Sandbox / Ambiguous Disorder Wick Check

Ambiguous Disorder

• Concern: Unclear definition, attracts Speculative Troping
• Wicks: 3783, but still rapidly growing

60/60

Character shows symptoms of X (armchair diagnosis)

• Characters.Bambi Ronno: "His narcissism, selfishness, ruthlessness, lack of empathy for others and willingness to do petty things whenever it benefits him suggest signs of Antisocial personality disorder. That, or he's just a jerk to the core." Suggests that he has this disorder without actual proof and then suggests he either has that disorder or he is just a jerk.
• Characters.Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends: Under Terrance: He can be so sociopathic to the point where it verges on mental disturbance. His intelligence also suggests something of a learning disability, as he has very stupid moments for a teenager. Learning disability is considered a disorder I believe so I am filing it here
• Characters.Heroes Rise: "Their poor impulse control, intense emotions, volatile moods, and apparent “with me or against me” mentality makes a fair case for borderline personality disorder."
• Characters.My Candy Love: "Although you can control almost all of Candy's responses to people and some of the actions she takes, the one thing the player can't control is her thoughts. Candy's constant worrying, jumping to negative conclusions, fearing negative outcomes, low self-esteem, and going through some pretty emotionally stressful situations all point to the idea that she may have an anxiety disorder. Signs appear throughout 'High School Life' and 'University Life' goes on to continue the trend." Armchair diagnosis of Anxiety Disorder.
• Film.Monkey Shines: Given she is a Stepford Smiler, but also a mean spirited selfish Control Freak at the same time which surfaces when she refuses to take no for an answer or have Melanie look after Allan, it's possible Dorothy suffers from bipolar disorder.
• Series.Love Hate: Luke has some kind of condition. He lives in squalor and he has a tendency towards hanging around outside people's houses. Darren and Nidge kill him when his stalking of Mary has become too much.
• WebAnimation.Silver Quill: Dr. Wolf wonders out loud in "Spike Speculation" that Silver has an actual psychological issue. Much of his behavior loans itself to sociopathy (lying, It Amused Me, deliberate manipulation of others) and he responds to a rhetorical question of being crazy with a sincere yes. His Too Kinky to Torture behavior also lends credit. Armchair Sociopathy diagnosis.
• VideoGame.Rule Of Rose: Some fans have taken to interpreting Eleanor's extreme introversion and stoicism, combined with her overwhelming obsession with birds and odd rationale thereof (wanting to "sprout wings [like a bird] and fly away") as indicative of an autism spectrum disorder. This is also said of Thomas' obsession with trains, and of his making his toy train's route an eternal loop without a final destination, for - according to Jennifer - reaching the end of the line "would've broken his heart." Some of the other girls' behaviors certainly seem to point at various mental illnesses: Diana may be a narcissist (or possibly a borderliner); Clara has very obvious PTSD; and Wendy is a textbook sociopath. Fan speculation of specific diagnoses.
• Series.The Sopranos: While Ralph Cifaretto has several signs of anti-social personality disorder, he seems to really care about his son Justy, so his highly impulsive, borderline-sociopathic personality is probably due to his drug addiction. Other two examples in the weird/awkward/insane-like folder.
• GameOfThrones.Tropes A:
  • Viserys exhibits the extreme mood swings between rage and depression commonly attributed to bipolar people.
  • Several characters (Joffrey, Ramsay and Euron especially) appear to be sociopaths. Also a ZCE. Two more examples are in the meant to have X folder.
• Recap.I Carly S 01 Ep 25 I Have A Lovesick Teacher: For her mood swings in this episode, it's possible Ms. Ackerman suffers from bipolar disorder.
• WebAnimation.Dumbland: Uncle Bob's bizarre mannerisms (such as vomiting, gagging himself, hitting himself and others around him) appears to show traits of Tourette's syndrome.

Character is weird/awkward/insane-like (comes from the time the trope was called Ambiguously Autistic, but is still used this way)

• Characters.Monte Fjanton: Morgan is obsessed with conspiracy theories and seems to have no interest in anything outside of this field, struggles with social interactions, has an eccentric style of dress (while being unaware that other characters think it looks weird), lacks empathy, and has no qualms about using lies and deception to push his own agenda. Then again, as he's a reptilian, this might be justified.
• Characters.Star Trek Deep Space Nine Quarks Bar: By Ferengi standards, his lack of business sense — in a society that is almost entirely based on commerce — makes him an outlier. But even among other humanoids, Rom is somewhat... odd. He has difficulty expressing himself, occasionally blurts out his thoughts, and can't read social cues.
• Characters.The Egypt Game: "Taking all of his traits into account (see below), he's very likely to be on the autism spectrum, but this is never referenced in-story."
• Characters.Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends:
  • Under Goo—"She has a common tendency to get distracted, constantly change subjects, and can never turn off her Motor Mouth mode.This page has 4 examples of the trope so I will sort them accordingly
  • Under Cheese: "You can't really pin down what's wrong with him, as he's loud, infantile, almost completely unaware of what's going on, hyperactive, and, for some reason, seems to have almost savant-like memory. Most likely it's just an amalgam of general "mentally challenged" stereotypes. "
• DarthWiki.PROTOCOL: "He's socially-awkward (at first), occasionally Literal-Minded, has a prevalent obsession with cooking and can recall seventeen recipes from memory, at times seemingly oblivious to danger, and he doesn't pick up on some social cues from Roxanne or anyone (at first)."
• Film.Reign Over Me: "Charlie for the most part appears to have high functioning autism due to childlike behavior, stimming by listening to music, social awkwardness and preference of solitude. However his behavior is actually a result of untreated PTSD/Depression and prolonged grief induced isolation as he used to be more social. While it isn't confirmed or acknowledged, Charlie appears to have autistic coding to his character."
• Literature.Fall Or Dodge In Hell: Corvallis seems to be somewhere on the autism spectrum. He's a genius who loves data and facts, but he's somewhat socially awkward and he tends to speak in a blunt and stiff manner when trying to relate emotionally to people. Pluto, on the other hand, is very clearly autistic.
• Series.CSI: Gil Grissom is all sorts of quirky and odd, a bit too literal, not exactly social, but not exactly unsocial either, kinda fumbling...how much so, it just depends on what the script calls for.
• Series.Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: "The show's version of Ami seems to have an even harder time fitting in than her manga or anime counterparts, and is unable to understand sarcasm or social cues. There's even an entire episode where Ami worries that she's a bad friend after mistaking Usagi and Naru's jokes for genuine expressions of disdain."
• UsefulNotes.Iran: Bache-mosbat: Young bookworms who have autistic-like behavior.
• Series.The Sopranos:
  • Tony Soprano himself. Between his Lack of Empathy, Hair-Trigger Temper, uncontrolled outburst of frustration, and grandiose sense of entitlement, there's definitely something wrong with him. While the psychiatrists in the show clearly diagnose Tony as an incurable criminal psychopath, there are several moments throughout the series when he is seen expressing true remorse for his actions as well as acting on genuine feelings of altruism, so yeah, he has a vague mental disorder left to viewers' interpretation.
  • Christopher Moltisanti, who has emotional outbursts, fits of alternating aggression and depression, and serious attention deficit difficulties. He self-medicates through drug abuse. His various undiagnosed mental problems are brought up by other characters on multiple occasions. Third example located in the armchair dianogsis folder.
• Film.The Smurfs 2: Hackus shows signs of being mentally challenged like incoherent speech, repetitively licking puddle water, no social skills or cues and doesn’t comprehend the fact Gargamel called him a “moron” when picking who should go and kidnap Smurfette. Not sure if having his tongue sticking out most the time is anything.
• Literature.The Overstory: Adam is considered "socially retarded" by his school (growing up in the 1960s where diagnoses would be less widespread), is Super Gullible as a child and Hates Being Touched. One of his colleagues as an adult refers to him as "borderline autistic".
• Series.Cucumber: Something is deeply wrong with Daniel, even being called "insane" by one character.
• Webcomic.Savestate: It's never brought up directly, but Kade's obsessive behavior with regards to video games, moments of overreacting, and trouble catching social cues could be indicative of some form of autism.

Character is actually diagnosed (not this trope)

• Fanfic.Daydreams And Nightmares: Subverted with Nin - she is explicitly stated to have Asperger's Syndrome and shows many of the traits and signs of it (introspection, anxiety, Big Eater tendencies, etc.) Probably because she - like all the Dreamers - is based off a real acquaintance of the author.
• Literature.A Study In Moonlight: "Zigzagged. Viviane does have an actual diagnosis (Asperger's Syndrome), but she's very private about it, and even people in the mental health field often don't know what to make of her. So to most of the people around her, she's "Weird Not Otherwise Specified." She was also misdiagnosed with sociopathy at one point." Called "Zig-zagged", however it's diagnosed and the ambiguous part is an In-Universe reaction.
• Literature.Roxy Was Here: Thoroughly Averted, as Roxy explicitly spells out her various neuro-nontypicalities in chapter 3: ADHD, depression, and Asperger's. Her power mostly suppresses them nowadays, but they reappear when she gets sufficiently drunk. Noted as an Averted Trope

Character's symptoms are meant to correspond with X

• Characters.Dracula Literature: He's presented as intelligent but strangely mentally impaired. He is charismatic, good with languages and capable of planning, but also rigid in his thoughts, overly habitual, incapable of higher abstract thinking, selfish, and emotionally unbalanced, ranging from shallow affect to violent fits of rage. Professor Van Helsing speculatively characterizes him as a "criminal personality" in the novel, a now-obsolete diagnosis which is in some ways similar (but not equivalent) to the modern idea of sociopathy.
• Characters.We Happy Few: Well, not that ambiguous, since Word of God is that Percy is on the Autistic Spectrum but he was never diagnosed because Autism hadn't been properly discovered in the 40's. He was often described as "dim" or "slow" by many characters. He always mentioned the dates and times of events he described, he wasn't very good at reading people's emotional states, and not only was he a rubbish liar, he didn't seem to understand why telling a girl's mum that he was in a tree outside her bedroom instead of his brother doesn't actually help. Understanding why people are upset was also not one of his strengths, as he reacted with confusion when Arthur got mad at him for spending the whole day riding the tube up and down without telling anyone where he was. He also had a limited vocabulary, a bad stammer, and he often used words or phrases wrong. Also the only person he felt comfortable talking to was Arthur. Additionally Arthur mentions that Percy didn't like toys because they were just imitations and he wasn't fond of anything that wasn't the real thing - which has a Hidden Meaning in how Joy doesn't provide real happiness. Percy is intended to be seen as Autistic, but just isn't diagnosed in the story.
• FanFic.Freezer Burn: Tony is implied to be Bipolar, with Peggy sadly observing that, like his father, he's prone to "extraordinary highs and unfathomable lows". His alcohol consumption is implied to be both a cause of and caused by it.
• FanFic.Historys Strongest Shinobi: While very competent and of decent intellect, Naruto is hyperactive, has a short attention span, misses obvious social cues at times unless it involves fighting or him getting maimed and/or killed and has an interest in fighting. At one point the narration lampshades this by explaining how his friends honestly think Naruto has a undiagnosed attention disorder.
• Series.The Act:
  • Nick is never given a specific diagnosis, and his mother describes him as being mentally similar to a 15-year-old. The real Nick Godejohn's lawyers described him in court as having autism and a low IQ, and Godejohn himself claimed to have dissociative identity disorder at various times.
  • Most of the time, Nick is pretty dumb. At times, he's downright stupid and incapable of basic reasoning. However, there are times when he thinks ahead even more than Gypsy (for example, the Facebook Location setting).
• GameOfThrones.Tropes A:
  • Cersei's black and white concept of friends and enemies, penchant for risky indulgences like adultery and alcoholism, poor control of her emotions, and difficulty empathizing with others have led to a popular theory that she has Borderline Personality Disorder. Word of God is that she has Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
  • Tywin all but states that Jaime suffered from dyslexia as a child. Two more examples are in the armchair diagnosis folder.
• Literature.Bunny: Samantha has clear signs of schizophrenia. Lampshaded when a clearly schizophrenic woman who sits next to her on the bus reads a schizophrenia pamphlet out loud, and Samantha wonders if she has it herself.

Character has a Fictional Disability/some sort of weird quirk

• PlayingWith.Cannot Tell A Lie: "Alice has a developmental disorder that keeps her from seeing things abstractly, which makes up a big part of lying." Without anything else to go on, this hypothetical example may as well just be a hypothetical fake disorder.
• YMMV.The Magic Book Of Spells: "Dirhhennia the Heaped was seemingly born with an Ambiguous Disorder that made her obsessed with balls, alongside chronic depression." "Obsessed with balls" sounds like a weird quirk without much else to go on.

ZCE/murky

• Characters.Black Wolves Saga: It's clear that he and his brother have been warped and twisted by their background.
• Characters.Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends: Under Louise—"Of a physical variety, rather than a mental one, and it's not clear what her physical disorder is. We just know that she's some kind of special needs."
• Characters.Japanoschlampen: She's clearly not well and she displays symptoms of several mental illnesses, but none of them point to any specific disorder.
• Characters.Pizza: Commented-out trope-name-only ZCE
• Characters.Persona Mindscapes: "It's pretty clear that her outbursts of violence aren't just the byproduct of a bad temper." Is it implying Intermittent Explosive Disorder? Or...?
• Characters.The Property Of Hate: Many fans headcanon her having autism, for reasons best explained in this post. Weblink example.
• Characters.Valentine: When confronted by the killer, Gary, who is trying on Kate's pantyhose, tries to bargain for his life by saying that he is "not well." We don't learn what disorder he has because he gets beaten to death immediately afterward.]] Not sure if this was alluding to an actual disorder. Skimming through the page the character was a deranged stalker so probably meant not well in that way
• Film.Chocolat: "Subverted; Rosette has cri du chat or "cry of the cat". Vianne reveals this in a flashback. Played straight with Thierry's son." Two examples, technically, but both are missing context. Also, it'd only be subverted if the audience had reason to suspect the disorder wouldn't be named
• Headscratchers.Super: "Frank is the narrator, so what we're seeing is his conclusions of how things turned out. The audience is just supposed to consider what would likely happen if a guy like Frank one day decided to be a super hero in real life." ZCE pothole; bolded for convenience.
• Literature.Genuine Fraud: "Jule is almost completely unconcerned with anyone's feelings besides her own, and despite being a very skilled manipulator, she has a habit of latching on to people who treat her with enough kindness, which blinds her to their very human flaws." Neither of these traits necessarily line up with any disorders, but they're serious enough to not just be quirks.
• Literature.Whitefern: "Continuing from the first book, it is unclear exactly what is wrong with Sylvia. This confusion is compounded since Sylvia's symptoms have almost entirely altered during the Time Skip." And those symptoms are...?
• SelfDemonstrating.Shaggy Rogers: "Like, some doc thinks that my cowardice is some kinda panic disorder! But, like, I dunno if that's true since, like, he couldn't hypnotize it outta me." Diagnosed (I assume) with a panic disorder, but then throws it into question.
• Series.Flowers 2016: "Amy has at least some high functioning mental illness, indicated through series 1. In series 2 it may have developed into being much more serious, or just remained the same but paired with deep innocent delusion (that could itself be a symptom of a mental deficiency caused by being so sheltered)." Claims she has a mental illness, but gives no details.
• Theatre.Love In Hate Nation: "Susannah is clearly depressed, and both she and Sheila are revealed to have attempted suicide before, but it is unclear what the latter - or other girls may face. Ya-Ya and Miss Asp are also clearly intended to be read as mentally ill, but it's unclear exactly what they're dealing with, respectively." Makes claims about what characters have, but is vague and backs it up with nothing.
• VideoGame.The Park: Lorraine's diminishing ability to function properly likely stems from a mental illness, but it's never specified exactly what it is. Based on her behaviour throughout the game, she could have anything, whether it be depression (long-term or post-partum), bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis, etc. Or even a combination. A doctor's report found in the haunted house states that she has clinical depression, but due to the time period she's in where mental illness was frowned upon, it's possible the doctors failed to put better effort into diagnosing her. However, notes encountered throughout the game indicate that she's also being warped by exposure to Atlantic Island Park's emotion-siphoning machines. Makes a lot of claims but sort of waffles around the subject.
• WebVideo.Rat Movie Mystery Of The Mayan Treasure: There is something that's afflicted Dick "Dastardly Richards", but it's left ambiguous. The fact that he thinks that Finding Nemo was a documentary might has something to do with it. How would that have something to do with it? What is this trying to say, besides that he's kind of weird?
  Dick: I would go to a doctor, but I— I'm— I'm just scared to hear what he has to say, y'know. That's why I asked you about it.
  Barry: That is just... grim, pal.
• WesternAnimation.The Brothers Flub: Fraz is a nervous wreck 24/7.
• Characters.Doctor Who The Paternoster Gang: Given that no other Sontaran acts like Strax, one does start to wonder. This gets much more pronounced after he "died" in his first appearance, which changed his personality quite a bit.
• Characters.Shirobako Musashino Animation Animation Department: (Ai Kunogi) Her terminal shyness and constant anxiety verges on this sometimes. She is also prone to stuttering, almost on the fringes of having a full-on speech disorder.
• Characters.Blindspring: Aliana's vague, lost and regretful expression after her vicious prank succeeds in keeping Tammy from her duties implies that she may not be entirely in control of her own actions.
• Characters.Gormenghast: They move and speak in perfect unison, and they have a rather eccentric way ​to communicate with other people.
• Fanfic.Her Max: Max is a toddler who stops talking after his parents die.
• ComicBook.Rocket Racoon: In Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord, Rocket apparently has an obsessive compulsive disorder, frequently washing his hands. This was quietly ignored afterwards. Not sure if diagnosed in-universe or just implied.
• Podcast.The Dick Show: David Clegg, Maddox, and Peach all have one.