TooGary (known outside of Gary (City-State) as Gary Syndrome), is a culture-bound psychological disorder that leads to an inability to initiate actions with the exception of mirroring the actions of others. SAPD has not been observed to occur in any other social contexts.

Symptoms

The criteria for Gary Syndrome vary by social context. In Gary, only the most extremely debilitating cases are considered clinical. Outside of Gary, everyone raised in Gary is considered to have the syndrome.

Major Cases

When unable to sense other people, patients exhibit Akinetic Mutism, being able to neither move nor speak. When around others, patients are limited to copying their movements (Echopraxia) and speech (Echolalia).

The most severe cases cannot translate actions to their context: for example, if you were to demonstrate to them how to tie a shoe on your own left shoe, they could only copy the action on their own left side, being unable to translate it to their right. Similarly, they might be able to echo your words immediately after hearing them, but not at a later or more appropriate time.¹

Minor Cases

Patients are able to translate the actions and phrases they have observed to their context. They are able to function almost normally, to the extent that they have observed precisely the actions that they need. However, they are still mostly incapable of even minor deviations or innovations to such observed actions.

Pathology

The cause of this syndrome is the extreme degree of Normative Social Influence of living in Gary. The ruling regime enforces uniformity on its populace through totalitarian punitive measures and cultural norms of ostracism. The APA considers Gary Syndrome to be an Anxiety Disorder.

Those Gary assigned to psychological research originally considered the root cause to be inborn UnGary (Punishment) and fully resistant to treatment. This school of thought has gradually given ground to a more sympathetic outlook, which considers TooGary an opposite of UnGary worthy of social rehabilitation.

Treatment

In Gary

Minor cases are allowed to cohabitate, often finding some semblance of function by mutual mimicry. However, the status of cohabitation is considered taboo, and has been observed to escalate symptoms rather than improving them.

Moderate cases were previously allowed to cohabitate, but this often led to a breakdown in functioning. For example, if one patient coughed*, the other would echo the cough, and the cycle of echoing might continue until one asphyxiates and the other copies it. This might be considered a Folie à deux, if the culture's ambient level of batshit insanity weren't almost as extreme.

In Gary, the most severe patients are generally euthanized, or sent to the subterranean penal colony as the concept of truly individualized care is taboo.

In Other Contexts

Gary Syndrome is highly treatment-resistant. As their society's indoctrination begins at birth, it is nearly impossible to undo the damage. Most sufferers are destined to lifelong care (or not).