Psychogenic Dejection

Psychogenic dejection (PD) is a condition that can affect psions in deep depression and under great mental stress. It can have many effects but the most infamous one is the projection of a psyghost; a psychic emanation of their subconscious frustration, desperation and anger. Psions suffering from PD are colloquially called 'glitches'.

A loud shriek rang through the warehouse, bouncing off the bare metal walls in a cacaphony of alien noise. A bright, pink light danced across the walls from beyond the hundreds of large crates stored in the warehouse.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god!" Telon whimpered and cowered behind a crate, visibly shaking.
"There are no gods." Carla snarled. "And even if there were, they wouldn't give a fuck about you. Shut up!"
The light and the howling was coming closer.
"What is that thing!?" Telon yelped.
"It's a glitch and if you don't shut up, I'll shoot you myself." Drax muttered from next to him. "You don't want that thing to find us."
The howling voice cried out into the cavernous space of the warehouse. "You cannot hide!"

— Drax and Carla on an extraction encounter a psyghost.

Cause

Psychogenic dejection only affect psions that are deeply depressed, under great mental stress or otherwise mentally tormented. It is common for these individuals to start exhibiting psychic abilities at random, often unconsciously. Most of these effects only happen when the psion is incapable of controlling their mind, such as when sleeping, when they are unconscious or in a coma. Psions in a coma are known to display these effects even without being in great mental distress.
However, only psions of sufficient power are able to project a psyghost as it takes a tremendous toll on their body and mind. The energy required to project a psyghost is often enough to kill them. Most psions will already have drained themselves long before they get to the point of trying to escape their own mind.

Epidemiology

While it isn't a contagious disease that has any carriers or transmission vectors, the state of society and the persecution of psions is well enough to drive most of them into a state of survival instinct, paranoia and stress. Mental health issues among the psion population are many and there is scant help for them to get, as outing themselves as psions would be a huge risk.
Far from every psion suffers or will suffer from PD even though they may suffer from temporary depression. It requires a psion of sufficient strength to project their psionic energy outwards, and a strong enough emotional distress. Only about 2-3% of psions suffer from PD, far fewer than those that suffer from general depression and stress.

Symptoms

The psion is most often not even aware that they are projecting because they are asleep. Their projected self is entirely controlled by their subconscious mind, as if they were dreaming and act largely on instinct and emotion. This makes the psyghosts incredibly dangerous, irrational and violent.

Type

Mental

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Rare

Affected Species

• Dulzuun
• Vindral
• Kuna
• Illim
• Nilvan
• Hessak
• Zalra

Related Reading

Not all psions who suffer from PD have the strength and ability to project a full psyghost. The majority of PD cases will instead exhibit bouts of unconscious telekinesis, indiscriminate telepathy, emotional projection and even uncontrolled White Noise.

Treatment

Treating psychogenic dejection is no different than treating any other form of severe depression. While therapy has proven to be quite effective, albeit slow, the most common form of treatment is chemical. Psions suffering from depression or even early stages of PD usually self-medicate with whatever drugs they can get their hands on. The few who do seek help are often prescribed common, off-the-shelf anti-depressants that are less effective than street drugs or sensotech stimulants.

Dealing with psyghosts

A psyghost projection is a psionic entity but does partially interact with the physical world. While it cannot be harmed by physical projectiles or even stopped by physical walls, it does get hindered by them, as if it was like water. The only way to truly harm a psyghost is to attack it with enough energy to completely disrupt it. Energy weapons are all about equally effective against psyghosts. A psyghost who is destabilised to the point of dispersion dies and the psion with them as the body cannot live without the mind. The psion becomes a comatose, braindead individual often living for only a few more hours before the body shuts down.

Prevention

Preventing PD is a case of mental health care. In a society like Fusion City it is hard not to be struck by melancholy or depression, at least if you aren't one of the people swimming in money. However, far from every depressed psion will suffer from PD. It's usually only the most traumatized individuals who will ever reach the point of mental escape.

Prognosis and sequela

Interesting by Rudolf Getel

While most psions will either die due to burnout or recover from their depression, not all recover entirely and some might even suffer lasting consequences of their PD bout. Extreme cases include:

• Memory bleed: Waking up having absorbed other people's worst memories and experiences, suddenly remembering them as your own.
• Projection addiction: Feeling compelled to seek unconsciousness to repeat the mental escape.
• Mental possession: Repeatedly seeking out an individual that appeals to you and gradually supplant their mind with your own.

Memory bleed is a horrifying effect that can happen during PD where a psion functions a conduit or psychic "vacuum cleaner". They absorb other people's memories and experiences and make them their own, waking up with tens or maybe hundreds of emotionally distressing experiences they now believe to be their own, yet feel completely alien in.
Some grow addicted to the psyghost experience and even though the projection is largely a traumatic experience, they find that they are compelled to seek unconsciousness in order to escape their mind, "be free" and have an outlet for their pent up frustration, rage and pain.
The most egregious of effects commonly only affect those that suffer from body or gender dysphoria, severe disassociation or dissociative identity disorder. These PD-sufferers tend to unconsciously try to escape the confines of their own body and inhabit another body they feel they identify better with. Over time, this mental possession can become permanent and the target victim's personality is completely erased as the psion transfers their mind to the new body. This usually ends in tragedy as the psions mind is ill-equipped to physically maintain the new body, and differing hormone levels or even species means that these psions usually die within hours of transferrance, causing the effective death of both individuals.

Cultural reception

Treatment comes with great risk to anyone near the psion as they have a tendency to lash out against the people they know when they project. Even friends, family and loved ones can become threats and enemies in the twisted world of the paranoid, terrified and violent PD sufferer. This becomes particularly dangerous with a psion that exhibits full on psyghost projection.
PD psions are the poster boys for anti-psion propaganda. Every time there is a PD incident and people get hurt or injured, there is always someone who tries to score political points on the incident and use it as fuel to enact anti-psion legislation. A PD psion is usually very quickly discovered and "taken care of" by government medical services.