why i headcanon kuroo to have C-PTSD aka the psychology behind kuroo tetsurou — a thread.

TW// abuse mention

1. his home life. it’s stated within the manga that kuroo lived with his dad and his grandparents. this is very obvious to say his mother is absent. this could be due to many different reasons.

when a child has an absent parental (figure), this can cause a lot of developmental and psychological issues. watching these figures figuratively and literally walk out of their lives can create trust issues, even at very young age.

we are unsure on exact details about kuroo’s home life so we don’t know how his grandparents and father treated him. we do know that he was left alone a lot, as he would go to kenma’s when home alone. this is how they grew closer together.

we can assume that his new parental figures tried their best as we saw his behaviors as a teen and he seemed to be better off than how he was a child.

2. the root of an introverted and scared childhood can stem from a lot of reasons, the main being trauma and abuse. kenma has stated that kuroo had worse than him, even if no one believed it. this is due to how extroverted and outgoing and charming personality.

trauma, especially on a child’d brain, causes the brain into one of the 4F responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn). their minds perceive that they are in danger and triggers one of these responses to protect itself.

we can easily assume that kuroo has been through some type of prolonged abuse and was forced into a state of freeze or fawn. as said by pete walker when discussing complex ptsd as an attachment disorder:

“freeze types hide away in their rooms and reveries; and fawn types avoid emotional investment and potential disappointment by barely showing themselves - by hiding behind their helpful personas, over-listening, over-eliciting or overdoing for the other - by giving service...”

“... but never risking real self-exposure and the possibility of deeper level rejection. “

we can see exactly how kuroo acts this way as a child even as a teen, hiding away within himself and being even shyer than kenma. he is shown in later years to have grown more outgoing and charming but seems to hide his true, fun loving personality behind a cool persona.

3. this is where my own personal interpretation comes in. as a person who also struggles and deals with C-PTSD, seeing even such small subtle details in a character that could lead to them being healthy portrayed traumatized in the step in the right direction.

something as small as how kuroo’s bedhead is from him pushing his pillows against his head reminds me how i deal with screaming nightmares or flashbacks that force me to cover my ears to get peace.

the way he acts as a child reminds me of me. scared and afraid and a shutin because i was forced to be quiet. but seeing kuroo grow as a person. seeing him confident and charming gives me hope in a way. it may seem childish to be hopeful because of an anime character...

...but i mean it. haikyuu characters are portrayed accurately, as humans. fudurate is a brilliant author and explains every character and how and why they act they do in an accurate manner. everything about the series has me empathize with them as humans.

i truly see myself in all of them. it gives me hope with kuroo’s story that he grows to be a good person despite whatever might be happening behind the scenes. i wish to grow like him, and not let my past define my character and my actions.