I’d say the problem is that Zebra was extremely bad at imagining good outcomes in a way which led to him taking action—in other words, probably depression. There’s a sort of bipolar which looks a lot like depression because the manic phase is very small, but it has to be identified accurately because depression meds don’t work for it.
Part of Zebra’s problem was that he was punishing himself for not being more active, and I think you did good work defusing that part of the logjam.
I’m not sure how I came to that conclusion—the pattern seemed very obvious to me.
I’m also concerned about him assaulting someone. I might have brought up the circumstances to see whether his thought processes which led to it could be avoided. It’s not clear to me whether his girlfriend and his roommate are the same person. If he assaulted someone who was financially dependent on him, the lack of sequelae that he noticed doesn’t mean it was no big deal.
I’d say the problem is that Zebra was extremely bad at imagining good outcomes in a way which led to him taking action—in other words, probably depression. There’s a sort of bipolar which looks a lot like depression because the manic phase is very small, but it has to be identified accurately because depression meds don’t work for it.
Part of Zebra’s problem was that he was punishing himself for not being more active, and I think you did good work defusing that part of the logjam.
I’m not sure how I came to that conclusion—the pattern seemed very obvious to me.
I’m also concerned about him assaulting someone. I might have brought up the circumstances to see whether his thought processes which led to it could be avoided. It’s not clear to me whether his girlfriend and his roommate are the same person. If he assaulted someone who was financially dependent on him, the lack of sequelae that he noticed doesn’t mean it was no big deal.