#i just prefer sticking with the theory that SW is a deeply tragic and dysfunctional fairytale universe where no therapy exists at all

[gch1995]

Hi, I only know star wars through the fandom, wiki, and I saw clone wars when I'm was a kid. Do the Jedi have mental health care in canon? If they do would they be considered legit professionals or would they be quacks by in universe and our standards?

In Legends and Disney Wars comics material, there are occasionally mentions of Jedi mind healers, psychiatrists, and psychologists, but they never actually get mentioned or offered to anyone involved in the Jedi Order, Imperial army, clone army, or Sith in canon, so I don’t really hold Anakin, Luke, Yoda, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, or any of the other characters accountable in canon for not mentioning or seeking out therapy and prescription treatments to deal with all their personal issues and trauma, or mitigate serious symptoms of behavioral and mood disorders because, within the narratives of their stories, therapy really doesn’t seem to exist at all.

Even if you assume it really does exist, though, prescription meds and therapy don’t always work. Yes, you also have to have some personal willpower to make an effort to change, but if the therapist and/or psychiatrist sucks at their job, then it’s on either them and/or those who trained them, too.

You also have to consider that the universe of Star Wars is so vastly fucked up in its legal system and morality both the Republic and the Empire, particularly in the prequels. There doesn’t seem to be any social services that protects the safety of minors in the prequels.

The Republic’s military is allowed to take on force sensitive children from their families from infancy under incredibly dubious and ill-informed consent to start training them as soldiers with lethal weapons and send them on dangerous missions by the ages of four in the prequels.

These recruits are cut off from their birth families after being taken in by the Jedi, and, while they can technically leave anytime, the Council and their masters don’t make it this viable option that their recruits would ever be able to feel reasonably well-rounded, safe, and supported in doing either, so they’re not really given any sort of true freedom in the matter.

The members of the Republic government help out the slavers and/or help perpetuate slavery on the outer rims for their “greater good” because it’s safer and looks better than siding with those under them. The Jedi Council run their system like a cult that strips its members of their personal freedoms and well-being for their “greater good.” They mutually agree to take on a slave army from Palpatine and agree to enable each other’s systematic abuse of power in return for a sense of security from each other.

A 14 year old girl is allowed to rule her home planet and make serious political decisions in The Phantom Menace.

The bottom line is that, even if you want to believe that psychotherapy does really exist in Star Wars, it doesn’t matter because it never is seriously taken into consideration in the stories for any of the characters as viable options for them within this universe, anyway. Even if it were, it wouldn’t be accurate, fair, or objective in practice in the old Republic or the Empire at all, anyway.

#star wars anon #there is no psychotherapy or treatment for behavioral and mood disorders in the SW universe #i just prefer sticking with the theory that SW is a deeply tragic and dysfunctional fairytale universe where no therapy exists at all #ot star wars #pt star wars #because if we’re supposed to believe proper mental health treatment then it either sucks and/or the universe had no reason to suck so much #granted being an abuse victim and mental health issues aren’t an excuse for committing abuse and crime yourself #but it’s also true that Anakin couldn’t have gone dark and those Jedi younglings couldn’t have been killed by enemies in war at all #if the SW universe had a proper legal system and social services who had enough common sense to realize it’s WRONG to use kids as soldiers #if proper psychotherapy and psychology 101 existed in the SW canon galaxy then they shouldn’t be able to get away with the shit they did #so I just don’t buy that it exists at all.