, mostly because Joker disguises it better, comes to Dent when he is alone and bitter with his co-workers and by use of the coin flip, [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslights]] Harvey into thinking that it is his decision]].

* Avoided in the ''{{Webomic/Terinu}}'' AU fanfics ''Grace of God'' and ''Spin Recovery''. The alternate universe version of Rufus did suffer from a major trauma, but he managed to inflict plenty of lesser ones upon himself in subsequent years, which he still has to attend therapy and take plenty of corrective drugs to deal with.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''FanFic/HuntingTheUnicorn''; Kurt and Blaine's issues stem from a number of factors, ranging from their own faults and insecurities to various events in their lives.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the Literature/{{Everworld}} series, with Jalil's OCD. One of the few things he likes about Everworld that there, his OCD goes away. Partially subverted in that it literally is like an on-off switch: he continues to experience it in the "real world" as he alternates between the two. Played with in a mental torture scene.

* In ''TheColorPurple,'' the high-spirited Sofia is a broken shell for some time after being released from prison. It takes just one opportunity to make a good joke at the dinner table to snap her out of it, and she's her old self again.

* Averted in TheRegenerationTrilogy, with the characters being based on real people and being set in a mental health institution. Although traumatic events are described, they are likened to the straw which breaks the camels back and it is the long gruelling state of the war in the trenches that is the cause for the patients breakdowns. Also, lots of focus is given to the patients' history prior to the war.

* Averted in ''[[Literature/TheTowerAndTheHive The Rowan]]'': After "Prime Travel Sickness" was found to have a single, psychosomatic cause[[note]]Siglen, who had an actual physical condition that caused the vertigo known as Travel Sickness, [[ItsAllAboutMe convinced herself]] that such must be the price paid by Prime-level Talents, thus mentally imprinted a similar condition on her peers.[[/note]], the only other Prime to actually be able to travel between worlds is The Rowan herself. She was shown as working at overcoming her mental blocks and later books of the series stated that she only leaves her home base of Io (Jupiter's moon) in case of emergencies.

Remember, TropesAreNotBad. If psychological healing were played with 100% complexity, certain mediums couldn't manage to deliver it in time. Movies, for example, have time limits of about 2-3 hours maximum, and it would be impossible to cram that much detail into the story without risking the EightDeadlyWords. Likewise, having a single issue by itself does not mean that a character is one-dimensional, provided the character himself sees that single issue as his sole issue (which does have a lot of psychological realism) and conditions his actions and his social world around that. If a story uses a single issue as a means and not an end, it's on solid ground. Going too far in the other direction, i.e. giving the character multiple issues risks beggaring disbelief in the audience that an individual with that much baggage could actually be functional or believable, and simply making everything about a character an "issue" is just as trivializing and misapplying psychology as single-issues can be at their most banal.

* Some of Freud's early formulations suggested that once you unearthed someone's big ol' trauma, they were cured. However, he became dissatisfied with this idea once he noticed some of his patients relapsing. Unfortunately, between his more dogmatic followers and those who only bothered to read his early writings, this trope got well-lodged into the zeitgeist and has been extensively mined (and even called "real psychology" even decades after Freud's death).
* Additionally, Freud and others eventually wrote that there is still a kernel of truth in this idea, but the effect of the 'one big trauma' tends to be more of the 'taking out the keystone of the arch of the coping mechanism' variety. All the other traumas and various other psychological issues were being dealt with healthily right up until this one trauma came along and, well, if you've ever seen what happens to an arch when the keystone is removed...Which, of course, ties back into the main complaint about this trope's misuse. Sure you can fix/rebuild/etc. a person's 'emotional keystone', but that won't rebuild the entire arch by itself.
* This is, however, somewhat TruthInTelevision in regard to three things.

In fiction, to serve the demands of narrative, i.e. telling a complete story with a beginning-middle-end and having CharacterDevelopment, these things are flattened out. Psychological therapy and its tropes mirror narrative in many ways, it involves a plot to find some mystery, to tie together disparate parts into a coherent whole. So this feeds into storytelling easily, as well as creating story-arc and character-arc, it's a handy way of creating a distinct ensemble that [[RuleOfPerception sticks out to readers]], simply give different characters different issues and have them grow and change by identifying and then overcoming those problems. It's much easier when all a person's problems stem from a single traumatic incident, and [[EpiphanyTherapy working through that single incident will instantly cure them]], so fiction tends to represent character psychology in this way, especially genre fiction where much of the story is about an external plot and not character. In a plot, using such a trope explains the character to the audience, allows the latter to empathize with the main character, and likewise the action of the plot becomes emotionally resonant since audiences are aware how it directly affects the character in his inner being. Expect realistic drama and serious fiction to avert this, or complicate this and stories with {{Deconstruction}} heavily subvert and at times mock this concept.

* Creator/AlanMoore (of ''The Killing Joke'', above) actually dislikes this trope or more precisely the way this trope is applied in comics to merely motivate and explain character actions and plot, which in his view makes the character automatons who are reducible to their neurosis, and so not capable of agency and change:
** Alan Moore stated that the main reason ''The Killing Joke'' was, in his opinion, an unsuccessful work was that his application of psychological problems on larger-than-life comic book characters never really worked since the nature of the character and its function was that any complex origin ultimately becomes a single issue excuse for characterization.

* In ''Film/CitizenKane'', all of Kane's psychological problems are rooted in him having been taken from his mother when he was eight. This lack of love led to him spending the rest of his life trying (and failing) to win other people's love through superficial means. Although there is one root cause for all his problems, there is still no happy ending for him...

** Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', where the Joker tries to prove that going through one bad experience can change someone into a maniac like him, in this case Commissioner Gordon by kidnapping him, abusing him, and crippling his daughter. It doesn't work. At the end of the story Batman tells Joker that his "one bad day" theory is bunk, and he is a mentally ill man who needs help and should take it when it's offered- the Joker, saddened by the revelation that he was the one with the problem and there is more to his madness than just a traumatic experience, tells Batman that it's probably too late for him.

** Similar thing happens in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but the Joker does it to [[spoiler: Harvey Dent]] this time, and this time [[spoiler: it works, resulting in Two-Face]]. However, there are at least hints that Harvey was already on the slippery slope when the Joker pushed him off.
** There's also Two Face in the comics rather than the movie, who originally only had his scarring to contribute to his insanity. Eventually, he was given a severely screwed up mentality including issues due to AbusiveParents and problems with rage, which the scarring only pushed into pure insanity. He was also secretly violently schizophrenic, and actually murdered someone (a SerialKiller who got OffOnATechnicality) ''before'' the scarring.
* Creator/AlanMoore (of ''The Killing Joke'', above) actually deeply dislikes this trope, believing instead that characters should be complex enough that their personalities can't easily be encompassed by short blanket summaries. He mocked the concept in Writing for Comics: "I was just standing there, looking at my stamp album and the priceless collection that it had taken me years to build, [[SeriousBusiness when all of a sudden I realized that since I had foolishly pasted all of them directly into the album using an industrial-strength adhesive, they were completely worthless. I understood then that the universe was just a cruel joke upon mankind, and that life was pointless. I became completely cynical about human existence and saw the essential stupidity of all effort and human striving.]] At this point I decided to join the police force."

Remember, TropesAreNotBad. If psychological healing were played with 100% complexity, certain mediums couldn't manage to deliver it in time. Movies, for example, have time limits of about 2-3 hours maximum, and it would be impossible to cram that much detail into the story without risking the EightDeadlyWords. Likewise, having a single issue by itself does not mean that a character is one-dimensional, provided the character himself sees that single issue as his sole issue (which does have a lot of psychological realism) and conditions his actions and his social world around that. If a story uses a single issue as a means and not an end, it's on solid ground.

* Subverted in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', where the Joker tries to prove that going through one bad experience can change someone into a maniac like him, in this case Commissioner Gordon by kidnapping him, abusing him, and crippling his daughter. It doesn't work. At the end of the story Batman tells Joker that his "one bad day" theory is bunk, and he is a mentally ill man who needs help and should take it when it's offered- the Joker, saddened by the revelation that he was the one with the problem and there is more to his madness than just a traumatic experience, tells Batman that it's probably too late for him.

* ComicBook/{{Magneto}} averts this, despite how most adaptations portray it. The Holocaust was as horrifyingly traumatic for him as you'd expect, but in the mainstream comics it actually took him a couple of decades worth of ''other'' horrifying incidents to make him into a supervillain. Principal amongst them is the murder of his daughter by an angry mob (and abandonment by his wife after going berserk with his new-found powers on them); followed by befriending and falling out with Charles Xavier over budding ideological differences after fighting Neo-Nazi's; then working for and being betrayed by a Western Intelligence agency so they could help a Nazi defect, killing his then-girlfriend in the process...[[TraumaCongaLine and a few other things besides all that]]. It's only ''then'' that he actually becomes Magneto, and even after all that it was suggested his behaviour can be explained by his powers giving him Bi Polar Disorder and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity driving him insane]], assuming he's not just a JerkAss because thats who he is.
** Further, a great deal of his ''current'' characterization stems from an incident published in 1981 (''Uncanny'' #150), when Magneto nearly kills Kitty Pryde, but stops when he sees her Star of David. One big WhatHaveIBecome moment sets up his HeelFaceTurn, which has mostly stuck.

In real life psychological issues stem from many sources -- some biological, some cognitive, and some related to experiences and memories -- and overcoming them often takes lots of time, effort, and sometimes medication. While finding the source of the problem is important to helping a mentally ill patient, it is only part of the process, seeing as it simply allows the psychiatrist to get an understanding of just what ''is'' wrong. Once the source of the problem is found and they understand how the mind has been affected by whatever causes, it makes it easier to work out the proper methods and/or medication necessary to help the patient overcome it.

However, this is a little too complicated for fiction. It's much easier when all a person's problems stem from a single traumatic incident, and [[EpiphanyTherapy working through that single incident will instantly cure them]], so fiction tends to represent psychology this way. Remember, TropesAreNotBad. If psychological healing were played with 100% complexity, certain mediums couldn't manage to deliver it in time. Movies, for example, have time limits of about 2-3 hours maximum, and it would be impossible to cram that much detail into the story without risking the EightDeadlyWords.

* Averted in a [[ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX Punisher One Shot story]]. Most people believe everything Frank Castle does is due to his family's death, while journalists, authors, psychologists and other researchers look into his history and pin it on Vietnam. In actuality The Punisher didn't spring from any one event, his issues built cumulatively and not just from traumatic events either. Reading "The Tyger" in a poetry group inspired a [[NightmareFetishist fascination]] with the greatest killers in the animal kingdom.

* Batman's life, obsession, and psyche hinges on the night his parents were killed in front of him. Later events (the death of the second Robin, nearly shooting Alexander Luthor, being cast through time by a mad god) merely add nuance to his behavior.

* SpiderMan's obsession with being Spider-Man stems entirely from his guilt over letting a robber get away who wound up killing Uncle Ben. He consistently reminds himself that ''the one time'' he ignored his "responsibility" it cost him his father figure.
** However, the comic and even the live action films show even this as not being enough to keep Peter in the game at times and he leaves crimefighting, or tries to cash in, or tries to have his powers stripped away. Anytime he begins to act selfish, karma slaps him in the face and sets him straight. Of course, it tends to smack him in the face even when he's done nothing wrong at all.

* About halfway through Creator/PeterDavid's legendary run writing ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'', psychologist Doc Samson sits down with Bruce Banner (and a hypnotist), and tries to work through Banner's issues, particularly his multiple personality disorder. A few hours later, they've covered his abusive childhood and the death of his mother, and suddenly all the personalities are integrated, presto-change-o, and we have a new Hulk, who doesn't transform back into Banner. Lampshaded, in that Samson repeatedly mentions how most people need years of therapy, and there's no way it could have been that simple. (It wasn't.) There are suggestions it ''might'' have taken hold if Hulk didn't keep brushing off Samson's follow-up sessions due to superhero business.

* The title character of the rock opera ''{{Tommy}}'' is thrown into a borderline catatonic state by the childhood trauma of watching in a mirror as his mother's second husband kills his biological father.. After years of unsuccessful attempts to treat his condition, his mother loses her temper and smashes the mirror he's staring into -- and he's ''instantly cured''.

** Averted in ''Film/BatmanBegins''. The death of Thomas and Martha Wayne were the main reason that lead Bruce to become the dark avenger that he was later, but it was still only one of the many incidents that contributed to it.

*** Batman: The Animated Series explored this as well; see the Western Animation section, below.

* About halfway through PeterDavid's legendary run writing ''TheIncredibleHulk,'' psychologist Doc Samson sits down with Bruce Banner (and a hypnotist), and tries to work through Banner's issues, particularly his multiple personality disorder. A few hours later, they've covered his abusive childhood and the death of his mother, and suddenly all the personalities are integrated, presto-change-o, and we have a new Hulk, who doesn't transform back into Banner. Lampshaded, in that Samson repeatedly mentions how most people need years of therapy, and there's no way it could have been that simple. (It wasn't.) There are suggestions it ''might'' have taken hold if Hulk didn't keep brushing off Samson's follow-up sessions due to superhero business.

* In ''Film/ThePenalty'', "Barbary Nell", one of Blizzard's prostitutes, attempts to leave his control. So he orders a junkie to stab her to death, and uses her as an example to all the other women in his stable.

* Is, however, somewhat TruthInTelevision in regard to three things.

** Someone being removed from a situation of abuse/leaving a situation of abuse, leaving a high demand organization, or freed from slavery can experience a ''huge'' amount of relief and happiness upon leaving, especially if they've realized the situation as abusive/enslavement/manipulative or the like. Whether they actually need ''intense'' follow up psychological and psychiatric care (such as inpatient or programs or the like, as opposed to a counselor they are free to contact or not contact) depends on the person, how long they were "in," what their own coping mechanisms are, what types of abuse and control they experienced, and far more individually.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the {{Everworld}} series, with Jalil's OCD. One of the few things he likes about Everworld that there, his OCD goes away. Partially subverted in that it literally is like an on-off switch: he continues to experience it in the "real world" as he alternates between the two. Played with in a mental torture scene.

* In ''NodameCantabile'', Chiaki is unable to pursue his dream of becoming a world-class conductor because an incident in his childhood ([[spoiler:watching a man die while their plane was crashing at the age of 10]]) gave him a phobia of flying. Partially averted in relation to the cure of the phobia, since [[spoiler: Nodame's hypnosis compels him to get on a plane, but he's still terrified, and only after many times traveling without incident does he get used to the experience]].

* Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka relies heavily on this trope. Nearly all of the students (and several of the other teachers) have incredibly hostile personalities, but once Onizuka finds out about the traumatic event in their pasts, one dramatic example is usually enough to at least tone them down, although many continue to struggle with their old problems throughout the series, or acquire new ones.

** Arguably, she doesn't really get a handle on her issues until she starts looking after the bionic kids at Grissom Academy. Much as she helps them, it's very subtly indicated that they've helped her ''far'' more.

** I guess if you watch the film with this trope in mind it could come off that way, but the movie itself didn't seem to imply that he was all better now. Rather, he had finally turned a corner, admitted to himself what he was feeling and what he really wanted, and let himself be vulnerable with another person. This breakthrough gives him the confidence to face his fear of abandonment and pursue his love interest across the country. Facing a fear doesn't mean you aren't afraid anymore though...