Ask Ms. Jessica Issue 33 – Personality Mutations (Patreon)

 (The content for Ask Ms. Jessica comes from real questions from real people sent to AskMsJessica@gmail.com)

Dr Jess, I've been reading your responses as they come out, and while I've found them very interesting, I've also noticed you only briefly touch on the psychological effects of mutations, such as in discussions of the loss of one or more senses, or the workings of mutants with multiple heads. I have multiple questions regarding mutant psychologies, but I'll try to keep them brief.

1. Do mutants ever experience personality shifts as a result of mutations? Mood swings and such tend to result from altered brain chemistry, so I wondered if mutations could cause that on a greater scale

2. You've talked about the small, invisible actions taken by the body in preparation for big, "spontaneous" changes. I was wondering if psychological changes could be such a thing, preparing the brain for operating with altered physiology before it happens. If so, could personality shifts be an identifiable precursor to a major mutation?

3. Does the mental state a girl has prior to mutation affect the mutation's characteristics at all?

The main reason I ask these questions is I have a friend who began to anthropomorphize her vagina, talking to/about it like it was a person, and even giving it its own name. Then she developed a queen mutation, where her vagina actually became an independently functioning head with its own personality. Would this be an example of her mental state affecting her mutation, or her impending mutation affecting her mental state prior? Or are the two entirely unrelated?

Thanks for all the helpful info!

Haha, well there’s been a reason that I haven’t talked about the psychological effects of mutations…I’m not a psychologist.

I feel like McCoy from Star Trek sometimes. “Dammit Jim! I’m a doctor not a psychologist!”

Anyone get that? Well now I feel old.

But it’s true that you have to be a bit of a generalist when it comes to mutations, so I can take a few of these questions on.

Let’s go one by one.

One, yes mutants can experience personality shifts due to mutation. This is largely because the brain is not exempt from mutation. It can mutate as much as any other body part can mutate. Changes in the physiological structure of the brain eventually cause changes in personality and thought pattern. Some mutants even develop entirely new personalities and take new names. You are likely familiar with this in response to fusion like with Synergy (don’t get on my case! I really liked her last concert!) but really any mutation can alter brain structure. 

Don’t be scared though, this isn’t that strange. Merely growing up alters brain structure. In fact, simply existing alters brain structure. It’s theorized that we have more in common with a complete stranger than we do with ourselves from ten years in the past. We change a lot more than we think we do, since our only frame of reference is from inside our own head. Similarly, mutants that undergo personality changes usually don’t notice unless someone points it out or they specifically examine their life in the past.

Wow, ten years ago I was touring with bands and screaming at protests. Haha, and look at me now. Age certainly does mellow you.

Anyway, let’s move on to your second question. Yes, the brain does mutate in preparation for mutations. I covered this a bit in the past, but the brain will usually undergo small bits of “neural rewiring” so to speak to prepare for things like new body parts and especially new organs. This rewiring can affect one’s personality as well.

Your third question is a bit trickier to answer. It is well documented that the mind can have physical effects on the body. Just look at the placebo effect. Medications that do nothing can still physically help someone because they think it’s doing something. The mind is very powerful that way.

There is a correlation with women who have certain fixations eventually mutating a way that satisfies those fixations. Like your friend that you mentions, or that tennis star with the two bodies. So there is a possibility that having a kind of personality could “guide” the mutation, so to speak.

However, correlation is not causation, and there is another possible explanation for this “confirmation bias.” We humans love to see patterns where there are none, and we especially love to fit those patterns into things we already care about. 

For example, a tennis star with two bodies is useful for practicing against oneself, so there is obviously an urge to say “I mutated this way because I love tennis.” However, lots of mutations can help out your tennis game. Elastic arms, animal like legs for increased speed, tentacles that give you more strength on your swing, all of these mutations and more could help out a tennis game. So if she mutated in one of these ways she might just as well have also said “I mutated this way because I love tennis.”

The same thing goes for your friend. Sure, it might seem as if she mutated that way so she could talk to her vagina, but if she, say, grew a second vagina she would say “I have another friend” or if she gained a vagina mouth she would say “my friend can talk now.” It may not be that her personality influenced her mutation but rather that she views her mutation in a way that makes sense for her personality. We all like to see patterns because they make the world make sense, even if no pattern actually exists.

So in short, I wouldn’t say that personality and mutation are totally unrelated. After all, getting new urges, instincts, and personality ticks do often signal an upcoming mutation and are used in mutant diagnosis all the time. But, controlling how you mutate with your mind, or somehow mutating in a certain way because it’s “destiny” considering how well it fits your personality… that’s probably just confirmation bias at work.

Anyway, I think I’m going to look through my old clothing and see if I can find some of my old band shirts. I might be vastly different than I was ten years ago, but it’s still fun to relive the past sometimes.

Dr. Jessica Park

AskMsJessica@gmail.com