#bipolar buck meta

[bibuckbuckley]

This is kinda out of nowhere but one of these I'm gonna finally give in and write my Buck has bipolar depression meta but today is still not that day

#i've been wanting to write this for like almost two years now #kj speaks

[jay4firefic]

TRAPED-IN-FICTION said: I don’t know if your taking fic requests but it would really be interesting to see a story line where this was involved. Like Not the major plot point but just like a side thing of like, “your with this guy how often and you’ve never noticed?” Like Eddie knows, because he thought it was PTSD and asked because that’s what he’s seen and is familiar with, but the rest of the team, including Maddie, never realized/made the connection. And maybe 51 are all aware because he was diagnosed while there.

Hey, boo! So i’m actually planning on including bipolar Buck in a couple of my fics already, most significantly the Chicago 9-1-1 series. I was plotting out where and how his symptoms are going to start showing up just yesterday (though some have definitely already made an appearance). BUT no diagnosis for him for the foreseeable future. Maybe I should write something where he’s been diagnosed and is working on it but I’ll have to think about what I would do with that.

I’d also say if/when he does get diagnosed I doubt it’s something he’d broadcast even to most of 51. Adjusting to a new diagnosis can be really hard and feel super vulnerable and we know Buck isn’t good at sharing his pain. But I think you’re right, it’s pretty likely the 118 won’t pick up on it - most people aren’t super familiar with the symptoms of bipolar disorder and, unfortunately, there’s so much stigma around bipolar that a lot of people assume folks with bipolar are essentially nonfunctional/obviously significantly impaired in everyday life and don’t think someone as relatively successful/able to maintain a veneer of “normalcy” as Buck could be bipolar. And the 118 pretty clearly just assume Buck is an irresponsible asshole in early s1. (I say this as a person who has been living with Bipolar II my entire adult life - there is almost no way someone in my workplace is going to pick up on it, especially when I’m medicated!)

I’m not sure what you mean by Eddie thinking it’s PTSD but let me know because that could be fun to explore.

#traped-in-fiction #evan buckley #Bipolar Evan Buckley #bipolar buck meta #replies to replies #my fic #tv: 9-1-1

[gracieryder]

the meta on buck and his body etc is /so/ good but sex addict is a bit of an outdated term (though i know he uses that word to describe himself s1). if you look into hypersexuality and its intersections with other mental illnesses and disorders, a lot really fits.

Okay, so this was really interesting!

Especially because I'm very familiar with hypersexuality as a concept. (It comes with the territory of having Bipolar Disorder and experiencing manic episodes.)

But I did not know that sex addiction was becoming outdated terminology. So, I did a bit of searching (and there's apparently a lot of controversy in the medical community surrounding the idea of sex addiction in the first place which doesn't surprise me), and there was apparently a push to include Hypersexuality Disorder in the DSM recently that didn't quite succeed. At least according to WebMD.

So, I'm assuming we're currently evolving in the way we look at this?

Because from what I understood before this ask sent me down the Google Rabbit Hole, hypersexuality could be a symptom of various mental illnesses, but I didn't know it was being considered as a primary illness itself? Though trusty old Wikipedia tells me they haven't figured out exactly how to handle that yet.

Though when you consider it as a "compulsive sexual behavior", it's actually kind of surprising to me that I hadn't heard it referred to as an impulse control disorder before now?

Though I am of course not a psychiatrist and do not claim to have an in depth knowledge bank and understanding of mental illnesses and how they're classified.

Now that I'm thinking about that though, it would make sense to me if Buck had some sort of generalized impulse control disorder with a sexual compulsion aspect as well.

Are you in the mental health field, anon? You should totally do an in depth meta on his mental health if you are. You'd probably have a much greater understanding and have a lot more to say about this than I do! ❤️

#this is interesting stuff #i'm still reading things tbh #even tho i'm supposed to be working #lol! #mental health #sexuality #hypersexuality #sex addiction #evan buckley #911 #anonymous #mist answers

[jay4firefic]

Can you talk more about how you saw Buck being manic is s1 and 3?

Ok so I’m not going back and reviewing the episodes and I just vaguely glanced over my sheet on symptoms of mania because I don’t feel like digging up my DSM-5, so this is not comprehensive at all or entirely reflective of what I was thinking while watching the show and interpreting him that way. This is in no way a guideline for how to actually diagnose someone with mania/bipolar disorder and is filtered through my own identification with Buck’s behavior based on my personal experience of being bipolar. That said:

To diagnose a manic episode you need 4 things: abnormally elevated/irritable mood most of the time for at least a week, at least 3-4 of the 7 qualifying symptoms, impairment from this mood disturbance & symptoms that significantly impairs social/occupational functioning or requires hospitalization (or psychosis, but that’s not a factor here, and it can’t be caused by substance use/abuse.

In early Season 1 we see two sides of Buck: he loves his job and is portrayed as being incredibly good at it, AND he endangers said job + his personal and professional relationships through repeated irrational/impulsive behavior. We do not at this point have a baseline for his “normal” mood & affect, but he presents as incredibly energetic, talkative, elevated, goal-directed; he also reacts irritably when logical consequences for his behavior are imposed by Bobby/Athena/LAFD. Despite being portrayed as competent, he makes impulsive decisions like trying to take an ax to a wall that may have a baby in it (ugh that episode. anyway.).

He is not incapable of understanding that there are consequences to his actions, but he engages in self destructive goal-directed behavior - including what was identified in that post as “hypersexuality.” He engages in repeated sexually inappropriate behavior on the job, in spite of being caught and disciplined. He understands the importance of his job and yet he *steals a fucking fire truck* to impress a hookup, and screws the therapist he’s sent to by his boss (which, as a therapist, YUCK I pretend that never happened because I cannot deal with how gross it is and how the show plays it for laughs). He talks about his job being the only thing he has/the only thing that matters and throws himself into it completely (also possibly increased goal-directed behavior, as we later see him developing priorities and relationships outside of work) but can’t stop himself from engaging in the behaviors that get him fired anyway. (I would argue the way he jumps into his relationship with Abby, a woman he has only spoke to over the phone, who he puts on a pedestal to an incredibly unhealthy degree, and who he attaches to as a solution to his previous inappropriate behavior, is also a symptom.) We’ve now covered 2 symptoms: increased goal-directed behavior & excessive involvement in activities with painful consequences.

I would argue he’s more talkative than usual during that time and overshares inappropriately to a greater degree than he does in following seasons, but oversharing is also just definitely part of his personality. He’s distractible to a greater degree than usual (flirting with a woman who’s got a snake wrapped around her damn neck, etc). He has an inflated sense of self-esteem - part of this is just Buck being Buck, part of this can be read as a front for his obvious deep seated feelings of inadequacy, but he does genuinely seem to believe he is so good at his job that his behavior shouldn’t matter, and that he is entirely in the right in situations like yelling at Athena when she insists they save the mother as well as the stuck-in-a-wall baby. He’s shown to have much lower self esteem and question himself much more throughout the rest of the show. So that’s 2-3 more symptoms. We’ve satisfied the requirement of 3-4.

We know, from the fact that he literally gets fired for this behavior and significantly damages his personal and professional relationships, that these symptoms have caused a significant impairment in occupational AND social functioning. And we’re never shown Buck using/abusing substances that could explain this behavior. 

We then see a significant shift in Buck’s behavior/personality in the second half of Season 1 and thereafter, in which he is calmer, more responsible, no longer engaging in excessive/dangerous sexual behavior, no longer engaging in behaviors which endanger his job, able to form meaningful relationships, etc. I’m not even gonna get into the s3 behavior because the whole beginning of s3 makes me wanna smack someone plus I don’t remember it quite as well, probably because I’m trying to block it out XD

My conclusion from all of this: Buck was having a prolonged manic episode, Buck is bipolar. We could argue over whether it was full blown mania or hypomania and thus Bipolar I or II but I lean towards mania & Bipolar I.

Edited to add: this is not even getting into his teenage/early 20s behavior as shown in the whole Buck Begins/Buckley family disaster episodes like risking his damn life for attention, engaging in self-injurious behavior & thrill seeking, frequently moving & changing jobs, etc.

#tv: 9-1-1 #evan buckley #9-1-1 meta #bipolar disorder #mental illness #asks and answers #man i wish i watched 9-1-1 way back when i had to do a full psychosocial on a fictional character for our diagnostic class #this is not comprehensive and this is not advice #but i am both bipolar and professionally treat many folks w/ bipolar and other mood disorders #and my first thought with buck has always been #boy is bipolar #Anonymous