captainsteverogersdefensesquad:
So, many people discuss Tony Stark’s mental health, and they usually go along the lines of “Tony has a debilitating mental illness! He has PTSD and anxiety!” And later use to it excuse any bad things he’s done. And yes, Tony has mental illnesses that’s true but like…have we ever talked about Steve?
He obviously has PTSD (and most likely depression and anxiety) as a result of serving in freaking WWII. Watching friends (Bucky and Dr. Erskine) and fellow soldiers get killed, and being exposed to all other horrors of war, is bound to leave mental scars. Not only is he a veteran, but a man out of time. When Steve put that plane in the water, he was fully expecting death but instead woke up to a new century, where everyone he knew and loved was either dead or, in the case of Peggy, barley clinging to life and his memory. Seeing his old love, once full of life, in such a state likely made his depression worsen.
His PTSD is explicitly shown in The Avengers (the flashback scene in the gym where he is remembering the war, Peggy, and the plane crash) and Age of Ultron (his worst fear literally being not being able to live without war) and more subtly over the course of the Captain America trilogy. This isn’t even mentioning all of the trust and abandonment issues he likely has after being manipulated by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Tony (“you don’t deserve that shield!”) As well as finding out his best friend is alive and has been brainwashed to be a Nazi assassin.
Steve also displays a lot of suicidal tendencies, even before the war. He gets into fights with bigger, meaner bullies constantly and recklessly puts his life in unnecessary danger. Bucky even comments on this, “It’s almost like you like getting punched.” Later, in the barracks, Steve’s first instinct is to jump on a grenade to protect the other soldiers, instead of finding a solution that doesn’t endanger his life. These tendencies come from his (albeit stubborn) desire to do the right thing no matter what, protect people and show that he, skinny, sick, weak and “useless” in the eyes of 1940’s America, is good and that his life means something.
“Bucky, come on! There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That’s what you don’t understand. This isn’t about me.” “Right. Cause you got nothing to prove.”
“I know I’m asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it’s a price I’m willing to pay. And if I’m the only one, then so be it. But I’m willing to bet I’m not.”
“You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”
In his quest to stop bullies, protect the little guy and stand up for what’s right, he equates being a hero with sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice being his own life for the greater good. Steve didn’t feel like he was good enough then, and he doesn’t feel like he’s good enough now. The only way to proven to himself that he is enough is to sacrifice himself for a cause, which leads to reckless behavior and a disregard for his own safety in favor of worrying about others.
(He obviously has a lot of unrealized and unresolved problems, but unlike Tony he uses healthy coping mechanisms (exercise, talking it out, making new friends with similar problems) to deal with his mental illness instead of hurting the people closest to him.)
Steve Rogers has mental illnesses that should not be forgotten about. Remember why he fights, what he fights for and what he has to overcome to fight at all.
Speak on it! Also I’m pretty sure Steve had daddy issues it’s a well known fact that his dad was an alcoholic and often abused his mother and I’m pretty sure him sometimes. And don’t forget that line in age if upfront right before they went to sokovia when Steve said “I’ve got no plans tomorrow night.” Thanks for the awareness!
Just FYI, in the films Steve’s father died before he was born, fighting in WWI, from mustard gas. (Steve was born in July 1918, his father dies from Mustard gas in the war which ended in Nov 1918, but the official MCU date is May 8th 1918 from supplemental material).
So in the films it seems Steve never knew his father, which bring it’s own set of Daddy issues, interestingly, none of which Steve feels the need to take out on other people. But it probably does add an extra layer to how quickly he became attached to the kind older male figure of Dr Erskine, he’s probably the closest thing to a father figure Steve ever had, as brief as it was.(Not forgetting that the project was called Project Rebirth–so he is in a way Steve’s father, the Steve who came out of the capsule after the serum)
To be honest Steve’s portrayal in some ways IMO is more realistic. In reality, many are quietly struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD and most people who know them wouldn’t even know it. Only those who are closest, which is how it is with Steve. Sam for example, clearly knows. Being a therapist himself, he immediately recognized what Steve was dealing with and comments on it in his first conversation with him.
It’s also why he uses the excuse of impressing the girls at work to invite him to come to see him at the VA.
I think it’s safe to say Natasha can see it too, which is probably one of the reasons she was always encouraging to go out on dates and be more social in Civil War and wanted to make sure she was there for him at Peggy’s funeral.
PLUS we also know even prior to entering the war and having all this stuff happen to him(mentor murdered in front of him, violent war, dying, man out of time, etc) if you look at the medical issues listed on his enlistment forms, one of the things mentioned is “nervous trouble of any sort” which was basically a catch all phrase for anxiety and/or panic attacks. It’s still used on Army forms, but now it actually has “anxiety or panic attacks” in parenthesis afterwards.
And given all his ailments, a number of which were quite serious, plus the frequently with which he was bullied, it’s probably no surprise if he sometimes had some anxiety.
On another note Steve’s mother died from Tuberculosis, which as we know was a painful and slow way to die, she died a few months after he turned 18 in Oct 1936. So Steve would most likely have spent at least his last few years of high school basically watching her die(not to mention she may have been put into quarantine where he would have been limited in how much he could see her, if he could see her at all – I do wonder if the filmmakers considered this, because that would have meant he may well have been trying to support himself, pay for an apartment and go to school on his own by the time he was 16 or so).
Point is, Steve Rogers life has been filed with pain, poverty, loneliness and trauma – and some of these stans think he doesn’t have trauma simply because he isn’t always acting it out on everyone around him?
All. This.
All this.
I know Tony’s on-screen visible panic attack was important to a lot of people. I dont want to belittle that at all. But I dont understand why Steve gets treated like this isnt an issue for him at all when it so obviously is. His symptoms in fact are much closer to mine. In his case its cultural, that a man of his time doesnt share those things. In my case, it wasn’t safe for me to visibly have panic attacks. But the end result is similar. And those results are routinely portrayed in the films.
It’s like the MCU fandom forgets or doesn’t want to hear or know that YES! there are fans who identify with Steve’s issues, Steve’s PTSD, Steve’s outlook.
Yes, believe it or not, there are those of us who identify with Steve.
Steve Rogers and Mental Illness
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