Introduction

Abstract

In this chapter, we present a case study of a young woman, Chloe, whose disruptive conduct at home led to a set of related diagnoses for chronic depression and anxiety, Asperger's syndrome, Tourette's syndrome, oppositional-defiance, and obsessive-compulsiveness, each presented to her and her family as a set of disabilities and disorders. Considered to be an outsider to the mainstream youth of her social surroundings due to the different orientation to the world that these conditions afforded her, she found an affirmational social setting through her engagement with the online anime community. When online with virtual, and eventually material friends she met through this medium, she was no longer constructed as odd and ill-fitting. Rather, her differences were understood by her peers as strengths, and she was recognized as a key contributor to the artistic and narrative worlds available online. This high degree of support provided Chloe with the positive social updraft that was largely unavailable to her in her daily life in school and at home. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)