History Main / MentalWorld

* The Djinn in the series grant wishes by putting people in a mental world that creates what the person thinks would have happened if they got that wish. Since Dean wishes his mother had never been killed, he wakes up in a world where he lives an ordinary life as a mechanic and has a loving girlfriend but is estranged from Sam. [[Spoiler: He eventually realizes it's a mental world and kills himself in the dream so he can wake up.]]

** In ''[[Recap/SupernaturalS08E08HunteriHeroici Hunter Heroici]]'', a powerful psychokinetic has retreated into one due to his advancing age, which is causing problems in the real world, but the man is oblivious to Sam's attempts to talk to him. So Castiel ports both Sam and himself directly into the man's mind, which appears as a cartoonscape, then turns to static and technicolor bars once the guy realizes that there are people in his head and starts talking to them.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' loves these:
** When Captain Picard is almost fatally injured in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', he meets Q in a featureless white space and is told he is dead. While Q gives him a chance to change his past and prevent his death that way, his body is shown to still be in sickbay, so most of the episode purely takes place in his mind. Q really only wanted him to understand why he is the man he is now. Unless ItWasAllADream.
** The holodeck is variously used to represent the subconscious of Data and the of Enterprise itself. The holodeck allows the crew to see their inner workings through metaphor and symbolism (with Counselor Troi helpfully pointing out their meanings). Justified in that both are essentially computers, so they can be interfaced with the holodeck.
** The Prophets in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' usually communicate with people within their minds, appearing as people the person knows well in a place familiar to them. (Which also saves a lot of money for special effects.)
** Though it seems to swallow up a persons body, the Nexus in the movie ''Generations'' has all the aspects of a Mental World.

* Sam is stuck in one in the season 6 finale of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' after [[spoiler:Castiel destroys the mental barrier that is keeping his traumatic memories from potentially turning him into a vegetable]].
** Dean and Sam also enter Bobby's nightmare world in another episode.

See also VisionQuest. Tends to be a {{Wackyland}}, especially when exploring one's personal mind. Not to be confused with WombLevel.

* Negi of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' was once trapped in his own Mental World represented by the ElaborateUniversityHigh he teaches at with his SinkOrSwimMentor Evangeline slaughtering him for days in a world he can't completely die in. This was required to unlock his DeadlyUpgrade. A bit of [[PsychicNosebleed physical]] BloodFromTheMouth was in order.

* ''FanFic/ToyHammer'' has the 'mindscapes' which seem to be a Mental World mixed in with Forge Mode of Halo; characters can create and use weapons, buildings and whatever they wish to create and fight in this manner. Used to its full extent with weapons being thrown away in favor of creating new ones, buildings being used in miniature {{Colony Drop}}s and a literal wall of Gatling guns for... [[CurbStompBattle crowd control]].
* A recurring subplot in ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'' is the looks inside [[VillainProtagonist Jade's]] mindscape, and the struggle for control of her mind between the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Aspects]] of her personality, primarily Hero (representing her inherent goodness) and The Queen (Jade's SuperpoweredEvilSide). The mindscape itself is a sea of clouds (literally, they act like water) containing islands whose landscapes are made up of and represent Jade's memories and interpretations of things in her life.

* ''Videogame/EarthBound'' has Magicant, Ness's Mental World which he is [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind forced to travel into]] in order to confront his inner demons.

* In ''Videogame/ShadowHearts I'' and ''II'', Yuri's Mental World is a [[spoiler:graveyard, where monsters embodying his flaws and fears roam, waiting for him to fuse with their souls]]. It has an actual influence on the real world, as [[spoiler:it finally digests Alice's soul]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''WebComic/HeroOhHero'' [[spoiler: one of protagonists, Noah, discovers]] his power is to enter these. His body disappears when he enters another's mind and reappears next to the host when he leaves. So far we've seen:

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Harry's mental world briefly appears when he's possessed by Chthon. It is, unsurprisingly, dark and barely lit by flames, considering the circumstances.

* ''VideoGame/DigimonCyberSleuth'' has the protagonist dive into the mind of [[spoiler:Makoto Yamashina, a lead EDEN developer]] to get vital information by way of connect-jumping into a machine that he's hooked up to. This inside of his mind looks like a series of pathways set against an [[DesignStudentsOrgasm animated background]] of various technical-looking pictures and words. ''[[VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuthHackersMemory Hacker's Memory]]'' sees [[PlayerCharacter Keisuke]] enter [[spoiler:Erika's memory server]], which contains all of said character's memories. Within, this character's memories are represented as vibrantly-animated drawings.

* The Dive to the Heart in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' is a place that exists, as its name suggests, within each person's heart. Each person's consists of one or more "stations", enormous stained-glass pillars topped with platforms showing the person and prominent people, places and objects in their lives. In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' the place acts as a tutorial level. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' reveals that [[spoiler:they can be reached by sleep or by the Power of Waking, both of which take one dangerously close to [[AfterlifeAntechamber the Final World]].]] At various points in the series, we see stations for Sora, Ventus, Aqua, Terra, Riku, Roxas, four of the Princesses of Heart, and one for the remaining three Princesses.

** While he's swallowed up in his Eva, he gets a radically different and very vivid hallucination implied to have been caused by Yui.

* In the ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' story, "Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho063Caerdroia", the villain, Kro'ka, uses a MindProbe to enter the the Doctor's mind, hoping to interrogate him. But he quickly finds it so scary and chaotic a place with the Doctor acting as a KillerGameMaster that he quickly wants to leave.

* ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]'':

* The series finale of ''St. Elsewhere'' reveals that the entire show was a product of an autistic child's mind.

* In ''Series/RedDwarf'' the crew encounter a "psi-moon", a physical planet that warps itself into the representation of someone's Mental World. Unfortunately it chooses Rimmer, leading to them being attacked by little black-cloaked figures that represent his self-loathing.

* ''Literature/BlackTrip'' is about a private investigator who unwittingly enters a man's dying dream to explore.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books, Samuel Vimes's mindscape is the city of Ankh-Morpork, empty at night, and it is always raining. [[spoiler:The half-demonic entity trying to take him over in ''Thud!'' finds itself completely lost in this dark, unwelcoming city for a while before it's eventually kicked out.]] Remember, Sam Vimes ''loves'' dark and rainy nights.
* 1970s short-lived modern pulp series "Weird Heroes" had Doc Pheonix, a shrink who could enter patient's minds to fix them from the inside. One story had him treating a girl whose mental landscape was a nightmare version of Oz, with a demonic Raggedy Man standing in for her abusive father.
* Creator/StormConstantine's novel ''Literature/BuryingTheShadow'' involves a realm called the [[DreamLand soulscape]], which connects all people on a subconscious level. An individual's soulscape reflects their mental and spiritual health.
* In ''Literature/{{Kieshara}}'', falcon shapeshifters who surrender to TheCorruption fall into the ''ecl,'' a comatose, depressive state where they are trapped in their own Mental World. It's possible to escape ''ecl,'' but it requires an insane amount of HeroicWillpower and, often, the assistance of a person outside in the real world. But only falcons have the telepathic magic necessary to contact someone in the ''ecl,'' and doing so would risk that they themselves fall into the ''ecl,'' so people hardly ever escape from it. Hai's mental landscape is chaotic, constantly warps the laws of physics and has a lot of snake and falcon imagery, no matter what form it takes. The latter is a hint as to her hybrid parentage. The series' usage of this trope actually has a lot of clinical depression subtext, if you interpret it symbolically. In particular, the dialogue between Nicias and Hai while he is trying to save her from the ''ecl'' is very reminiscent of that between a therapist and his patient.
-->'''Hai:''' You can't help me.
* The entire ''Literature/UnwovenLiteraryUniverse'' takes place inside a mentality, but it's not clear whose it is until ''Unwoven 2019''.
* In the ''Literature/ThousandSons'' trilogy, Ahriman’s mind contains an elaborate—and literal—memory palace where each of his memories is stored in its own room. He can use his powers to bring other people into this palace for the purpose of showing them his memories.

* [[spoiler:Sirush]]'s sidequest in ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction'' takes place in one... [[MindScrew maybe]]. It could just be an example of BadDreams.

* MadScientist Dr. Kanzaki from ''Manga/BlackCat'' has the tao power of "Warp World", which creates one of these. He has total control over the contents and the senses of the people within.

* ComicBook/SpiderGirl has ventured both into her own mind and that of her [[ComicBook/SpiderMan father]]. The first is a typical JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, but the latter is much more up-front, as May struggles to free her dad from being mentally enslaved by [[BigBad the Green Goblin]].

* The 1990s Creator/MarvelComics character ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}} became banished from the [[DreamLand Mindscape]] and trapped in the mind of human college student Rick Sheridan, and could emerge into the human world whenever Rick slept. When Rick was awake, Sleepwalker was forced to stay in Rick's mind and often interacted with different parts of Rick's personality and memories.

* ''FanFic/AProtectorsPride'' takes the ''Bleach'' concept of manifesting a Zanpakutou a step further: it's theoretically possible to manifest a Shinigami's entire inner world.

* Following in ''Silent Hill'''s footsteps somewhat, ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' has [[spoiler:The Dark Place.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' the Dream Bubbles are these maintained by the dead or sleeping individual whose memory it is. They can manipulate it at will, once they become aware that it is a memory. Witches and Sylphs of Space that have reached God Tier can travel to others' dream bubbles at will.

** In ''VideoGame/DieReiseInsAll'' the heroes land individual dream worlds, twice, first it's an ideal world, the second time nightmares. [[spoiler: Bot times those worlds are Martian Mind Traps, used to stop them on their way. By the second time the heroes know, that the worlds aren't real, but still have to fight to get out.]]

* Ajna's Inner Realm in ''VideoGame/{{Indivisible}}'' functions very much like one, as it's where all her Incarnations (read: various party members) hang out when not engaged in combat. Some non-combatant NPCs also hang out in here, too. The scenery resembles a group of floating islands with bridges connecting the lowermost levels and floating rocks connecting each individual level. None inside this realm may do harm or come to harm in any capacity; this irritates both Ajna and Dhar, as they were locked in combat before Dhar got trapped inside. [[spoiler:Ajna so much as having this realm in the first place serves as proof that she's not human; it is later discovered that she is but an aspect of the deity Kala, who was sealed away sixteen years prior to the game's events.]]

* ComicBook/SpiderGirl has ventured both into her own mind and that of her [[SpiderMan father]]. The first is a typical JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, but the latter is much more up-front, as May struggles to free her dad from being mentally enslaved by [[BigBad the Green Goblin]].