Wonderland - Jags

Deeper Mysteries - Mental Health
214
by a new member or disturbed by talking to their agitated Reflection).
The Sponsor will usually have some advice on handling Complications
and may come to bail characters out of jail or back up any unusual
stories they may come up with.
Finally, an advantage of the Buddy System is that usually only one
member of a group will need to be repudiated for “leading” the “story.”
Why The Program Fails
Crypto-Cats, Informants, Fishers
The ecology of the Underground Support group is one of low-grade
paranoia. New members may have habits that threaten everyone. Longterm
members may be “turned” and “defect” to another philosophy, thus
weakening the group’s ability to stick together. Some members may be
there to ‘recruit’ new people and send them elsewhere. A group needs
a certain healthy dynamic to survive—and, in fact, a robust group can
provide the support and therapy that stops Early Stage Unsanity from
progressing or holds the line at Stage Two or Three for longer than a
smaller group might make it.
Crypto-Cats: The worst offender in the bestiary of betrayers is the
crypto-cat—the Infected, usually the new, adventurous one, who believes
that something real is happening during his episodes.
These people create doubts in the minds of other members and must
be expelled. Worse: they tend to investigate their Episodes rather than
remaining strictly uninterested and firmly ignoring the anomalies. This is
‘very dangerous,’ indeed (in fact, the opposite is true!).
The Underground Support Group exists in a sort of twilight-zone
between knowing that things are, well, sort of ‘really happening’ and
having to cling to the idea that they are not. This makes the person
who is credible and curious a very grave danger to them and seen as a
corrupter of the other new members of the group.
Informants: Certainly the government and the mental health system is
interested in CPD. Some people (usually the visiting guy from the group
that ‘went dead’ out in Cleveland) will tell you about surveillance vans
that were circling, taps on the phones, and midnight raids.
They will also tell you about some horrific encounters with therapists,
asylums, and the legal system. Support groups fear that members of
government agencies and observers for the mental health system are
ready to infiltrate their ranks in order to collect the entire organization.
Fishers: The Senior members of the Underground have figured out that
some people survive better and longer than others. It is believed (more
or less correctly) that if your group is stocked with these people and you
are teamed with them during Episodes, your survival chances go way up