Basic Trope: Someone learns something that is from their perspective and the context of the story, very horrible that was something secret or hidden and they end up going insane because of it.
- Straight: Alice sees something, reads something, or is told something either purposely or accidentally and it makes her go off the deep end.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice reads a completely mundane fact and it makes her go off the deep end.
- The truth is so horrible to take that Alice is Driven to Suicide because of it
- Downplayed:
- Bob learns something that, while it doesn't make him go insane, it deeply disturbs him and he may never be quite the same because of it.
- The secret, though shocking and unpleasant, would not have normally driven Alice insane. But she was already under a lot of stress and trauma at the time.
- Bob only develops PTSD and depression from the revelation - despite being mental illnesses he is still grounded in reality.
- Inverted:
- Alice has gone insane, but is told something that makes her go back to lucidity.
- The truth that is revealed to Kevin not only doesn't make him go crazy, it makes him become more sane or cures his insanity.
- Justified:
- Those who lack the mental understanding can go insane from such a big secret.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
- Subverted:
- Alex is completely shaken by a shocking secret, he eventually gets over it.
- Alex is the only one who reacts that way - it just caused his carefully crafted Mask of Sanity to shatter by being outside his dogmatic idea of normal. An actually sane person even if they greet it with skepticism would evaluate it and conclude it to be true in the face of evidence.
- Alex's mind wasn't broken by the secret,
- It's the incomplete nature of the revalation that makes Alex crazy, once he knows everything he gets a grip.
- Double Subverted:
- ...unfortunately, it sinks in and he slowly loses his sanity.
- Alex soon goes crazy again, there is to much information for him to finally understand everything.
- Averted:
- Jill is not at all bothered by whatever information she uncovers in spite of how earthshaking it is.
- No disturbing secret goes further than a strong urge to hit the bar.
- Parodied: Bob learns that Santa Claus does not exist, and never recovers from it.
- Zigzagged: In a Cosmic Horror setting those exposed to it show a nihilism and a chilling certainty as they learn the true nature of the universe. They unflinchingly engage in seemingly abominable acts yet it is straightforward once you know the reason, albeit deeply disturbing. They are still alienated from the rest of humanity and look deranged to those not similiarly sane.
- Invoked: The precursors ran a sociological experiment and engineered humans to go insane if they discovered evidence of the experiment to minimize any damage they could do to it.
- Exploited: Bob knows Alice can't handle the secret and purposely tells her, hoping it would drive her crazy.
- Discussed: "The truth... it's too much! I'm losing my mind!"
- Conversed: "Be careful, man. If you're unable to handle this big secret, you're likely to go mad."
No don't! If you head back to Go Mad from the Revelation you will go insane!
