The portrayal of mental illness in Night in the Woods: Mae Borroksi
- Finnigan Leandros Geer
- Oct 19, 2017
- 9 min read
Night in the Woods is an indie adventure game developed by Infinite Fall and released in early 2017. This game's characters are anthropomorphic animals. You play as a 20-year-old cat named Mae who has recently dropped out of college and come back to her hometown, Possum Springs. You meet up with old friends and some friendly faces from your high school years and explore the mysteries of the town. The supporting cast consists of Mae’s best friend, Greg (a fox), his boyfriend, Angus (a bear), and Mae’s ex-best friend, Bea (a crocodile). One of the most notable aspects of this game is its portrayal of mental illness. While choice is not a focus of the game, there are two distinct routes the player can take depending on whom they choose to spend the most time with. All four main characters of the game have their own problems. Angus and Bea’s problems, however, are focused more on the environments they have been subjected to rather than their own mental state. While Greg is known for suffering from some form of bipolar disorder, this analysis will be focusing on Mae Borroski due to how much information there is to cover. Infinite Fall’s Night in the Woods portrays mental illness in a realistic manner.
Since Mae is the character that players take the role of, her struggles are much more complicated and fleshed out than the supporting cast. Mae seems to have a ton of symptoms including anger, immense fear of social interaction, disassociation from reality, reduced interest, fatigue, rebellious/risky behavior, and low confidence in appearance and ability to make decisions. From this information, it is logical to suppose that Mae might be suffering from multiple illnesses. Although it is impossible to know exactly which ones the game developers intended, one could theorize that symptoms of social anxiety disorder and dissociative identity disorder are extremely prevalent in the game. From this information, one could compare the portrayal of various symptoms to their real-life counterparts in order to conclude if their portrayals are realistic.
Although anxiety can be a symptom of other illnesses, Night in the Woods portrays Mae as having Social Anxiety Disorder (further abbreviated as SAD). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (further abbreviated as DSM-5) defines Social Anxiety Disorder as immense fear of social situations and fear of rejection by peers (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). According to Dr. Justin Weeks, Director of the Center for Evaluation and Treatment of Anxiety (CETA), some of the main symptoms of SAD include, “anxious thoughts concerning embarrassment, inadequacy, and self-criticism” (Weeks, 2014). This can be seen in many instances throughout the game. One example of this occurs toward the beginning of the game through an inner monologue that Mae has while getting ready to go to a party in the woods. This is one of the first instances that depicts Mae’s doubt and low self-confidence. As she looks in the mirror, there are two dialogue choices, but both just result in Mae putting herself down (either about her weight or her face). After a few choices, it appears as if Mae is having a battle between two sides of herself: one that tries to help and reassure her that she’s ‘normal’ and the other that’s very negative and critical. One text box says, “You can do this. People like you” while one on the other side of the screen gives the option between answering, “People don’t like you, clearly” or, “You don’t like people, clearly” (Infinite Fall, 2017). This scene also displays some of the thoughts and worries that a person with SAD might have to go through before social events. Mae tries to practice ‘normal’ things to say at a party, almost as if she’s attempting to put on an act. She’s also very nervous about her ex-boyfriend, Cole, showing up and pleads with an imaginary force that he won’t be there. Mae clearly shows signs of low self-confidence and high doubt in her social abilities in this scene. Dr. Weeks and the DSM-5 concur that adults and adolescents suffering from SAD will attempt to avoid social situations altogether (Weeks, 2014). During the mirror scene, Mae attempts to talk herself into going, saying, “ that doesn’t mean you can hide in your room... that’s how hermits are made, Mae. And they die alone in the middle of winter waiting for pizza from friends they don’t want to see”(Infinite Fall, 2017). This line, while meant to be a joke, also seems very serious. Mae is reflecting on herself. She knows that she doesn’t want to go but she knows that she should want to. The scene where Mae is at the party in the woods showcases behavior associated with SAD. Mae’s ex-boyfriend, Cole, happens to be there and in an attempt to control her anxieties, Mae begins to drink a lot of alcohol. It’s impossible to move on in the story without drinking because Mae will not be able to talk to anyone. This aspect of the gameplay could be an attempt to put the player into the shoes of someone with extreme social anxiety. Many people with anxiety tend to turn to substances in order to calm their nerves in social situations. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “About one–fifth of patients with a social anxiety disorder also suffer from an alcohol use disorder (AUD) (i.e., alcohol abuse or dependence)”(Book & Randall). The Institute explains Tension Reduction Theory, which theorizes that people with SAD use alcohol in an attempt to alleviate their fears (Book & Randall). This is exactly what Mae is doing in this scene. She knows that she should be socializing but cannot bring herself to no matter how hard she tries. After Mae becomes extremely intoxicated, she has a breakdown in front of everyone. The player has no choice as to what happens here and what is said. In a way, the limited choice in this scene expresses the limited choice of people suffering from these illnesses.
The most significant and easily recognizable illness that Mae is suffering from a dissociation disorder, specifically depersonalization/derealization disorder. This disorder is characterized by when a person has depersonalization, derealization, or both. According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness), depersonalization occurs when someone experiences a detachment from their body, feelings, or actions and derealization occurs when one is detached from their surroundings (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In a scene toward the end of the game, Mae lays on Greg’s couch and finally opens up as to why she left college. She explains the events leading up to a violent dissociative episode she had several years earlier. The day before the incident, something “broke” in her mind while she was playing a video game. She says, “ It was just like ... pixels. The characters on screen... I felt like I knew them. They weren't people anymore. They were just shapes” (Infinite Fall, 2017). She continues to explain how these feelings leaked into real life. The next day, at a softball game, the pitcher was just “dead shapes” too. This realization made Mae feel very sad, scared, and confused and, at the moment, this all combined into anger leading Mae to have a breakdown and beat him up. After explaining this, Mae finally explains that she dropped out of college because the shapes began to appear again. Mae feels extremely distant from reality. The “shapes” Mae sees are an accurate representation of what someone with Derealization disorder might see. The DSM-5 explains, “Derealization is commonly accompanied by subjective visual distortions, such as blurriness, heightened acuity, widened or narrow visual field, two-dimensionality or flatness, exaggerated three-dimensionality, or altered distance or size of objects” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Mae perceiving the world as shapes is “two-dimensionality or flatness”. The DSM-5 also notes that forms of depression and anxiety are commonly associated with the disorder as well (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
This is in line with Mae’s social anxiety disorder but also explains some of her lines that are reminiscent of depression. According to Mental Health America, individuals with dissociative disorders tend to dislike authority (Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders, 2014). This is very apparent in Mae’s rebellious and risky activities such as knife fights, destruction of public property, and shoplifting as well as her relationship with her aunt who happens to be a cop.
A third symptom associated with dissociative disorders is “psychogenic amnesia”, or the inability to remember personal significant memories (Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders, 2014). This is briefly shown through an exchange that occurs between Mae and Bea right after the party in the woods. Mae is very intoxicated in this scene and worries about what Bea’s mom would say if she threw up in her car. Bea reminds Mae that her mom passed away from cancer several years earlier and is confused and angry at Mae’s forgetfulness.
The last aspect to inspect for accuracy is the general background information of Mae’s character. First of all, the creators of the game chose to cast Mae as a college dropout. A survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that more than half (64%) of college students with mental health issues will drop out (Gruttadaro & Crudo, 2012). The creators also chose to shed light on issues of accessibility to the correct kind of health care through Dr. Hank, Mae’s therapist. Mae’s therapist is revealed to be the town’s dentist and family doctor as well, hinting that he’s probably the only person with a medical license in Possum Springs. Due to this, Dr. Hank incorrectly diagnoses Mae as just having anger problems and tells her to “repress it” (Infinite Fall, 2017). Another relatable aspect of Mae’s portrayal is that mental health issues seem to run in her family, more notably Mae’s father. Mae’s mother is hinted to have some sort of mood disorder due to Mae’s line asking her if she’s having, “another mood swing” (Infinite Fall, 2017), but other than that there isn’t any other evidence. Mae’s father, however, is explicitly stated to be a recovering alcoholic with anger issues. Apparently, his addiction was so bad at one point that he was a danger to her and her mother’s safety. According to Dr. Vishwajit Nimgaonkar, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, "Most mental illness is probably due to some combination of inheritance and exposure”(Illiades, 2013). Depending on the illness, Mae could’ve gotten some of it from her genetics plus some could’ve set in due to her environment. The statement that her father was a danger to her and her mother’s lives is one that is often overlooked. Most illnesses, disassociation in general, usually start due to a traumatic event. A traumatic event involving Mae’s father could’ve been the point that set her off. Mae is a realistic representation of all of these unfortunate statistics.
Lastly, Mae is not a perfect person. She makes a lot of mistakes and says a lot of things that players can’t control leading to awkward situations. The most prominent example of how sometimes, Mae just says the wrong thing, without filter, is during the Bea Route. There will be a night that Mae tags along with Bea to a college party. In an earlier scene, it’s stated that Bea is very upset with Mae dropping out of college because she was jealous that Mae ever got to go in the first place. Bea was forced to mature very earlier on in life after her mother’s death by taking up the family business and taking care of her father. As the scene at the college party progresses, it becomes apparent to the player that Bea is pretending to be a college student and make friends because she wants to feel normal and it’s her way of living out her dream. This, however, is not apparent to Mae who proceeds to out Bea as not being a college student. There isn’t a good dialogue choice. It’s choosing between the less of two evils. Either way, Bea ends up crying and running out of the building. This is an aspect of the game that the creators have actually spoken on due to how many players had voiced their frustration. Programmer, Alec Holowka, made a statement saying,“ I think that’s part of the experience sometimes of mental health, that you don’t necessarily feel like you can make the best decisions all the time. That there’s some aspect of you that’s going to make a bad decision, and you’re kind of struggling with that.” (Spencer, 2017).
Mental illness is a real issue in society. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 43.8 million adults in the U.S. suffer from a mental illness. For many years, mental illness has been used as an antagonist, whether it be in Outlast, Far Cry 3, or Batman: Arkham Asylum. Night in the Woods takes a different approach by portraying mental illness as another part of life because it is. Infinite Fall’s Night in the Woods portrays mental illness in a realistic manner.
Bibliography
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Book, S. W., & Randall, C. L. (n.d.). Social Anxiety Disorder and Alcohol Use. Retrieved from https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh26-2/130-135.htm
Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders. (2013, October 14). Retrieved from http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/dissociation-and-dissociative-disorders
Gruttadaro, D., & Crudo, D. (2012). College Students Speak: A Survey Report on Mental Health (Survey Report). Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Survey-Reports/College-Students-Spe ak_A-Survey-Report-on-Mental-H
Illiades, C. (2013, February 07). Mental Illness May Be In Your Genes. Retrieved from https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/mental-iillness-may-be-in-your-genes-1751.aspx
Infinite Fall. (2017). Night in the Woods. [Computer software]. Pittsburgh, PA: Finji.
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). Mental Health By the Numbers. Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers
Spencer, C. (2017, August 01). Night In The Woods Treats Depression Like A Part Of Life. Retrieved from https://kotaku.com/night-in-the-woods-treats-depression-like-a-part-of-lif-1797400607
Weeks, J. W. (2014). The Wiley Blackwell handbook of social anxiety disorder (1st ed., Wiley Clinical Psychology Handbooks). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com.