Will watched as Nico was playing Animal Crossing peacefully, then watched as his face looked panicked and upset. Nico quickly shoved it aside.
"What's wrong?"
Nico's hands were shaking. "I got a new villager. Her name is Bianca."
"Well, you can always kick her out of town."
"No! That's mean. She didn't do anything. I would have to report her for nothing."
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Will asked him.
"I'm not sure."
"Nico, you're going to meet people in life named Bianca."
"I know. It just.....it threw me off guard, is all."
"That's okay."
Nico picked up the DS again. "I'm going to go talk to her."
Will heard the nonsensical chatter of an Animal Crossing villager.
"Hey, do you want to try talking to Mr. D today?"
Nico set down the DS again. "I don't know. He probably won't even want to help me."
"If he won't help you, then we can still be glad that we tried. But if you don't want to do this then that's fine, too."
"Okay." Nico said, unsure. Nico saved his game and powered it off.
The 2 of them walked over to Mr. D again. When he saw them approaching, his eyes narrowed.
"You two again? What do you want?" He said gruffly.
"Well, I was wondering if...well...you can help me." Nico told him.
"I already helped you. What now?" He took a sip of Diet Coke.
"Well, I was wondering if you could, I don't know, give me mental health advice?"
"Now why would I do that?"
Before Nico or Will could think of an answer, a voice sounded behind Mr. D.
"Because he is a demigod at this Camp, and his mental health should be taken seriously." Chiron came out of the Big House in wheelchair form, rolling over to where the god was sitting.
Mr. D turned his head around to face Chiron. "And why is that my problem?"
"Because you are technically the director of Camp Half-Blood, and it is your job to make sure these children are well taken care of. Not to mention that mental health is your specialty."
"Hmph." Mr. D said. "Well, fine. I'll give you some advice. What kind of advice do you want?"
Nico shrugged. He looked to Will.
"Nico has dealt with a lot of trauma." Will told Mr. D. "I think he should probably learn to process that, maybe? He should also learn to deal with his PTSD and depression. Does that sound about right, Nico? Anything else to add?"
"Seems about right."
"Come find me later." Will told Nico.
"Wait, you're leaving? Can you stay?"
"Of course I can, if you want me to." Will pulled a chair out for Nico and sat down in the chair next to it.
Mr. D. set down his drink, his pudgy eyes on Nico. "Well, then. What do you know about post-traumatic stress disorder?"
"I know that it happens after something traumatic happens to someone, or multiple traumatic things in my case. Some symptoms are having flashbacks, nightmares, physical pain, avoiding the trauma, being startled easily and intrusive thoughts. That's all that Will was able to tell me."
Dionysus nodded. "Alright, at least you aren't completely clueless. You have an okay understanding of it."
"Well, what can you tell me?" Nico asked.
"Let's start with the disorder itself. You're correct in saying that it's caused by something traumatic. Basically, when you're in a dangerous or stressful situation, your body goes into something called the "fight or flight" mode. This means your body is preparing to run away from the danger or fight it. When whatever stressful thing that's happening is over, your body goes back to normal. But when you have PTSD, your stress response system doesn't switch off properly.
"The symptoms for PTSD are often put into 4 different categories: intrusive memories, avoidance, changes in physical and emotional reactions, and negative changes in thinking and mood. Are you with me so far?"
Both boys nodded, and he continued.
He talked about the symptoms in the 4 categories, then he brought up reasons why Nico probably developed it. "I should tell you some of the reasons why you were more likely to develop PTSD than others. The more trauma someone goes through, the more likely they will develop PTSD. Intense or long-lasting trauma is definitely a factor, as well. As is already having mental health issues, and not having a good support system. There are more, but those are just the ones that apply to you.
"I'm sure you both know what the causing factors of Nico's PTSD are. I won't need to talk about that. Though I will say that most times PTSD is diagnosed a month or longer after the trauma. Nico of course is a special case. Most people don't have gods analyzing their minds.
"Having this has so many complications. It affects daily life, and increases risks of other mental health problems." He then talked about those.
"The intensity of symptoms can often change. You can go from little to no symptoms for months, but then suddenly it gets to be very bad. It also depends on if you're stressed out or you see something that reminds you of the trauma. That makes it worse, at least in the moment."
"Well.....is there a way to treat it?" Nico asked him hesitantly.
"Yes, PTSD can be treated. It cannot be cured, but it can be treated. Most people use a combination of medication and therapy, like Exposure Therapy or Cognitive Restructuring."
"Well, what should I do?" Nico asked.
"That depends. Different things work for different people. We can't exactly do medication at this point in time for a number of reasons, so therapy is your best bet. I would recommend the kind where you talk through your trauma and learn coping skills and see if that works. Then we can figure it out from there."
"'We?'" Nico said.
"You heard what Chiron said." Mr. D sighed. "I'm obliged to help you, even if I don't want to. Now, off you go. I have stuff to do. Come by tomorrow."
With that, Nico and Will got up and left.
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Sorry I uploaded late! I finished reading a very good but very sad fanfiction and I couldn't get myself to upload yesterday. I could barely get myself to upload today! (If you're interested in the fic, I REALLY recommend it. It's a Marauders era Harry Potter fanfiction that's incredibly long, and it has VERY slowburn Wolfstar. It's called All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 on Ao3. Go read it! It's a masterpiece!) Wish me luck on my mental recovery! Because I'm going to be sad for a while.
Anyways, I regret to inform you that next Saturday is when I'll be uploading the last of this fanfiction! It'll have a couple of extra chapters that you'll be getting because there's not enough for next week, so at least you get more chapters next week! And of course an Author's Note, which I would really like you to read. See you next week!