Is Niki a great model for those suffering with D.I.D.? Dissociative Identity Disorder? Formerly known as M.P.D./Multiple Personality Disorder?

Here is a myLot disscution where D.I.D. is explained briefly, also in relation to Heroes character, Niki:

Niki - Special Powers or Dissociative Disorder?

I believe that Heroes creators are on to something BIG here! Is there a chance that, by having all the great Heroes charactors mirror Mental Illness symptoms, they could help dispell social constructions and stigma about Mental Illness?

Social Construction (copied from Wikipedia)

"A social construction or social construct is any institutionalized entity or artifact in a social system "invented" or "constructed" by participants in a particular culture or society that exists because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules. One example of a social construct is social status."

The NEGATIVE beliefs about Mental Illness exist because SOCIETY ALLOWS the Negative beliefs to exist. Society agrees to behave as if Mental Illness is unnatural, weird, awful, dangerous, sometimes frightening, and not acceptable.

The Truth:

Mental illness is a regular, existing condition in society. It is widespread and 'COMMON' - very, VERY COMMON!

People who suffer from Mental Illness are often treated as if they are unnatural, weird, awful, dangers, frightening, and not acceptable.

The Truth:

People who suffer from Mental Illness are NORMAL PEOPLE who have an extraordinary health condition which requires attention and management.

If we keep treating people with Mental Illnesses as awful, unnatural, dangerous, frightening and not acceptable, we are actually treating REAL PEOPLE badly! If we keep treating real people who have Mental Illnesses badly, how will we ever function better?

Maybe Niki is the answer, in part, to showing society that a 'Disordered Personality' has a great, great many uses and abilities.

Niki has E X T R A O R D I N A R Y A B I L I T I E S !!

Does she not?

Doesn't everyone?

What is YOUR extraordinary ability?

Better yet - do you suffer from Mental Illness? What's your extraordinary health condition?

Would you be a candidate for the NBC TV show, HEROES? Would your Mental Illness transform into an awesome SUPERPOWER?

GO NIKI!

Do you think the creators of Heroes on NBC will try to make Niki 'integrate' Jessica into herself?

Do you think that Niki will further 'fragment' and become more personalities?

I'm sure that many people have noticed little quirks of the Heroes characters, which, in real life, might indicate odd psychological problems.

* Niki = MPD/Multiple Personality Disorder, Alcoholism
* Sylar = OCD/Obssessive Compulsive Disorder
* Claire = Self-Harming Behaviors
* Isaac = Multiple Addictions
* Peter = Self Esteem issues, leading to Self-Sabotage Syndrome
* Nathan = Fear of Intimacy and Relationships, emotional detachment
* Hiro = General Reality Perception issues
* Matt = Self Esteem issues, Self-Fullfilling (low achievement) behaviors
* Mohinder = Self-Esteem issues (2nd Child Syndrome) and unresolved Childhood Trauma surrounding the loss of his sister.

Most exhibit signs and behaviors related to low self-esteem, narcissism, some anti-social quirks and other behaviors that people with Mental Illness or Mental Disorders display.

Does it make you think, "Hmmm"?

I'm sure I will return to this topic often!

Okay, I am about 're-run-ned' out now. I watched a re-run of the Heroes Re-Run!

I can't believe that I wasn't more confused the FIRST TIME I watched that, 'cos BOY, does that episode ever back-track, flashback and jump around.

I found myself still hoping that Hiro would keep time-jumping around to save Charlie. I felt very frustrated for Hiro when he ended up back in Japan in the middle of the field where people were exercising. Poor Hiro - totally stuck, eh? Just seconds after Charlie told him about her limited time left to live.

If Hiro hadn't have gotten stuck, I know he would have kept time-travelling until he found a way to save Charlie, perhaps go back far enough to find out what caused her health problem or something.

Anyway - I think that I HEROED myself out a little bit. That was just a really freaky episode, don't you think? It's the episode, also, where the viewers find out a LOT about Sylar - that dirty, deranged RAT!

Whoops, maybe I'm not HERO-ed out yet. Maybe I will go watch the episode where the Hatian renders Sylar unconscious! That might make me feel better about Sylar, anyway.

That might hold me over until next week's Re-Run.

There should only be a couple more re-run episodes to watch until the next season of Heroes on NBC-TV starts!

I wonder if Claire will have to go to school in season two. I'm not sure how she can go to her old school when people are searching for her, but since the show is about the U.S.A., using American locations, won't the writers have to put Claire in school? I know that America really pushes for teens to finish their high school classes, so I hope that Heroes episodes will continue to promote this American ideal.

Maybe nobody else has worried about this. I have wondered about it, because there are so many American viewers of the Heroes television show that some of the characters are probably role models for teens, right? It wouldn't be a very good idea to have Claire not in school now, would it? Not when the first show of the season is only a week or two after real-time school in the USA starts, right?

I wonder if the writers of Heroes will overlook this completely or not. I guess I will have to wait and see.

Okay, so this is how bad it is, people:

I am a CHRONIC, chronic Heroes fan now. I already watched the re-run episode of Heroes last night. Unfortunately, I was a little sleepy for the Episode "Six Months Ago," so I taped the show on my clunky li'l VCR and I'm going to watch it AGAIN later tonight.

Yep - you read that right!

I am going to watch a re-run of the re-run, Heroes Episode called, SIX MONTHS AGO, because - frankly - a LOT of stuff happened at the Burnt Toast Diner and at other locations last night. I was getting sleepy, so everything was all the more confusing!

KUDOS to NBC and the writers and cast - I am actually going to view this episode ONE MORE TIME because it is still making questions pop up in my head - even though I have already viewed the entire Season One of the series!

I'm off for supper out with friends and then I'm coming back to watch SIX MONTHS AGO.

I'll be back.

P.S.

Did you catch Hiro's "Great-o-Scott!"

Hiro is so cute!

It's Monday!!

Right On!

Like a lot of people, I have never really looked forward to Mondays. This particular day of the week used to be a real 'groaner' for me. Rather, my attitude about Mondays used to be pretty bad, as I crawled out of my relaxing, lowered-stress weekend, and into full-fledged activities for the work/school week.

Now that I've started watching Heroes on Monday nights, my attitude about Mondays has really changed a lot! Now, I look forward to Mondays very much, because I can feel like I am 'rewarded' for getting through the day, completing errands, work, classes, etc.

The reward:

Heroes on Nbc TV, of course!

What a great way to wind down after a full day.

Even a Monday!

Okay, so how much does this suck? You can no longer view Heroes Season One episodes from the NBC TV site!

Now, you have to order the DVD set, available August 28 2007.

You can pre-order right away from Amazon, if you're in a real hurry. There are links on the sidebar here.

Don't worry - the NBC TV website has notifications that Season Two episodes will be available in the same way as Season One previously was, just a short time ago. All we have to do is be patient and wait...

Not so easy to do, eh?

NBC TV will have Season Two episodes online for viewing from their site - at the appropriate time, of course and NBC will be keeping up with their 'interviews' and other on-site attractions, too.

By the way, in case you missed this, Heroes Season Two begins September 24 2007, so we all have about a month to wait.

I'll be watching re-runs on Monday night 'til September 24th. That ought to keep me busy.

Watching Heroes on an actual Television set was pretty cool for a change on Monday night! Heck, I was even able to make some popcorn during one of the LONG commercial breaks and enjoy snacks while watching the show. No worries about getting butter-fingers on the keyboard! LOL

So I noticed something that was said a few times in Heroes Episode #9 (Homecoming), and I'm a little worried about it. I'm worried about Ando, people.

(Yes, I have suspended my reality and am pretending that I have NOT seen all the episodes of the season already. Just trying to take 1 Episode and keep it in its own context here)

Ando says something in kind of a forlorn way, which mirrors exactly something that Peter says about not really being special without others around. Peter says this, and then Ando admits that he isn't really anything special, either, without Hiro.

Hmmmm

With Peter - well, okay, he has acted very nutty in Heroes episodes 1-9, so a 'self-limiting' statement like he made seemed quite natural.

With Ando, however, here we have a guy who is taken from a good job and plunged into the chaos of North America, and he meets up with Peter, only to say basically,

"I am only special with Hiro around." (Not an exact quote, but essentially, this is the statement).

Do you think that Ando is co-dependent and too dependent on Hiro in order to define 'who he is'?

We can already TELL THAT PETER is a little loopy, and we don't wonder why too much. We already know it's the 'little brother in the shadows of high-profile older brother' kind of scenario going on with Peter.

With Ando, however, he seemed like the 'voice of reason,' in clips before he and Hiro got to New York. We, as viewers, mainly got the impression of Ando as a pretty grounded, secure guy who knew his place and who functioned objectively in the world. He seemed to be the stable, reasonable piece of reality standing beside Hiro's excitable, fantasty-obsessed character.

Do you think that 'discomfort' has made Ando co-dependent with Hiro? That is, the discomfort of new perspectives and a new location, has made Ando unable to figure out who he is by Episode #9? No longer can he think of himself as a 'stable,' 'objective,' and reasonably grounded individual, like he was back home.

In America, Ando can only be Hiro's side-kick? In America, Ando relies on what Hiro says, what Hiro does, in order to know his new, America-situated self?

When Peter says something like, "I kind of absorb the powers of other people," then Ando follows with a statement, "I'm not really anyone either." For Peter, he mentions a limit of what he can do or not do, as far as actions. For Ando, his statement is about 'self.'

Just something to think about...

Hey, I'm sittin' back tonight, watching a RE-RUN of HEROES!
(HOMECOMING EPISODE #9)

Wow, it's sure nice to see the episode on a real TELEVISION set. I don't even mind the commercial breaks. They give me time to jump up and refresh my drink.

What do you drink while you're watching re-run episodes of Heroes from NBC TV?

I'm kicked back, relaxing, having an iced tea.

Believe it or not, I watched every single one of the episodes so far on the Internet. At mostly the same sites I provided links for on the blog. I had to wait for 'buffering' time for each episode and really 'plan' to watch, because online viewing isn't nearly as smooth as watching TV.

Anyhow - I'm actually on a commercial break and the show just came back on, so I'm gonna jett for a bit, and watch the show.

Are you guilty of watching re-runs of Heroes, too?