I honestly think it’s probably a combo of childhood abuse and abandonment, a lot of which was spurned ON by his disability. The bulk of major mental illnesses and personality disorders develop in children between the ages of 7-9 and can be exacerbated especially when the abuse has occurred before those ages
Now we don’t know his entire mental health journey but from the little window we’ve seen into his life it does NOT seem like he is or has gone to therapy to deal with these issues. This means there’s probably a VERY good chance that all of these issues have morphed together giving us the mental block we see before us
I totally agree, the early abandonment likely played a huge role in his current mentality and he doesn’t look like he’s had any professional guidance either :(
I’m not entirely convinced that the neglect is the entire reason behind his mentality though. Gio received a HUGE loving foster family and also garnered loyalty and respect from his coworkers for years. I saw no trauma-related incidents from the people who’ve played major roles in his life since kindergarten (that’s when he was adopted, I assume,) and with that kind of upbringing, I feel like his confidence, self-love and self-respect would outweigh his trauma from early years—especially now that he’s an adult with better emotional and logical thinking skills. He knows what he’s good at, he’s received Felix’s love outside of Gio’s weak moments (with his illness), he knows he’s loved enough to guess Felix’s present response to him voicing his worries, and I think he also mentioned that he knew his illness was the reason why he was abandoned in the first place (correct me if I’m wrong haha.) If illness was the cause for abandonment, why hesitate to nip that problem in the bud?
That’s why I thought Gio was also afraid of losing his identity with his illness, since losing a part of himself meant losing a part of what Felix loved.
Oops I tried disliking my own comment for science and it went through LOL
Also I just realized my original post spoke as if abandonment issues was never an issue, sorry! I meant that Gio identifying as his disability was probably the main factor behind his current mental, rather than the neglect. Other factors definitely played a part, for sure
Oh 100% I think we’re both in agreement that it’s a combo of issues with the primary being his disability~ I really have confidence that they will be able to work it out and pave the way to healthier communication
Yeahhh for sure! I’m hopeful for that too ;)))
I feel bad for both of them. Felix is genuinely doing his best to give Gio the best life but his loving efforts are getting rejected by Gio. He’s also getting his boundaries pushed in and manipulated, which is not a good thing even if the manipulator as a valid reason.
And Gio...I’m not sure if “abandonment issues” is the right focus here. From how I see it, Gio’s warped mental is not from his biological parents leaving him—it’s from him identifying as his disability. The disability’s been ingrained in his lifestyle so much it became a part of who he is and he believes that if that part of himself is gone after the cure, then people won’t seen him as “Gio” anymore because he’s developed a personality around that trait. He probably doesn’t know how to act once that part of his norm is gone which is why he’s so adamant about keeping it. Something like “Felix/people won’t see me as the same respectable and loveable person after this part of me is gone.”
As someone who’s lived with constant anxiety, I understand the fear of losing something that’s been a norm throughout their entire life. Granted, my example isn’t extreme or as relevant, but suddenly living a life without the debilitating anxiety I was used to made me super uncomfortable and—ironically—seek sources to make myself anxious again. It took me years to adjust to a more stable mentality, but thankfully I’m in a better place now for it.
I feel like the author could’ve gone with the “losing identity” narrative rather than the “abandonment issue by bio parents” but they probably needed a reason to shoehorn his bio family into the story lol. Either way, I’m loving the angst and drama ;D I love this manhwa!