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Description

Ever since I came to this realization, I have really identified strongly with Maud Pie, since I suffer from a lot of the same symptoms (with the added complication that the voices constantly tell me I’m worthless and added paranoia).
 
I have the same problem as her making friends because people mistake my demeanor for disinterest even when I’m desperately trying. It’s a very lonely existence, especially when television and movies have programmed people to fear people with schizophrenia as some kind of psychopath or monster, so I can’t explain to people in real life that this is why I do not react in the way they expect. If I do, they may fear or avoid me for no reason, or tell other people who will then not even give me a chance to explain. Worse, I might end up as a victim of violence due to some ‘normal’ person’s misunderstanding.
 
I guess I just want to draw people’s attention to this. If you know someone that is flat, emotionless, and outcast, try to give them a chance and don’t assume they dislike you. Like Maud, if they are choosing to hang around you and trying to do things with you, they might be desperately trying to find a friend. If they aren’t doing that, it may just be because they gave up trying. Just a single friend willing to sit with me would have made such a difference in my life.
 
Screenshot on the left from >>575785

safe2268332 edit180765 edited screencap95587 screencap302486 maud pie15604 pinkie pie265966 earth pony546142 pony1700966 g42127334 maud pie (episode)1390 my little pony: friendship is magic267717 anhedonia2 caption26738 confetti2878 duo205055 emotion49 female1909951 flat affect2 headcanon3256 hub logo10618 maud being maud104 mental illness52 pinkie being pinkie1819 rock farm695 saddle bag8726 schizophrenia70 siblings25465 sisters20419 text96587 the hub3372
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Background Pony #89BE
@Background Pony #B51B  
Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it, I got the point in the end.
 
@GlacierFrostclaw  
She can have both, she is avery interesting character, I hope we’ll get to see her being explored little bit more in S9.  
Maybe she could be in G5? Please? I need to find out more about this curious pony
Background Pony #1352
@Background Pony #D211  
Which was my primary point, but I guess I don’t excel at communications and most people took it the wrong way. Another stupid attempt at acceptance down the toilet I guess.
GlacierFrostclaw
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interesting theory, but I think it’s better that they not specify which mental disorder she has. She clearly has one, but they’ve kept it vague enough that it fits many. Saying she only has a specific one such as schizophrenia or aspergers would be leaving out the others who might have been able to identify with her otherwise.
Background Pony #AE10
considering the banishment of the sandwich and the mirror pool boulder incident it is possible that rocks do talk to her. in a world with pinkie pie and her 4th wall shatters and such it isn’t to out there that someone with a rock based cutie mark can speak to them. After all it is a world of magic.
 
And while this could be it I kind of like to think she, if anything, has alexithymia. As said on wikipedia “The core characteristics of alexithymia are marked dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relating.”
 
that said it is more likely they just found it a good yin and yang thing for maud and pinkie as siblings more than anything else. After all if you look hard enough you can assign almost anyone so many mental health things. For example big mac would be said to have a poverty of speech, but so what? ><
Background Pony #F95D
You already identify with her so what does specifying that she has schizophrenia actually accomplish? It is a much healthier and generally more realistic portrayal of schizophrenia than most in media, granted, but boulder doesn’t tell her to hurt herself or other negative things, a hallmark of schizophrenia. It’s probably just better that you keep your headcanon and identify with her the way you choose to, because trying to make an existent character fit a specific not-intended identity always ends badly.
Background Pony #A97A
@Background Pony #B51B
I don’t think Maud has any actual hallucinations, I do not think she actually believes Boulder is alive. I saw it more as her being either playful or being it a coping mechanism for her, keep in mind that it is stated that she has always been alone and the only thing she had was rocks.
Her blutness, honesty, obession with one specific object, monotone voice, failure to pick up sarcasm; and more, all sound like autism symptoms to me.
But, I do not meant to ruin the message of this post. Maud is a very interesting and motivating character, as she is an outcast and a little weird, but the show never tells her that she is wrong or that she should change, it is never even up for a question. Maud is Maud and we wouldn’t want her in any different way.
 
About boulder i can say she talk with him, because without anyone to talk she could of course geting… well.. insane
Background Pony #1352
@Background Pony #D189  
Yes, flat affect is also seen in autism so I guess it depends on her reasons which can’t be known. Though it’s also important to note that believing the voices are real isn’t a requirement or even the usual. I’ve talked back to voices I knew weren’t real.
 
On the other hand, one can argue that hearing a nice voice isn’t a problem so might not be considered a ‘symptom’ even if it occurs. Maybe she’s meant to be an combination that many can identify with, in which case I can see why they wouldn’t specify, but it still helps me to identify with her.
Background Pony #89BE
@Background Pony #B51B  
I don’t think Maud has any actual hallucinations, I do not think she actually believes Boulder is alive. I saw it more as her being either playful or being it a coping mechanism for her, keep in mind that it is stated that she has always been alone and the only thing she had was rocks.  
Her blutness, honesty, obession with one specific object, monotone voice, failure to pick up sarcasm; and more, all sound like autism symptoms to me.
 
But, I do not meant to ruin the message of this post. Maud is a very interesting and motivating character, as she is an outcast and a little weird, but the show never tells her that she is wrong or that she should change, it is never even up for a question. Maud is Maud and we wouldn’t want her in any different way.
Background Pony #1352
@Background Pony #D189  
That is what blunted/flat affect is, having emotions but being unable to display them. It’s also a component of several other disorders, I imagine.
 
When I said apathy, I referred more to giving up and leaving when it becomes obvious that friendship is too difficult, as she did twice in the show. I guess that wasn’t self-explanatory after all. Maybe I should have put that lower in the list or excluded it so people wouldn’t see it first and stop reading the rest.
 
Yes, it’s possible she has AspeRger’s Syndrome, but that doesn’t include hallucinations. I understand I’m not a psychiatrist, but I am basing this on my own diagnosis and I act like her in social situations, so it’s not a shot in the dark either.
 
But yes, this plea to treat people with mental illness with respect does also apply to people with that. Glad to see you didn’t completely miss the point.
Background Pony #89BE
She’s just aspenger’s, she clearly cares, she is not apathetic. This is a very simplified explaination of schizoprenia