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FerrousFaucet
Since: Feb, 2014
2025-04-16 12:55:18
I think that is a real life symptom of post-traumatic stress.
As for tropes, it might be related to Never Be Hurt Again or Oppose What You Suffered.
jormis29
Since: Mar, 2012

A character undergoes some trauma, like a near-death experience or the death of a loved one. Later, he'll develop some sort of obsession, that might start as an innocuous hobby.
There's some sort of psychological sense in that, after losing control over his life, the character will focus on something he can control, like the hobby, or turn into a Safety Freak, Neat Freak or Fitness Nut out of a fear of death.
Or the character might turn into a case of Arrested Development, regressing into childlike interests after the trauma, since they're a memory of a happier life before whatever happened.
The one example I had in mind, though I've seen it before, is Hank's focus on collecting rocks after he survived a bomb trap that killed several of his colleagues.