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[Starmantis]

We have health care for injuries of the body but what about injuries of the mind? I think It would be cool if there were dwarves that acted as Psychiatrists for other dwarves, helping calm down bad thoughts, however I also suggest that Insanity is more dynamic, we should have "mental syndromes" such as Hallucination, split personality, and Paranoia, among other things.

Some dwarven mental health care treatments may include lobotomies and stuff.

[Bohandas]

Yeah, that sounds good to me.
I personally think the game would also be more vibrant of there were a greater variety of non-insane moods instead of a linear scale of happy vs. unhappy.

[NW_Kohaku]

There is a piece of code for a "Psychiatrist" around, at least, there's something about it in the Phoebus graphics raws.

[kaenneth]

A 'Sanity' or 'Stability" stat modeled after Happiness could be fun, with the implication that being 100% sane and logical isn't always good.

The less sane, the higher the chance for a mood, and the variablility of their craft output...

So, a completly sane dwarf with the highest skill would consistantly produce ≡Exceptional≡ items, while a nearly mad dwarf of the highest skill would produce a mix of *Superior*, ≡Exceptional≡, and ☼Masterwork☼; because a creative mind is needed for inspiration.

Less sane dwarfs would also have a higher chance of making images of fantastic creatures like Dragons, Forgotten Beasts, Unicorns... while the completely sane ones would make 'An image of Squares/Circles/Triangles.'

Sanity could also obviously affect combat, with berzerkers, etc.

Decreased sanity would also multiply the affects of mood events (sadly, I have a close friend with schitzophrenia) so that small things like seeing disgusting vermin in a wonderful waterfall could give them mood swings. (My friends reaction to a plush purple spider during one of his episodes was... interesting. alternating between wanting it because it was purple, and loathing it because it was a spider every few seconds.)

Sanity would be affected as in Call of Chuthulu, having a loved one die would have some affect, SEEING a loved one die more, seeing a forgotten beast MORE... Watching as your wife and children are eaten by the winged furry slug monster with deadly spit from the depths, and you might snap right then and there.

If insanity were on a scale of 0-100, I would have Dwarves born at 50, and drop one point every year, so that young dwarves are more creative and exciting, but as they get older they get more down to earth, unless interesting things happen.

Maybe it would be a job for the Philosopher noble if he ever returns to have rational discussions with dwarves, accelerating their return to normal sanity levels... presuming the Philosopher himself is sane...

(I was going to post this as a reply in another thread, but rather than take that one off topic, I searched in Suggestions...)

[aepurniet]

We have health care for injuries of the body but what about injuries of the mind? I think It would be cool if there were dwarves that acted as Psychiatrists for other dwarves, helping calm down bad thoughts, however I also suggest that Insanity is more dynamic, we should have "mental syndromes" such as Hallucination, split personality, and Paranoia, among other things.

Some dwarven mental health care treatments may include lobotomies and stuff.

Let's leave new age feel gooderies to the elfen domain, my dwarves are tough as nails and don't need mental health professionals. They would rather be mining and slaying goblins.  Although moods and unhappiness could use some work.

[IT 000]

Dwarves already suffer from serious moodswings. Can you imagine these guys visiting a psychiatrist?

Urist McUnhappy "Hey Doc my cat died, my wife got murdered, and I lost my left arm. And my favorite toe "
Urist McPsychiatrist "Fascinating" *Scribbles something down* "How does that make you feel?"
Urist McUnhappy "Pretty good actually, they just engraved the most fabulous piece of cheese in the dining room."
Urist McPsychiatrist "Fascinating..."

[Naryar]

Mental health is already in the game, but it just doesn't do anything (no real effects in gameplay) for now.

What do you think anxiety, depression, immoderation and vulnerability are ?

[FGK dwarf]

Maybe it would be a job for the Philosopher noble if he ever returns to have rational discussions with dwarves, accelerating their return to normal sanity levels... presuming the Philosopher himself is sane...

The philosopher Urist McNietzsche has arrived! Beware his poisonous logorrhoea!

[Mckee]

Now lets look at the time frame of the game: Circa 14th century. Until 50 years ago or so we where sticking metal rods into kids brains to try and fix them... the modern conception of mental health is really not in keeping with the context the game. Consider also how different the psychology of two societies can be, let along two separate races in a  fantasy world. If you wanted an understandable psyche for dwarves, it would have to be way too human. The nobles (mayor and manager?) already council angry people, so at best, we could expand the emotional buffers from friends and family. Urist Mcpyscholgist is just not in the feel of the game I feel.

[Starmantis]

practicing Psychology is human nature, although we didnt call it that back then, although for more serious conditions we did simply lobotomize them

[Mckee]

Hence why I said the modern conception of mental health. And why I went on to suggest we could include it as part of the mood increases from friends, family and noble counseling.

[Niyazov]

I agree, Mckee I don't think it's a good idea to try to model specific real-world mental illnesses in a fantasy game about dwarves. I once suggested modeling real-world birth defects in DF, but in retrospect I think it's a bad idea for a similar reason- any depiction of such ailments would be unexpected and out of place. People who are unfamiliar with them would be confused, and people who understand them would spout off objections! The worst possible turn of events!

[Owlbread]

There could still be some sort of doctor of the mind. Mental health care has existed for millenia, it's just been absolutely terrible. It'd at least be nice to have a dwarf that can look after an insane dwarf so he doesn't die. Remember, this doesn't need to be too deep, you could just have them dealing with melancholy dwarves, babbling wrecks and berserkers.

You could even have that method where the doctor drills a hole in the head of the afflicted. Trepanning. Perhaps that, or some sort of lobotomy, could cure a berserk dwarf if you restrain them, reducing them to a babbling wreck that you can take care of. This means his family won't be devastated over his demise. For melancholy dwarves, perhaps he could prescribe medicine such as suggesting chewing on a dried toad to remove such dark, unhappy thoughts.

I think I read a suggestion quite some time ago referring to dwarven massage therapists. Surely that could work as a form of stress release? If our muscles get sore driving, what about digging out a great hall singlehandedly with a copper pick?

[Where_are_the_gnomes?]

Insane dwarves?

Don't drown them, or burn them - lobotomize them!

Nice.

[noodle0117]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Might not be perfectly accurate, but I think it's roughly right.