Me too, I was actually surprised by how well his reaction to his own intrusive thoughts were portrayed, ML is pitiful, MC doesn’t realize that he needs to save the day me thinks ╥﹏╥
Hey sorry for butting in, but what is comp het and what is considered the real kind of intrusive thoughts and what’s considered the social media kind. I can’t stand the way SM have evolved real mental illnesses. I suffer with 2 mental illnesses that kinda go hand-in-hand and to see people on TikTok faking their illnesses and being dicks, but blaming it on their mental illness (I.E. Amberlynn Reid blaming her being a literal piece of shit on her Web MD diagnosed BPD) drives me up the wall. So, what would be considered real intrusive thoughts that’s a mental illness vs SM’s Fakery?
No problem! Comp het is an abbreviation of Compulsory heterosexuality. It's an established theory that due to societal norms and pressures, people who may be queer feel the need to present as otherwise. It's not as simple as just being in the closet, it's a complete denial of self that often leads to confusion, failed relationships, low self-esteem, self-image problems and other issues because they are unwilling or unable to confront the fact that they may be queer. Obviously this looks different for everyone but he is showing classic symptoms.
Intrusive thoughts are specifically UNWANTED and DISTRESSING thoughts that the person afflicted with them has no intention of acting on. I feel as if a lot of people use it in the place of Impulsive thoughts, which is a sudden urge to do something that may lead to a quick feeling of gratification e.g. cutting your butt-lenght hair short. Someone with intrusive thoughts is constantly haunted by their inner voice randomly saying violent (what if I stabbed that child), paranoid (what if I left the oven on) or sexually deviant things that often invoke a sense of fear, confusion, shame or disgust, because they are not reflective of their values but instead a symptom associated with many mental disorders. I personally suffer from intrusive thoughts and I can't even voice them because they make my skin crawl and I feel like a monster. They are a genuine plague upon my life.
Social Media mislabelling terms like this is almost inevitable as many are playing a game of telephone and don't do their own research. Even the meaning of trauma bonding (which is a bond between a victim and their abuser, not two people who've gone through something crazy together) has changed somewhat. It's my field of work so I am lucky to know a bit more, but I am not an expert. If you are interested in knowing more feel free to research, there are a lot of interesting books on these specific issues.
So he's got a terrible case of comp het and as a result he also suffers from intrusive (the real kind of intrusive, the mental illness kind not whatever social media is labelling as it these days) thoughts. Hate to say it but I feel sorta bad for him