Lit How is mental illness addressed in canon?

I was on Reddit discussing mental illness in Star Wars and someone pointed me to a source that I had long forgotten. The very first novel after the Great Purge; A New Dawn actually touched on mental illness, something I believe the Jedi either don't believe in or largely ignore. E.g. Anakin Skywalker and Bariss Offee. Yet neuroscience is a very mature tech in Star Wars, so it is impossible they would not know about mental illness. Yet here is a quote from A New Dawn regarding Skelly, a dissident miner on the moon of Gorse:
"Skelly's frozen image lingered there before her, his
mouth stuck open mid-rant. It seemed a perfect pose-
and she knew she'd see it again. Because Skelly, she
knew, was red-stamped. Records digitally stamped with
a red star indicated visits from Gorse's mental health
authority.
"He gets any more stars, he can open up his own
galaxy,
" she said. She took a deep breath, relieved. Red-
stamped people tended to stay in the medical system,
rarely escalating to anything else. They were freer with
words than most, rarely intending action. And Skelly
had been fun to listen to in the past, at least. She un-
paused the feed."

Basically from what this is said, there do exist mental health facilities in Star Wars, but the level of concern is very low as they don't feel Skelly is much of a threat to the Empire, but SPOILER ALERT he may be. When Skelly goes to this facility so many times that it is almost ridiculous, do they just give him therapy or meds or some other treatment we don't have here on Earth?

The Jedi didn't help Bariss or Anakin and look how bad that turned out.....

 

A good example of mental health problems going undiagnosed and untreated is when Ysanne Isard was clearly suffering from PTSD, paranoid delusions and overall mania during the time she was ruling Thyferra. Many of her subordinates noticed the deteriorating state of her mental health. But, rather than try to help her, they made plans to abandon her and flee. Which, given her mania and extreme capriciousness, is quite understandable.

In many of the cases of powerful people suffering from mental illnesses in the GFFA, there’s nobody around to step in and ensure the ill person receives health.

Maybe if Thrawn was on Thyferra, he would have realized that Isard was not acting rationally and needed psychiatric help. He’s probably the only high-ranking Imperial who would have felt any desire to help her at all. Most others would either desert her, as Vorru and Erisi did, or just have her assassinated.

Many villains in the GFFA have diagnosable issues. Delak Krennel is another being who could be classified as a sociopath, and Palpatine was definitely a psychopath. Darth Caedus was a mental health case all on his own. I don’t have the time to list all of Jacen Solo’s issues here, but he definitely suffered from long-term PTSD from the Myrkr Mission and his torture afterwards.

 

Obviously not Canon, but C’Baoth is the first character that comes to mind in terms of being called out in-universe as being mentally ill as opposed to strictly being evil.

 

that was his clone he is insane

 

Both original Jorus as well as the clone had their mental issues.

Gesendet von meinem TA-1053 mit Tapatalk

 

The clone is presented as a complete villain though, much worse than Mara who mind you was Palpatines right hand woman.

 

In EU Zuckuss was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and an advanced case of multiple personality disorder.

So far in-universe Aphra was only told by psychologist that "she may have some issues" without any specifics, but seems like after her experience with Vader she is suffering from PTSD.

 

I completely forgot about her. Alema Rar is the textbook definition of a villain with mental health issues. Alema was actually certifiably insane. At least to an extent. The breadth and depth of her issues is too wide to fully discuss easily, but she was possibly bipolar, schizophrenic, and definitely suffering from some very serious PTSD.

The loss of her sister, her lekku, her arm, foot and her entire nest. Alema had literally nothing left to live for except revenge. I imagine when she discovered Lumiya’s Force Phantom technique, she was overjoyed. That ability allowed her to feel whole once again, with all her limbs and nerves intact. Which is very similar to an addiction. Alema would immerse herself so deeply in that power that she’d need to sleep for days when she emerged from it’s deep trance.

Alema’s issues were so obvious and even sympathetic that Luke ordered Jaina and her teammates to take Alema alive if possible. Healing was possible for Raynar, but I think Alema was too far gone to save. But perhaps Cilghal could have worked a miracle there.

 

He’s presented as a villain and a threat, but it doesn’t negate that they also make a point of stressing that unlike Palpatine C’baoth has some kind of dementia or psychosis as opposed to being a true dark sider.

 

Dementia sounds most likely, based on what I’ve read about. The memory loss, the mood swings, the violent outbursts. Take away the Force and the Empire and C’baoth seems nothing more than an angry old man whose slowly losing his grip on sanity and refuses to admit it. Perhaps he can’t even realize it, let alone admit it. Unlike some of the other examples mentioned earlier, Luke does try to help Joruus. Multiple times, in fact. Sadly all his attempts were in vain.

 

Given that the original "went dark" as well, perhaps the clone had a flash imprint of the original's memories right up to the moment he left on Outbound Flight, and Palpatine, after cloning him, corrupted him a little further, knowing the original's weakness for power?

Mara thinks about, and later comments on, the way C'baoth talks, being a lot like the way Palpatine did.


"You must be C'baoth," Mara said to him as she slid off the landing skid and got a grip on her blaster. "You always greet your visitors this way?"
For a moment the figure didn't speak. Mara took a step toward him, feeling an eerie sense of deja-vu as she tried to peer into the hood at the face not quite visible there. The Emperor had looked much the same way that night when he'd first chosen her from her home. "I have no visitors except lackeys from Grand Admiral Thrawn," the figure said at last. "All others are, by definition, intruders."
"What makes you think I'm not with the Empire?" Mara countered. "In case it escaped your notice, I was following the Imperial beacon on that island down there when you knocked me out of the sky."
In the dim starlight she had the impression that C'baoth was smiling inside the hood. "And what precisely does that prove?" he asked. "Merely that others can play with the Grand Admiral's little toys."
"And can others get hold of the Grand Admiral's ysalamiri, too?" she demanded, gesturing toward the frame on her back. "Enough of this. The Grand Admiral-"
"The Grand Admiral is your enemy," C'baoth snapped suddenly. "Don't insult me with childish denials, Mara Jade. I saw it all in your mind as you approached. Did you really believe you could take my Jedi away from me?"
Mara swallowed, shivering from the cold night wind and the colder feeling within her. Thrawn had said that C'baoth was insane, and she could indeed hear the unstable edge of madness in his voice. But there was far more to the man than just that. There was a hard steel behind the voice, ruthless and calculating, with a sense of both supreme power and supreme confidence underlying it all.
It was like hearing the Emperor speak again.

...

"There's no need to kill him at all," Skywalker insisted. "We can be off Jomark long before he wakes up."
"You don't leave an enemy at your back," she told him stiffly. "Not if you like living."
"He doesn't have to be an enemy, Mara," Skywalker said with that irritating earnestness of his. "He's ill. Maybe he can be cured."
Mara felt her lip twist. "You didn't hear the way he was talking before you showed up," she said. "He's insane, all right; but that's not all he is anymore. He's a lot stronger, and a whole lot more dangerous." She hesitated. "He sounded just like the Emperor and Vader used to."
A muscle in Skywalker's cheek twitched. "Vader was deep in the dark side, too," he told her. "He was able to break that hold and come back. Maybe C'baoth can do the same."
"I wouldn't bet on it," Mara said. But she holstered her blaster. They didn't have time to debate the issue; and as long as she needed Skywalker's help, he had effective veto on decisions like this.

 

Is it really for us the audience to say whether these characters have mental health issues? I feel like unless the author says so explicitly, we shouldn't assume it to be the case.

 

This thread makes me think of when people have stated that Anakin had borderline personality disorder.