#after all one of the times i was having this. mental breakdown inducing dissociative episode i shared with an aquitance they were like

[the-acid-pear]

Seeing your own trans body and identity as your masterpiece is so important

#luly talks #watching a video allow me to ramble #almost feel like a ringmaster walking in on stage like ladies and gentlemen what you are about to see is something you have never seen befo #when you think about it its not surprising at all that theres such an overlap with autism and queerness #gender is such a thing we are forced to learn and stick to and sometimes we arent even directly taught it usually you just have to go figur #like many social things it is treated as a survival of the fittest a lot of the time #reminds me of my experiences growing up and my insistance of not being a boy or a girl but simply luly #speaking of me. there's something about me that is so strong like. my inability to ever separate the me from myself #no matter where i go or what my body does theres a lingering feeling of the me floating there #this is stepping away from gender and more into dissociation but it would be foolish to ignore the overlap between those two #after all one of the times i was having this. mental breakdown inducing dissociative episode i shared with an aquitance they were like #oh so you are genderfluid. and i was like yeah i guess #there's such an ambiguous sense of the self #HOLY ALMOST LMAO #anyway um. like back to the gender tho #saw this manga panel of this nonbinary beauty as the youtuber called where they say they gave up on being a man but dont claim to be a woma #and it makes me think of myself because i did do that in a way too didnt i? #i gave up on being a woman. but i partly claim to be a man? #but not all the way. not at all. #i've thought about me being a trans man and i am not. i am more than a man #i dont reject womanhood either #i still carry it with me. i once was a little girl. #lately ive been thinking about identity #and i really think that the worst one can do is forget their past because when you do that there's nothing left for you #honestly applies to identities in general such as the idenitty of a nation too #its important to remember how you got here because that is who you are #if you forget your mistakes you are doomed to repeat them again and again #of course. this is an issue for people like me. bc i deal with certain dissociative and general memory issues #lately i've been gaining more memories i thought lost tho. little things. faces of friends of teachers #popping up in my dreams clear as photographs

[manicr]

Bullseye: Dissociative Identity Disorder

I’m kinda musing about Bullseye having a type of identity disorder after both the whole history of taking the roles of others and fanon interpretations around him. On one hand I can see how it fits but on the other it’s not quite perfect either which on the other hand is typical of DID in irl. So, I’m gonna look at this a little closer and see what I think.

As a disclaimer, I’m not a psychologist and I know that the entire DID diagnosis is in fact contested in psychology. This will be a long post.

TL;DR: there is evidence to say, more than enough for head canons, that Bullseye does have a from of DID together with comorbidity in other diagnoses. However, nothing on panel makes this absolutely clear due the absence of a clear definable alter contrasting to a core personality. He does however have a poor sense of self and identity.

But let’s start with what DID is and isn’t.

DID symptoms include "the presence of two or more distinct personality states" accompanied by the inability to recall personal information, beyond what is expected through normal forgetfulness. Other DSM-5 symptoms include a loss of identity as related to individual distinct personality states, and loss referring to time, sense of self and consciousness. In each individual, the clinical presentation varies and the level of  functioning can change from severely impaired to adequate.

The symptoms of dissociative amnesia are subsumed under the DID diagnosis but can be diagnosed separately. Individuals with DID may experience distress from both the symptoms of DID (intrusive thoughts or emotions) and the consequences of the accompanying symptoms (dissociation rendering them unable to remember specific information). The majority of patients with DID report childhood sexual or physical abuse, though the accuracy of these reports is controversial.

Furthermore, DID is often comorbid with borderline personality and other diagnoses like substance abuse, anxiety, depression, PTSD, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; and significant trauma.

In the comorbid category we find traits and actual diagnoses Bullseye has been given in canon.

Netflix Bullseye was canon borderline, as an interpretation of his comic self. While, it has not been state in the 616, it was the attempt to reconcile the mental health disorders that Bullseye obviously has from his violent mood swings with strong emotions, his distorted sense of self, tendency to fixate on people and unstable relationships. The Netflix show wasn’t perfect in it’s handling of it, especially in how BAD Dex’s psychiatrist was at their job, but showed a tragic side of the diagnosis if accompanied by the worst possible circumstances and a comorbid diagnosis of ASPD.

As for comics Bullseye, he was been on panel stated to have bipolar disorder (foolkiller), tumor induced hallucinations and brain damage (DD), ASPD/Psychopathy base on ‘scary frontal lobe’ (DD), and multible depictions of public breakdowns, nightmares and in a future timeline depression that lead to suicide (End of Days). He’s seen to have frequent suicidal ideation in 616, most prominently in Elektra where he begs her to kill him, but he’s self-destructive and suicidal in frequent appearances.

In Dark Avengers he was medicated, taking a anti-psychotic called Clozapine, which is primarily used to treat schizophrenia and Schizoaffective disorder. It’s not clear if this was his usual medication or a situational one.

He does meet the criteria of the latter rather well in verse.

Schizoaffective disorder: (SAD)

The diagnosis is made when the person has symptoms of both schizophrenia (usually psychosis) and a mood disorder—either bipolar disorder or depression—but does not meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia or a mood disorder individually.

But to circle back into the issue of DID, we’ve already crossed of that, yes, Bullseye has mental health issues that are co-morbid with DID and shares traits with it. However, going into the actual criteria.

Does he have alters or a loss of identity tied to disassociation?

The former is actually harder to prove, unless you actually postulate that the persona of Bullseye is an alter, in it self, to a core personality that his traumatized and depressed as seen in his multiple more private breakdowns. Alters are usually more aggressive than the core personality, theoretically built to protect the core personality when it disassociates from harm, danger and abuse.

In that sense, Bullseye does fit the bill if you postulate a split between it and Lester/Dex/Benjamin. You do have enough trauma, both early childhood abuse and repeated adult, and other mental disorders to facilitate such a split of identity. This fits the criteria of DID.

As for the other common criteria of memory issues that is associated with the dissassociation aspect of DID.

There is no evidence however that he suffers from dissociative amnesia regarding what he does in his different personas, though he does state that he forgets things that he doesn’t find important and when confronted with information about himself he simply doesn’t recall. He doesn’t find this unusual however or worthy of remarking on. He frequently forgets people’s names too.

However, it is debatable if this is in fact beyond forgetfulness for a professiopnal assassin with a history of head trauma and shallow affect when it comes to empathy, which are key to imprint certain types of memories.

This is though from the perspective of Bullseye, the alter - if we postulate he does have DID -  we normally meet on panel, and since his past life prior to Bullseye is shrouded in mystery it could be that this is no deliberate misdirection and concealment, but actual inability to recall. This could then meet the criteria of “inability to recall personal information” that is central in DID.

It could be that the ‘Bullseye’ alter does not know who the core personality is or any definable personal information, thus he lies to protect that personality. Thus the multiple choice backstory, the many names he uses, and theatrical nature of the Bullseye persona.

Regardless, this will inevitably become fanon as canon doesn’t have enough information to say either way.

However, we do have the on panel reoccurring issue of him dressing up as other heroes and seeming to suffer various gradients of confusion, stress and issues around his own identity.

Most blatantly in Daredevil, when he and Matt switched costumes and ultimately took on each others roles, seemingly both dissociating their identities in the ‘role-play’ they were engaging in.

Bullseye has traits of this in his other roles where he delves deep into some else’s life and tries to relive it (Punisher Max but even early Elektra with his obsession with her), and complains that being put in someone else's costume makes him feel a loss of identity and increasing his stress, resulting in a need to be ‘me’ and incresed violence (Dark Avengers as Hawkeye).

This all point to the weak construction of identity and his distorted sense of self. Bullseye relies on outside marks to know who he is, such as his costume, his role, and the direction of others.

That last part is supported by his need to have a steady employer and sense of purpose that has, he admits as much to the Kingpin and placed a lot of his sense of security in being the Kingpin’s assassin for the short time he was in that role. And he was repeatedly returned to him, looking for goals and order in his life.

In itself, this is a symptom of both BPD and SAD as well as DID. We see that mirrored in Netflix Dex who needs a ‘Northstar’ to find a way to function. Initially using his psychiatrist, then Julie Barnes, then the FBI and finally Wilson Fisk to determine who he was and what he was supposed to do.

Even 616 Bullseye cares what the Kingpin thinks of him and DD uses that to hurt him. And as in both verses, the Kingpin does not care for him but merely uses him, finding him weak-willed, a disapointment and stupid, thus easy to manipulate but prone to messing up jobs.

Now together, this can just point to a mood disorder together with identity issues needing outside order, leadership and framework to function and becoming psychologically distressed and confused when these are absent during times of high stress. Then on top of it being prone to nervous breakdowns and psychotic episodes. This can in itself be BPD, Bipolar with comorbid tendencies, Schizoaffective disorder and a multiple overlapping disorders.

However there are traits that imply that DID is a possible comorbidity with the preexisting diagnoses and disorders he seems to have. There is no singular disorder that fits all of his mental health issues; Bullseye is 100% comorbid. DID is a diagnosis that is one of the most comorbidity carrying in the DSM-5; it averages with 6-7 comorbid mental health disorders.

As a summary, the door is open to interpret him with or without dissociative identity disorder.

TL;DR:

Could Bullseye have Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Yes.

Does Bullseye have Dissociative Identity Disorder?

It’s not possible to tell.

Do writers intend Bullseye to have Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Seemingly, not. As the on panel diagnoses are ASPD + Bipolar Disorder or Borderline Personality.

Can I still headcanon it?

Of course.Especially since DID is notoriously hard to diagnose and considered one of the ‘hidden’ disorders.

#bullseye #psychology #analysis