Mooney Madness

The Mooney Madness and What It Does (written in or thereabouts) was a book by Mirianda Maburdan under the guise of Mirianda Perios, her pen name.

Back Cover Description
Mooney Madness -  or Luna Insaniam, is a state of mind where certain enzymes are blocked from the brain, resulting in chatastrophic results that play over a series of approximately ten years. The only known explanation for how the blockage occurs is from having ancestors who were born, as werewolves have a similar mind blockage when transformed under the full moon, though nowhere near as fatal.

Authors Note
I, Mirianda Perios, have mastered myself in the study of mental illnesses and their affects on the mind. After learning that a friend, Kasan (name changed to protect identity of patient) had the Madness, I was compelled to learn all I could about it. I have spent the last six years of my life in a lab and traveled the world to spend my time the company of patients with a rare mental illness referred to as ‘Mooney Madness’. The technical term, Luna Insaniam.

Field Work and Conclusions
After spending many years inspecting the DNA of the infected persons, I have discovered similarities in each and every one of them. Their minds are all deteriorating at a much faster rate than the normal, unaffected mind does. The unaffected mind deteriorates at approximately ten percent the rate as the mind of someone with the Madness.

Mooney Madness is not dissimilar to the madness that affects the minds of Werewolves post-transformation, minus the transformation, or the muggle mental illness known as Paranoid Schizophrenia.

Speculations on a Cure

 * "Well, you see. Mooney Madness is a very rare disease of the mind… and those who do have it, can go their whole lives without being bothered by it, or even know they have it. A person is born with the seed of the Madness already planted in their mind. But, a select few exposed to the proper conditions for the Madness to spread, it will slowly eat away at the mind until there’s nothing left.There is no permanent cure, it will eventually kill him.'" 
 * &#151; the med-witch that diagnosed Kasan, who is now one of my patients.

While that med-witch is set on believing there is no permanent cure, I have devoted my life to finding one. And, since I have accumulated a vast knowledge of the disease, I felt compelled to write a book to help the families of those who have the Madness as well.

Most born with the Madness that are subject to the 'proper conditions' die when they reach the age of fourteen or fifteen, depending on when the first stage of the Madness presents itself, usually at a young age. All in all, the victims don't usually last longer than ten years after the first stage.

A cure, at last has been found. There are ten procedures for the ten stages of the Madness that will be ensued upon the patient. If the Madness is not caught in the first stage, however, the procedures will take no affect.

Classification
One way to tell a Mooner (name for a person diagnosed with Mooney Madness) from a normal person is that their skin is at least ten shades paler than the average pale skintone.

Stages
There is a series of ten known stages of the Madness. There are Points, Periods, and Stages.

Points, are a point in time, meaning non-lasting, symptoms usually dissipate after a day, but may be recurring.

Period, meaning lasts a while, but will eventually be grown out of. Can last as long as three months, but usually no longer than one.

Stage, showing that the Stage of the Madness is long-lasting or even permanent.

Ten such Stages are as follows:

First Stage
Stage one: The Silence Period – also referred to as the period of silence. Where one begins to show signs of the Madness by burying themselves within their own mind, becoming physically ill, emotionally inept and mentally fragile, along with the side-effect of muteness. Although only a period (temporary symptom) the period of silence has been known to be prolonged by certain conditions, leaving the victim seemingly hard and emotionless, while in truth, more emotional than unaffected persons. A period of time in which the victim closes themselves off from the world, mind and all.

Second Stage
Stage two: The Snapping Point - a point in which the mind figuratively 'snaps' and the damage begins to take place, after this, nothing can be done to stop the rapidly progressing disease. Also a point in which the mind truly begins to unravel. The snapping point often occurs after the victim has been through an emotionally exhausting or overly-stressful situation. The effected mind, after the snapping point, will only be able to endure stress and emotion to a certain degree before experiencing another lapse in sanity. Although only a point (point in time, non-lasting symptom) it has been known to be a recurring ailment, usually only affecting the victim during a stressful or overly-emotional moment. While only the second Stage in the Madness, it is quite possibly the worst, as, after its first appearance in a victim, nothing can be done to stop the gradual unraveling of the affected mind. The more reoccurrences of the snapping point, the faster the mind unhinges. While nothing can be done to permanently cure the illness after this point, potions may be taken to at least slow the process and keep the mind from being completely lost.

Third Stage
Stage three: The Post-Traumatic Stage - The first stage of the Madness that fully affects the victim until their death, never fully leaving them. The post-traumatic stage, also known as the delirium stage or the hallucinatory stage, where one begins to hallucinate; seeing, hearing, and even feeling things that aren’t there. To go along with the delirium, the victim will begin to experience vivid, horrendous nightmares, intensified by imagination, and increased tenfold by personal experiences (if the victim has ever witnessed gruesome horrors, the memories will be twisted and intensified by the imagination and will assault the victim in their nightmares along with memories that don’t exist/never happened) The plagued mind, greatly weakened by the nightmares along with the previous stages, will begin to lose the ability to perceive realism as reality, and will no longer know the difference between the waking world and the horrors of their nightmares. (simpler explanation; It is where the victim begins to see things that aren’t there, hear things that haven't been spoken and have dark visions and nightmares, and will no longer be able to tell the difference from reality and dreams.)

Fourth Stage
Stage four: The Harm Stage - where the diseased mind causes the victim so much mental stress that they begin self-harming themselves. Eighty percent of self-harm involves stabbing or cutting the skin with a sharp object. However, the number of self-harm methods are only limited by an individuals invetiveness and their determination to harm themselves; this includes, but is not limited to; burning, self-poisoning, alcohol abuse, self-embedding of objects, hair pulling, bruising/hitting one's self, knowingly abusing over-the-counter or prescription drugs, and forms of self-harm related to anorexia and bulimia. The locations of self-harm are often areas of the body that are easily concealed from the detection of others. As well as defining self-harm in terms of the act of damaging the body, it may be more accurate to define self-harm in the terms of the intent, and the emotional distress that the person attempting to deal with through the Stages of the Madness. Please note this stage is non-Suicidal self-injury. The victim will continue to do this for the rest of their lives after this stage, as no medical or therapeutic treatment is known.

Fifth Stage
Stage five: The Dark Period  – Where the victim will begin to take on dark tendencies, such as dark thoughts and practices. Victims have been known to be unreliable, brash, mean, or even cruel during this stage. Could be harmful to both victim and those surrounding, but doesn't usually last more than a few months. The symptoms can be reduced by daily meditation and therapy. In the worst cases, the victims have been known to violently attack other persons. It’s best to keep them confined during the worst parts of this stage to avoid accidents.

Sixth Stage
Stage six: The Depression Stage -The victim will find himself sinking into the depths of depression and despair. Like normal depression, only impregnated with nightmares, visions and hallucinations from the previous ‘Post-Traumatic Stage’ (see page 307) this, being a Stage, will continue to haunt him to his death. Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and sense of well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, empty, hopeless, worried, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, hurt, or restless. They may lose interest in activities that once were pleasurable, experience loss of appetite or overeating, have problems concentrating, remembering details, or making decisions, and may contemplate or attempt suicide. Insomnia, excessive sleeping, loss of energy, or aches, pains, or digestive problems that are resistant to treatment may also be present.

Seventh Stage
Stage Seven: The Suicidal Period – The Suicidal Period has a straightforward definition — suicidal thoughts — but there are some other related signs and symptoms. Some symptoms or co-morbid conditions may include unintentional weight loss, feeling helpless, feeling alone, excessive fatigue, low self-esteem, presence of consistent mania, excessively talkative, intent on previously dormant goals, feel like one's mind is racing. The onset of symptoms like these with an inability to get rid of or cope with their effects, a possible form of psychological inflexibility, is one possible trait associated with the Suicidal Period. They may also cause psychological distress, which is another symptom associated with the Suicidal Period. Symptoms like these related with psychological inflexibility, recurring patterns, or psychological distress may in some cases lead to the onset of suicidal ideation. During the Suicidal Period, the caretaker will find himself talking the victim out of killing himself practically every day. The Period is worsened by the Depression Stage, which will still be with him.

Eighth Stage
Stage eight: The Vacant Period -Very dangerous, and as of yet, and unexplainable stage in the Madness. The Vacant Period is very similar to the muggle mental disorder Paranoid Schizophrenia, characterized by a breakdown of thought processes and by a deficit of typical emotional responses. Common symptoms are delusions and disorganized thinking including auditory, paranoia, bizarre delusions, disorganized speech, and it is accompanied by significant social or occupational dysfunction. Diagnosis is based on observed behavior and the patient's reported experiences.

The Vacant Period is thought mainly to affect cognition, but it also usually contributes to chronic problems with behavior and emotion. The victim is likely to have additional (co-morbid) conditions, including major depression and anxiety disorders.

The victim's caretaker will need to keep a very close eye on him after this one kicks in, as he will be more prone to do completely mindless, foolish, even stupid things that the victim would normally not do. Examples; the victim may be a very intelligent person, and they may know very well that crossing a rickety old bridge over a twenty-thousand foot drop is a bad idea, however, their mind will twist it somehow into their favor and they will feel the need to do it anyway. Another side-effect is a certain vacancy of the mind, giving the stage its name. The victim will not be able to maintain eye contact, or maintain conversation, and will instead change long-winded answers into one-worded replies. Can be very unreliable during this stage. Though the seeming incompetence only lasts about a month, the ‘vacancy’ will remain, such as the inability to hold eye contact or converse normally, as well as the paranoia and unpredictability.

A person diagnosed with Mooney Madness, after they hit the Vacant Period may experience hallucinations, (most reported are hearing voices, delusions persecutory in nature), and disorganized thinking and speech. The latter may range from loss of train of thought, to sentences only loosely connected in meaning, to incoherence known as word salad in severe cases. Social withdrawal, sloppiness of dress and hygiene, and loss of motivation and judgment are all common in the Vacant Period. There is often an observable pattern of emotional difficulty, for example lack of responsiveness. Impairment in social cognition is associated with the Vacant Period, as are symptoms of paranoia; social isolation commonly occurs. Difficulties in working and long-term memory, executive functioning, and speed of processing also commonly occur.

In one uncommon subtype, the person may be largely mute, remain motionless in bizarre postures, or exhibit purposeless agitation, all signs of catatonia. (abnormality of movement and behavior arising from a disturbed mental state (typically Mooney Madness). It may involve repetitive or purposeless over activity, or catalepsy, (a medical condition characterized by a trance or seizure with a loss of sensation and consciousness accompanied by rigidity of the body.) resistance to passive movement, and negativism. After hitting the Vacant Period, victims often find facial emotion perception to be difficult.

Victim may experience an extreme loss of motor skill or even constant hyperactive motor activity. Victim will sometimes hold rigid poses for hours and will ignore any external stimuli. Victims with a form of cationic excitement can suffer from exhaustion if not treated. Victim may also show stereotyped, repetitive movements. They may show specific types of movement such as waxy flexibility, in which they maintain positions after being placed in them through someone else in which they resist movement in proportion to the force applied by the examiner. They may repeat meaningless phrases or speak only to repeat what the examiner says.

The vacant period is not merely a problem of memory, it reduces the ability to learn reason, retain or recall past experiences and there is also a loss of patterns of thoughts, feelings and activities. Additional mental and behavioral problems often affect the victim and may influence quality of life, caregivers, and the need for institutionalization. As the Stage worsens, individuals may neglect themselves and may become uninhibited or incontinent of movements and/or speech. Behavior may be disorginized, restless or inappropriate. Some people become restless or wander about by day and sometimes at night. When victims are put in circumstances beyond their abilities, there may be a sudden change to tears or anger. (a "catastrophic reaction"). A common symptom of the Vacant Period for Mooney Madness sufferers is to deny that relatives, relatives in their immediate family, are their own relations.

Ninth Stage
Stage nine: The Depression Stage part two -It intensifies the depression he will already be having. Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and sense of well-being.

Tenth Stage
Stage ten: The Unraveling Point -After at least ten years of fighting the Madness, the weakened mind stands little to no chance against the Madness. The mind will make one final attempt to protect itself, but every recorded victim dies either at their own hands, or their mind can no longer handle the strain and shuts down completely. Though a cure has been searched for ever since the first recorded condition of the Madness, none has come to light. The first signs of the Unraveling Point include: rigid body, rigid limbs, limbs staying in same position when moved, waxy flexibility, no response, loss of muscle control, and slowing down of bodily functions, such as breathing. The victim’s mind will completely unravel itself and then the victim dies. This is the last known stage of the Madness.

Known Sufferers
The book Mooney Madness Sufferers was an enchanted book that automatically added names to its list every time a new victim was found. Over the years, the list grew only a few pages, being as the disease was very rare.

The first page shows only the most well-known sufferers by year, the crosses indicating whether the victim survived or not.

The book became rather dated, and became a permanent resident of the Library.


 * (deceased in the 1700s)
 * (deceased in the 1740s)
 * (deceased in the 1750s)
 * (survived)
 * Galena Gypsum (deceased in 1871)
 * Tempest Wesia (deceased in 1993)
 * (deceased in 1990)
 * (deceased in the 1900s)
 * (deceased in 1990)
 * (deceased in the 1870s)
 * (deceased in the 1970s)
 * (deceased in the 1980s)
 * Karma Phoenix (deceased in the 1940s)
 * (survived)
 * (deceased in the 1920s)
 * Falin Snape (deceased in 1996)
 * Sayik Praygun (survived)

Known Survivors

 * (caught in first stage)
 * (caught in first stage)
 * Sayik Praygun (caught in first stage)

There were many more with the disease, though they were never recorded due to the fact that the person or persons never knew they had the disease. All of these unknown persons most likely survived the disease because they weren't subjected to the 'proper conditions' for the Madness to take effect, those who died from it, but not diagnosed with it, were never recorded.