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angelfireeast · 7 years

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Caitlin Snow-Killer Frost-Multiple Personality Disorder - If only!

fyi I wrote a long time ago before Caitilin “died” and was reborn killer frost. it’s just a if idea for what the writers could’ve done. Everytime I read quote from writers or DP saying this the evil powers making Killer Frost and not the real Caitlin feel so let down because this could’ve been a really good story for Caitlin exploring her dark side. It feels like spacegoat to use the evil meta powers card. They took the cheap easy way out by making it ‘evil powers’.

They did leave open option of Caitlin good and this ‘her’ this ‘Killer Frost’ taking over her as mental disorder. But once again the writers choose not to take it and went to cheap easy way out. Setting it Caitlin and Killer Frost as two separate personality could have been a really good mental illness story for Caitlin which would last the rest of series which would be interesting in it’s own ways. But the writers don’t seem to even have guts or care or respect to follow through on that either. They kinda half assed it.

When I look over the story so far. There is a lot here that sounds exactly like Multiple Personality Disorder (which now called Dissociative identity disorder.) Killer Frost isn’t some wicked dark other being that has taken over Caitlin’s body. It’s all Caitlin and trying to pretend Killer Frost is something you cut out like cancer or invading alien that go is not helping with the situation. The Killer Frost personality is scared of ‘dying’ basically but being forced to go away and she wants the Caitlin Snow personality to go away for good. Caitlin wants the same thing for Killer Frost. For this whole storyline Caitlin has refused to look at the psychological side of her problems. She’s looked at this as physical problem that needed to be cured. It’s really short sighted of doctor to refuse to look at mental health side of things but Caitlin decided meta powers were to blame and thus meta powers were the answer to the problem. She also refused to try to learn to control her power.

I don’t believe Killer Frost is just the “evil” meta human powers. Killer Frost is dissociate personality who has better a control of meta powers they both share. Caitlin has used the powers many times without becoming Killer Frost. When Caitlin becomes emotionally upset she becomes unstable and Killer Frost personality emerges. When the Killer Frost personality comes out she uses her powers because that’s what this dissociative personality thinks she is - aka Earth 2 Killer Frost. This personality is protecting both of them from whatever threat is making them feel bad. It’s said Dissociative identity disorder second or third personalities can be more aggressive and hostile as means to deal with trauma that created disorder. This certainly fits with Killer Frost. When Killer Frost is aggressive or hostile and she uses the tools has to act out on her negative feelings which means she uses their powers in ways Caitlin normally doesn’t. Caitlin fears her powers so she doesn’t use them. Her fear when she uses them causes so much stress it brings on her other personality taking over. From what I’ve been reading it’s often the case that one personality is the “apparently normal part” of the personality responsible for day-to-day functioning and another alternate personality often is personality emerging in survival situations (involving fight-or-flight responses, vivid traumatic memories and strong, painful emotions. Which fits perfectly with Caitlin and Killer Frost who emerges whenever Caitlin gets really emotionally upset or stressed.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in adults may become Dissociative identity disorder as it is caused by traumatic stresses forcing the mind to split into multiple identities. What Zoom did to Caitlin in season two IMO is traumatic enough to bring something like this on. The old timeline she was in pieces riddled by PTSD brought on by what he did to her. Oh top all the loss and trauma of watching her lovers die before her eyes again and again (Ronnie not once but twice. Zoom murdered Fake Jay before her eyes. Her father died, her mother withdrew from her emotionally. Dr. Wells turned out to be Eobard. Jay was Hunter. On and on and on it goes). The writers used Flashpoint/timeline change to do a big old skip it with Caitlin when it came to her extreme PTSD from season two. Even using Flashpoint’s changes you still use Dissociative identity disorder to say she seemed to get her PTSD much faster in changed timeline but what really happened what she had mental break down which was her mind splitting into multiple identities to cope with that happened. Again the writers are just to lazy for that.Dissociative Identity Disorder works a lot better than a half baked ‘evil powers’ nothing really explained.

Caitlin was in a very fragile state post Zoom and she discovers her powers and it’s the straw that broke the camel back. Zoom laid into her about having darkness within her and letting it out. She scared of becoming Killer Frost after having met E2 KF and suddenly she has these powers? It’s too much and breaks her mentally and emotionally. The fact that she kept everything secret did not help her. The more isolated is she with this fear the she it run right over top of herself. She decided the powers equaled evil and that was that exactly how things ended up.

There is no magic cure for Dissociative Identity Disorder. It’s an ongoing thing that needs to be treated with long term therapy for years. There has to be deep trust with therapists which is often hard because alternate personality, especially those who particularly those associated with illegal or violent activities, distrust therapists as they think goal of therapy is to eliminate them. There two healthy treatment goals for Dissociative Identity Disorder. One is goal of unified identity. The other finding a way to have each aspect of each personality coexist, and work together. The goal of achieving a more peaceful coexistence of the person’s multiple personalities is quite different than the reintegration of all those aspects into just one identity state. Medications can be helpful in managing emotional symptoms. Remember that Caitlin gave Ronnie and Martin these sorts of drugs to help them recover after spending a year trapped in one mind. So that’s hand waving Flash medicine for you.

Given how Caitlin, Killer Frost, Team Flash and Savitar are handling the situation eliminate the alternate personality is goal of each side. Killer Frost’s fears are based reality because everyone does any to eliminate her. Since no is treating this as mental illness thus there is professional help guiding their hands they all just ‘we’ll get the real Caitlin back’. No one is thinking of middle ground - YET. Caitlin sure as heck won’t agree to it because she fears Killer Frost too dangerous. I guess the question is Killer Frost cartoon evil? What could she look like if she was offered the right to live and given psychological and emotional help along with Caitlin? I think medication to help both their mood would be in order. She’d still likely be someone ready to kill at snap of fingers but would she be out raising hell? Or would be able to function in the world?

I always wondered why and how she made that absolute belief about her powers being evil. Perhaps it was because she had already started Dissociative Identity Disorder with the second personality emerging as this aggressive and hostile person before her powers started she decided her powers had to be related to slipt dark personality. The powers have to be evil because this emerging personality is so dark and Caitlin refused to consider psychological answer. Perhaps the stigma against mental illness was driving factor in all this. Again that make for interesting subject for show to discuss. Caitlin refused to look at psychological l side because of stigma involved. You would think ‘but she a doctor should be more enlightened on subject and not caught up in the stigma’? But that’s the thing no one wants to admit it’s happening to them personally. There is a ego factor of ‘I’m a doctor! I am not mentally ill. I have this under control. It is physical issue which I can cure myself. I have control of this situation’. Caitlin didn’t use her resources wisely as she tried to cure her “problem”. At every single turn she cut out everyone and tried do this alone on her terms. She only included the team when she was forced to. She only went to her mother when there was no other place to turn to, she manipulated Julian and the team to let Julian join team Flash without ever outright stating she needed help with a cure, she took a piece of the stone and kept it hidden for MONTHS risking Iris’s life and not caring about Iris dying in search for her cure, again all she needed to do what talk to the team. When Wally was crystallized in pod she went behind everyone’s backs to seek out Alchemy for cure. She went out of her way over and over and over to keep secrets and not get help from people who only want to help her and not judge her. Fuck they didn’t even blink at her betraying them they care that much. So why does she do it over and over again? Her go it alone secret path to cure keeps failing her so why keep doing it? Maybe because part of her is scared someone will look at the situation and go “this is your evil meta human powers fault. They aren’t evil at all. Their is part of your that is Killer Frost. This is mental and emotional issue”. She can’t deal with that. She scared of the word ‘crazy’. Look at her reaction when Julian pretty much told to take responsibly for her actions as KF. She got so upset over it and on top of being so worked fearing becoming Killer Frost she reacted by the Killer Frost personality coming out in a rage going ‘Fine I’ll take responsibly for myself. I’m evil. Haha! Iris dies’. Caitlin was talked back into taking control of the body by Julian when he said ‘that’s not the real you blah blah blah’. My point is Caitlin cannot handle the idea of being evil or Killer Frost without it ending her off the deep ending. Which is what brings out the alternate protective personality even if she’s scared of alternate protective personality..

Something that could scare Caitlin and Killer Frost, since they know the same thing, is that Doctors treating people with this illness sometimes find the more prominent personality states as the “host” personality may not be the “true” identity of the patient. Just think if they have secret fear they aren’t real owner of body.

We’ve had three version of Caitlin this season. Caitlin Snow, Killer Frost and CS/KF hybrid in 3.07 who shared the same goal of getting rid of meta human power & not caring about hurting people. You could say there are 3 alternate personalities. To find people deal with alternate personalities doctors often have them face that trauma that created it. The trauma that created the CS/KF hybrid was caused by Barry’s betrayal and was “cured” when Barry hashed things out with her. The alternate personality let go and the stronger personality of Caitlin took hold again. There was no need for the CS/KF hybrid defensive personality anymore. The two larger personalities remain.

#caitlin snow #killer frost #this story could have been million times better if only the writers gave a damn

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