History DysfunctionJunction / FanWorks

** Twilight for her part suffers a bad case of feeling like TheUnfavorite, terrified that Rainbow has taken her place in Celestia's heart, but is unwilling to voice these feelings because she's scared that Celestia will consider them immature and distance herself further. Unadressed, these issues turn into growing resentment towards Rainbow Dash, not at all helped by jealousy that Rainbow gets to be an alicorn, born with power beyond even the greatest unicorn mages, while Twilight's hard work will forever amount to nothing better than second place. [[spoiler:She might also have an AncientEvil targeting her for possession and feeding on and amplifying these feelings of resentment of jealousy, which is another can of worms]].

[[AC:''Franchise/LesMiserables'']]
* All the major characters in the ''Fanfic/ParisBurning'' FanVerse are the personifications of major cities. Each one is subject to the trauma of their city's history and the stress of whatever hardships their current inhabitants face, compounded into one unusually long-lived person. Most of them are able to carry on, but needless to say they are not generally very happy people.

* The Fellowship of the Ring has become this in ''Fanfic/BagEnders''. Understandably, as they've been stuck with each other for [[WhoWantsToLiveForever six thousand years]]. Gandalf has become a DirtyOldMan who drinks copiously and spends all his time in front of the TV. Merry and Pippin work a string of low-paying jobs in between drinking as much as Gandalf and shagging AnythingThatMoves. Frodo is suffering from the incurable Post-Ringbearer Syndrome and spends half his time in a mental hospital or latching onto the long-suffering Sam. Gimli works the night shift and is rarely seen. Aragorn suffered a messy divorce from Arwen and is now the nearest thing the Fellowship have to an authority figure. Legolas is the usual viewpoint character and OnlySaneMan, but is slowly cracking under the strain of having to spend eternity with the Fellowship instead of in Valinor, and on one occasion was possessed by the understandably-irritable spirit of Boromir.

[[AC:Unsorted]]
* In ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia'', three-fourths of the main cast have some kind of DarkAndTroubledPast. For instance, Izuku was the target of endless amounts of bullying and scorn, Ruby and Yang lost their mothers, Ren and Nora lost everything and lived on the streets for years with only each other for company, and Shouto was given TrainingFromHell to fulfill his father's ambitions. This generates heat within each team and with each other as their deficiencies and neuroses clash.
* [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Fellowship of the Ring]] has become this in ''Fanfic/BagEnders''. Understandably, as they've been stuck with each other for [[WhoWantsToLiveForever six thousand years]]. Gandalf has become a DirtyOldMan who drinks copiously and spends all his time in front of the TV. Merry and Pippin work a string of low-paying jobs in between drinking as much as Gandalf and shagging AnythingThatMoves. Frodo is suffering from the incurable Post-Ringbearer Syndrome and spends half his time in a mental hospital or latching onto the long-suffering Sam. Gimli works the night shift and is rarely seen. Aragorn suffered a messy divorce from Arwen and is now the nearest thing the Fellowship have to an authority figure. Legolas is the usual viewpoint character and OnlySaneMan, but is slowly cracking under the strain of having to spend eternity with the Fellowship instead of in Valinor, and on one occasion was possessed by the understandably-irritable spirit of Boromir.

* ''Fanfic/{{Brainbent}}'' brings the ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' case (see below) to its logical conclusion, as an AU transplanting the cast into residents and staff of a psychiatric institution, [[ShownTheirWork treating the matter with the respect and thorough knowledge it really deserves]].
* ''Fanfic/BraveNewWorld'', a ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic and sequel to ''Fanfic/LatiasJourney'', has a cast chockablock with this trope. [[TheHero Ash Ketchum]] has a human soul inserted into the body of a Lucario and he has fleeting memories from his life as a human, haunted by memories of [[spoiler:previously destroying the world after watching his loved ones get killed]]; Pikachu is a samurai who knows he may one die in battle; the baby Larvitar, Tiny, had a traumatising birth and refuses to open up to anybody; Lily was born with the purpose to be a sacrifice to Giratina and has been abused all her life by her mother; Dawn was betrayed by her best friend, cannot speak because her vocal cords were removed at birth, and her entire ninja clan was exterminated; and Briney lost his wife to the villains, wearing her eye in place of his missing one. The only major heroes who escape the trope are Leo and Sasha, although they have their own troubles.
** The fanfic's version of Misty maintains her phobia of bugs, but it was caused after she was brainwashed into becoming part of a HiveMind and believing she was an insect, until she was saved by Ash and Pikachu, suffering from a traumatic recovery.
* [[Manga/DeathNote Wammy's House]] as {{Lampshaded}} in ''Fanfic/ChangeOfCircumstances'':
-->'''Light:''' Do you know what it's like to be left alone here with these people? They're all stupid and crazy.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Tony Stark all but invoke this trope when Sif's werewolf issues are brought up. Harry and his friends are a particularly good example:
** Harry's first memory is of his mother being murdered, and was abused for a decade or so by the Dursleys, with much of his character development being coming to terms with family that actually cares for him and that he's now able to express his emotions. And you know, there's a near death experience or two, attempted murder, that sort of thing. After [[TraumaCongaLine his run-in]] with [[TheDreaded the Red Room]] in the sequel, it all gets ''exponentially'' worse.
** Carol has a verbally abusive father with a StayInTheKitchen attitude, while her mother is implied to be an ExtremeDoormat, while also having to deal with a realistic variation of SoBeautifulItsACurse - lots of grown men hitting on her and touching her without asking, and as a result of this and her unsurprisingly abrasive personality, she has few close friends aside from Jean-Paul and [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Lex Luthor]], both of whom have issues of their own (she's actually the latter's MoralityChain, for example, and ends up functioning as one to Harry too, in the sequel).
*** Her mother turns out to have considerable HiddenDepths, and reasons for her attitude (a difficult relationship with her mother, for a start, who Carol heavily takes after/models herself on), and she and Carol reconcile. Her father, though, is a psychologically abusive dick, who honestly thinks he's doing the right thing by trying to make Carol a proper lady and her quiet, arty younger brother into a manly man - to the point where [[spoiler: he's willing to resort to MindRape to pull it off, and doesn't even understand it's wrong]].
** Jean-Paul is CampGay and suffers a fair bit of homophobia because of it. Oh, and his sister is basically insane and he's the only person she really responds to.
** Uhtred is the youngest of a large and fairly successful family, and consequently has something of an InferioritySuperiorityComplex as he tries to be the best simply to stand out.
** And Diana is the daughter of Hercules and Hippolyta and thus a target for Hera's wrath. It is further implied that the reason she's living in Asgard - and consequently hasn't seen her parents for years - because Hera repeatedly tried to murder her simply for existing. She's also an [[PsychicPowers Empath]] and has been since she was a small child, making her involuntarily [[WiseBeyondTheirYears wise for her years]], to the point where Harry specifically notes that her eyes are far too old and knowing for her body.
* ''Fanfic/ACureForLove'': Whoo boy...
** [[Manga/DeathNote Matt]] got pressured into working for a [[WesternTerrorists terrorist organization]] in order to keep his boyfriend safe [[spoiler:he was pressured into this by his boyfriend's MOTHER no less]].
** [[DatingCatwoman L and Light are mortal enemies and deeply in love with each other]] and that goes about as well as you might expect they ''were'' [[{{Tragedy}} happy together]]... until [[spoiler:Misa conspires with Astraea to return to Light his Kira memories.]] After his RelationshipUpgrade with Light, [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter L considered Misa to be one of his only friends]] even if she is a SerialKiller that wants him dead. Light caught L talking with Mello in a clandestine meeting and [[CrazyJealousGuy assumed he was cheating on him.]] Light kills [[spoiler:[[{{Yandere}} both Watari and Misa when they both became a threat to his relationship with L and then he kept L drugged up for about a week.]] Later when L regains his senses, he pretends to be all forgiving [[KissOfDeath and gives Light a hug]]... [[ColdBloodedTorture and then throws him down onto a bed of broken porcelain.]]]]
** Then there's the Yagami family. [[HeteronormativeCrusader Mr. Yagami is loudly against Light and L's relationship]] [[spoiler:[[DisproportionateRetribution and so Light used his death to advance his schemes.]]]] L had unknowingly become Light's MoralityChain and so when L [[spoiler:breaks up with Light and tells him he should be committed]] Light becomes very cross and [[spoiler:[[TakeOverTheWorld Takes Over The World]]]]. When Light [[spoiler:leaves]], L made up some excuse for his mother and sister-something along the lines of [[Film/ANewHope Kira betrayed and]] [[DeathFakedForYou murdered Light]] and so Sayu wants Kira dead because [[MetaphoricallyTrue she believes he killed Light.]]
** Matsuda strongly believes in Light's innocence up to the point where Light had him tied to a chair while practicing his EvilLaugh [[BreakTheCutie and so his idealism has been crushed]].
** Both Kira and L [[spoiler:have hit the DespairEventHorizon since their breakup and haven't been getting much done and this is noticed by their underlings. Light is rapidly losing his grip on his remaining sanity and has been relying on [[BeleagueredAssistant Mikami]] more and more to do all the administrative duties of ruling the world. [[LonelyAtTheTop Also since Light feels secure in his rule and he has too much time on his hands]] and wants to forget about L he has developed a drug problem.]] Aizawa only stays on because he fears everything will fall apart if he leaves. Both Mello's [[spoiler:mother and boyfriend were killed by Kira-and on that last note Matt's death was a PsychicAssistedSuicide and [[DiedInYourArmsTonight he dies in Mello's arms]]. Then there's Mello's mother and her DarkAndTroubledPast Mello was a ChildByRape and his mother was trained to be an assassin by Wammy's house. She was never allowed near her son as he grew up and the man she loved committed suicide]]. And then Near is just... Near the "poor copy" [[EmotionlessGirl Emotionless Boy]].

* The most healthy relationship given significant focus in ''Fanfic/{{Dominoes}}'' so far is the still-distant acquaintanceship between a friendless abuse-victim reporter and a supervillain thief who wants revenge on said reporter's father and is the enemy of everyone else in said reporter's life. It's the most healthy because despite the difference and conflict, both always show a default level of respect to each other as intelligent fellow human beings. Yes, the relationships in this story are ''that screwed up.''
* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': Nearly all main characters suffer from some dysfunction. Shinji is half-orphan, his father has neglected him for nearly twenty years, and he had no expectatives for the future or even a regard for his own life until he met [[LoveInterest Asuka]]. [[{{Tsundere}} Asuka]] is full with neuroses, insecurities, regrets and even though she seems strong she is very fragile and is prone to fall apart when it gets hard. Rei is an EmotionlessGirl due to brain damage. Misato is getting constantly agnsty about her pilots and rebounding of a difficult previous relationship. [[OriginalCharacter Saburo]] is so full with tensions and frustrations that he almost is an emo...

* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestriaProjectHorizons'' takes this trope and runs with it. [[TheHero Blackjack]] is a none-too-smart bundle of self-loathing and guilt held together by chems, alcohol and ChronicHeroSyndrome. She's also [[spoiler:guilty of rape and murder before the story even begins]]. P-21 has deep emotional scars and constantly stuggles with cognitive dissonance, particularly [[spoiler: a repressed desire to kill Blackjack for raping him and killing his lover]]. Rampage is a nigh-invulnerable [[spoiler: child-murdering]] psychopath with a split personality, who actually ''wants'' to be good and/or find a way to die. Lacunae is [[spoiler: a live dumping ground for an entire HiveMind's collective angst]], prone to being the subject of {{Villain Override}}s. Scotch Tape is a relatively sheltered TagalongKid who attracts psychological trauma like a magnet. The only (relatively) stable member of the main cast is Morning Glory, who quickly develops several problems of her own [[spoiler: such as being betrayed and [[TheExile exiled from the Pegasi Enclave]], [[MarkOfShame branded]], and later [[BrokenAngel losing a wing]]]].
* In ''Fill the Moon'', the cast all have some sort of horrible, crippling psychological issue. In order; Xemnas' [[spoiler:impregnation of his own daughter using his surrogate younger brother as the father]], Xigbar [[spoiler:has dealt with a completely screwed-up lover, and is outright stated to have become a KnightTemplar on his brothers' behalf during their time as Apprentices]], and while Luxord, his [[spoiler:lover]] isn't crazy, (which is even lampshaded by Xigbar), Xaldin has [[spoiler:been through his entire life feeling alone, unloved, and "undeserving" of affection]], Vexen, who [[spoiler:worked himself beyond exhaustion being the TeamMom for the Apprentices, and is now dealing with the fact that they've grown up and don't need him anymore]], Lexaeus is actually rather normal, but considering his girlfriend, Larxene, [[spoiler:has been raped and abused in every single relationship she's had, and was horrifically abused by her ex-husband, who ''also'' raped her and is implied to have done far worse,]] he doesn't have to be crazy. Still more?
** Axel is dealing with [[spoiler:losing his best friend, Saix, to Xemnas, and pining for a lover who doesn't even exist outside of Sora yet, and has defected from the Organization to find him]]. Zexion, who is already canonically an orphan, [[spoiler:is forced to impregnate his thirteen year old lover, who didn't even know what sex was until that catastrophe, is forced to watch her almost die due to the impregnation, and performs a HeroicSacrifice in her name. Plus, he's implied to have even more trauma pre-Fill the Moon, so we're bound to see more on him]]. Marluxia is somewhat normal, but rather possessive. Dealing with [[{{Tsundere}} Vexen]] could drive ''anyone'' crazy.
** Demyx doesn't have it so good either. [[spoiler:Being abused by his older brother for his entire life as a Somebody led to a serious case of PTSD, culminating in a massive mental breakdown before Xigbar managed to help him through it.]]
** The worst of the lot is the little OC Nobody, Senayax. [[spoiler:She was forced to eat her own grandfather to survive, she has a horrific demon living inside of her that expresses delight in the thought of raping her, she was impregnated by her lover under orders from her father, she almost died as a result, and committed suicide after Zexion performed a HeroicSacrifice to save her.]]
** To sum it up? Everyone in this fic is insane.

* The First Class SOLDIERS in ''Fanfic/TheFifthAct''. Cloud is actively plotting Hojo and Sephiroth's deaths due to the tragedies they inflicted apon him int the [[PeggySue original timeline]]. Due to accidentally time-travelling he lost all his friends and sees the faces of long-dead one re-opening old emotional wounds. Angeal is the TeamDad of group and is hiding the fact that he's dying of a terminal illness. Sephiroth is disconnected from people and trying to get the approval of someone who despises him. It's telling that the resentful DramaQueen that is Genesis is the most stable one of the bunch.
* Apparently, the entire ''Fanfic/Gensokyo20XX'' series is built on this, especially later on, when we have Reimu who is age-regressed to a child (20XXI) and doped up with sedatives, along with being mentally conditioned (20XXII), later on developing mental health problems and becoming rather fatalistic on top of becoming DelicateAndSickly (20XXIV and 20XXV); Yukari, [[spoiler:who is [[PrisonRape prison raped]] by the warden]] and goes insane (20XXII), Ran goes insane after a NearRapeExperience and almost kills an age-regressed Reimu in a murder suicide, later on [[spoiler:being raped]] and turned into a bitch on top her of her other problems (she gets better); Chen is rendered blind, later on recovering from said blindness, crippled, and then she herself attempts suicide (20XXIV), babies being born and or dying almost soon after, if not being miscarried or stillborn, children growing up in chaos, and all other sorts of things terribly wrong. The kicker? Nothing can really be done about either of those, especially in the aftermath a of nuclear war.
* ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': In the original series, most characters had some trauma they constantly got depressed or angsty about. In this story their traumas have mellowed down after twelve years -thankfully-, but Asuka still has anger management troubles, Shinji is still somewhat insecure…
* In ''Fanfic/HowTheLightGetsIn'', Team Arrow is portrayed as a dysfunctional mess at best, and a toxic trainwreck heading for a crash at worst. This doesn't stop them from doing their best to help people, but as Dean constantly points out, it hasn't stopped them from tearing into and dragging each other down over the years.

* From ''Fanfic/IWontSay'' after [[Manga/DeathNote Light/Kira meets the Wammys kids]]:
-->'''Light:''' L... [[HypocriticalHumor You're not exactly the sanest person I've ever met, but after seeing three other examples produced by the same environment, I just have to ask... how come you're not any more off the wall?]]\\
'''L:''' I started meddling with [[SerialKiller serial killers]], [[AxCrazy psychos]] and [[AGodAmI megalomaniac]] [[EvilOverlord criminal masterminds]] instead. [[LampshadeHanging That must have saved my sanity.]]
* ''Fanfic/LeaveForMendeleiev'': Without Marinette around to [[MoralityChain help hold things together]], Miss Bustier's class has turned into one:
** [[MisplacedKindergartenTeacher Miss Bustier herself]] is a hopeless enabler who blatantly favors [[RichBitch Chloé]], insisting that bullies need others to 'lead by example' and TurnTheOtherCheek; thus, she [[SelectiveEnforcement punishes the]] ''[[SelectiveEnforcement victims]]'' while allowing Chloé to [[KarmaHoudini get away with everything scott-free]]. She is so deeply ensconced in her own delusions that she insists she doesn't recall any problems arising during the years that Marinette was one of her students, despite her being Chloé's favorite target.
** Chloé is a {{Rich|Bitch}} AlphaBitch who believes that her father's [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney money]] and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections connections]] mean that she should be handed everything she wants on a silver platter. And if she doesn't get them? She'll pitch fits until she does. Don't you ''know'' that [[ItsAllAboutMe the world revolves around her]]?
** Adrien is just as [[SpoiledBrat spoiled]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] and [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled]] as Chloé, with the biggest difference between them being that he's a BitchInSheepsClothing, ''pretending'' to be a nice guy while acting like anyone who doesn't agree with him [[DisappointedInYou should be ashamed of themselves]], laying on the guilt trips and PlayingTheVictimCard to the hilt. He also sees his partner's [[WorldHealingWave Miraculous Cure]] as a ResetButton that lets him slack off as [[NominalHero Chat Noir]], [[SkewedPriorities focusing on]] flirting and [[SecretChaser pursuing Ladybug's secrets]] while insisting that [[BecauseDestinySaysSo the two of them are meant to be together]], so he doesn't have to put any ''effort'' into building a relationship with her.
** Alya [[SecretChaser also wants to learn Ladybug's]] SecretIdentity, refusing to acknowledge all of the reasons why exposing her would be a ''horrible'' idea because she's too focused on GoingForTheBigScoop.
** Nino [[WeUsedToBeFriends ruins his friendship with Marinette]] by being an EntitledBastard while [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism working on his amateur movie]], expecting everyone to bend over backwards to meet his unreasonable demands. The tipping point is his willingness to try and turn the akumatized Mylene into the monster for his film, [[ToxicFriendInfluence egged on by Adrien's insistence]] that Ladybug will fix everything anyway.
** Then there's [[ManipulativeBitch Lila Rossi]], who comes in spinning [[ConsummateLiar grand tales]] of being [[CelebrityLie friends with Ladybug]] and other high-profile figures, and [[NeverMyFault blames Hawkmoth, Chat Noir and Ladybug]] when that [[HoistByHerOwnPetard promptly blows up in her face]].

* Series Five of ''Fanfic/TheLionKingAdventures'' is filled with more character flaws, [[spoiler:deaths and tragedies]] than you can shake a stick at. You'll need a box of tissues to get through it all.
* In ''Fanfic/MegaManRecut'', both the heroes and the villains have ''loads'' of issues. Roll and Snake Man in particular could use some serious couch time.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12213237/1/Metroid-Kamen-Rider-Generations-Vol-2-Ex-Aid-Era-feat-Cross-Ange Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations Vol 2 - Ex-Aid Era feat Cross Ange]]'': Before the story began and the formation of the [[FiveManBand Space Explorers]], Samus aside, the four veteran Kamen Riders -- [[Series/KamenRiderGaim Micchy]], [[Series/KamenRiderDrive Gou]], [[Series/KamenRiderGhost Makoto and Alain]] have been through a ''lot'' of hell in their respective canon series before [[AvengersAssemble they were assembled as a team]]:
** Samus escapes into the present after [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion destroying a research station overrun with X Parasites]] and becomes wanted for her actions. She even has [[FishOutOfTemporalWater out of time issues]]. Did we also forget that [[ArchEnemy Ridley]] killed her parents, her home colony is destroyed, having [[EarthShatteringKaBoom destroyed]] ''even'' Space Pirate-occupied planets, and a massive case of survivor's guilt.
** Mitsuzane's [[LoveMakesYouEvil hopeless]] [[{{Yandere}} obsession]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited with Mai]] fractured his friendship with Kouta, to the point he pulls a FaceHeelTurn, and [[TheQuisling allying with the Overlords]] in desperate attempts to take Mai for himself and [[MurderTheHypotenuse kill Kouta]]. But, when Kouta pulls a SuicideByCop and saves Mitsuzane from a [[CastFromHitPoints a life-draining Lockseed]] and letting Mai die at the hands of a BackAlleyDoctor MadScientist left him emotionally broken. Traumatized and ashamed of his actions. Not only he [[BeAllMySinsRemembered carries]] [[TheAtoner the guilt of the sins]] he committed, Mitsuzane's personality, since the first ''Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations'' turned him brooding and distant, [[spoiler:as in he could no longer reconnect to people he used to make friends with (with Zack being an exception), and spends most of the time throwing derisive jokes and {{troll}}ing Alain [[SadClown when he gets depressed]]. Even his brother, Takatora is more concerned about getting people to look after Mitsuzane.]]
** Gou's [[FantasticRacism crusade]] against the Roidmudes was the only way to atone for his father's sins. His attempts to put his family back together backfires as it was revealed that [[ArchnemesisDad Banno]] has never cared for his children, seeing them as research subjects. [[ILetGwenStacyDie Chase's death]] was the last straw for Gou to make sure his father [[VillainsWantMercy begs for his life]] as he kills him for good. He, like Micchy above who jokes around when depressed, going as far to bicker and {{troll}} one another. Gou has an obvious reason to be a SadClown not just for himself, but to everyone he cares about, like Mitsuzane and Samus.
** Makoto and Kanon's [[MissingMom mother died]], and their father left them for unexplained reasons. Then came Takeru's dad, Ryu who raised the two siblings which in turn became friends with Takeru and Akari, whom they considered a family. Then, a freak accident sent the siblings to the Ganma world.
** Alain gets thrown out of the Ganma world by [[CainAndAbel Adel]] when he gets framed for their father's "death". Rather, Adonis gets [[BroughtDownToNormal regressed with a mortal body]]. [[FromBadToWorse It gets even grim]] when Adel finishes their father off, and Adonis dies in his youngest son's arms.
** Heck, if you put the former [[Anime/CrossAnge Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi]]in the same room with both five isolated, and unbalanced individuals analogous to the above -- Ange gets [[FallenPrincess stripped off her royal title]] and exiled to a prison camp upon being exposed as a Norma (Alain), the bigotry and dislike towards the Norma changed her personality drastically [[YouAreWhatYouHate given the fact she]] ''[[YouAreWhatYouHate is]]'' [[YouAreWhatYouHate one]] (Gou), becoming an anti-social loner (Makoto), a hardened and pragmatic combatant (Samus) and in turn becoming more cynical and self-destructive, to the point of becoming morally grey (Mitsuzane).
* The cast of ''WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTheMentallyAdvancedSeries'' consists of a [[TheCynic miserable]] [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood and abused]] [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] magic student, her [[BeleagueredAssistant exploited slave/little brother]], a reasonable ( if alcoholic) farmer who [[FantasticRacism is treated like an idiot because of her species]], a miserable racist self serving fashionista, a [[ShrinkingViolet timid and]] socially incompatible animal caretaker and ExtremeDoormat, a [[ManChild naive mare child]] with serious insecurity problems, and a [[BloodKnight highly violent]], [[AxCrazy unstable]], [[SexIsViolence depr]][[PsychoLesbian aved]] and paranoid baker. And that is just the main cast of a show ''full'' AxCrazy, dysfunctional, and just downright insane cast members.

* ''Fanfic/TheNewRetcons'': For starters, [[ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse Elly Patterson]] lost her mind and thinks it's the 1980s in 2008. John refuses to do anything about it while she terrorizes her children and grandchildren, thinking Merrie and Robin are Michael and Liz, while completely denying that April ''is'' her daughter and throwing her out of the house. Meanwhile, Liz and Anthony are coping with realizing the person they married is not the person they ''thought'' they married [[spoiler:and with Elizabeth cheating on Anthony, with her son not being his]]. Along with coping with an insane mother and a negligent father, Michael's trying to deal with taking in the displaced April, marital troubles, an autistic son, two miscarriages, [[spoiler:finding out he's not John's biological son, and repressing his bisexuality]]. Then they all discover that [[spoiler:Elly lost it cause she feared her bastard daughter showing up, a fear realized when their half-sister Claire appeared, causing John to attack Elly and Elly to end up in a mental hospital.]] Even then, Elly escaped twice, Michael's marriage is on the rocks when he let his workaholic tendencies get the better of him, Elizabeth and Anthony have setbacks in their own marriage, and John faces being known only as a crazy old man. Then, when Elly snaps out of it and attempts to make amends for her actions, she's murdered, and things went worse in ''Fanfic/WhoSilencedEllyPatterson''.
** Final score: [[spoiler:Elly's dead, murdered by her PsychoLesbian best friend out of being a WomanScorned, John cheated on her when she went in the mental hospital, married TheMistress (and oh, by the way, a woman that's April's age and had literally ''stolen'' from Elly) and died relatively young (younger than his father had, anyway) due to a bad diet, Deanna divorced Michael and got custody of the kids (and pretty much only speaks to April anymore), Michael suffered a mental breakdown that lasted years until he gets his act together, Elizabeth and Anthony are sticking together pretty much just for the kids, and April's estranged from most of her family. All would agree they're better off though.]]
* All the major characters in the ''Fanfic/ParisBurning'' FanVerse are the personifications of major cities. Each one is subject to the trauma of their city's history and the stress of whatever hardships their current inhabitants face, compounded into one unusually long-lived person. Most of them are able to carry on, but needless to say they are not generally very happy people.
* ''Power Rangers: Shuriken Force'' has all five rangers suffering from some kind of issue, and their mentor isn't much better. The Red Ranger is as green as can be, being painfully shy on top of it. The Blue Ranger tries to pick a fight and has shown misandristic tendencies. The Pink Ranger eggs Blue on, is defiant and snark at everything. The Yellow Ranger is immensely pessimistic and can't bring herself to care about much. The White Ranger at first seems normal, but her cheerfulness heavily is implied to mask a much frightening interior. And their mentor is so aloof that his own daughter can barely speak to him.
* In ''Fanfic/APrizeForThreeEmpires'', ComicBook/CarolDanvers considers the number of heroes with psychological issues, deep-seated traumas, troubled pasts… and comes to the conclusion that super-teams are essentially dysfunctional families.
--> Like the Avengers and the X-Men before them, they had shown her that super-teams, at best, are little more than dysfunctional families.

* The ''Blog/ReadingRainbowverse'' takes the canon of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' and spices it up with relationship drama, not a few bouts of insanity, occasional drunken ramblings, and ponies reading webcomics.
* All of the Avengers, and some of their friends and family, in the ''Fanfic/SecondChancesSeries'' have serious issues. According to Jarvis, the only members of the current or old Avengers teams that have never had therapy are Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, and Natasha Romanov. And Jarvis feels the former two could seriously benefit from it. Besides the normal reasons some might need it, Vision sees a therapist to help understand being human, James Barnes has daily sessions to remove the Hydra triggers and cope with his time as the Winter Soldier, and Howard and Maria Stark needed to see a therapist to cope with having been murdered and resurrected.
** Some time after Loki comes to Earth seeking asylum, Jarvis suggests he seek therapy as well, citing how many of the Avengers have needed it.
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6939823/1/Two_Slayers_One_Heart_Version_Three_Point_Zero Two Slayers - One Heart]]'', a ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' fanfic, cranks this trope up due to the Slayer mansion set up in Normal being for the ones with problems from mental to physical. From orphaned Slayers to blind Slayers to abused Slayers, they've got it all.
* Most of the narrators in ''Fanfic/WhatTomorrowBrings'' introspect on their personal problems. Jake reflects on how depressed he was after the war, Tobias thinks that the universe is conspiring against him to make sure he never has a family, Cassie regrets the bad decisions she made towards the end of the war, Ax regrets how closed-off he was from the humans at first, Tom has a ton of self-loathing caused by years of MindRape, Elfangor is reluctant to reunite with the love of his life at first, [[spoiler:Loren spent years feeling like nothing was real after she lost her memory]], et cetera.

%% * ''Fanfic/TotalDramaDoOver'' has this, with many characters having terrible backstories. As often as they are [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]] [[PlayedForDrama they are played for Drama.]] Noteworthy examples include Mike, Jack, Ella, Colton, Scarlett, etc.

* ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'' is set in a rape survivors' support group, so pretty much every character has some level of PTSD. Some of them had other issues before that, too. The most obvious example is probably [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Psycho]] having been raped by the doctor who was supposed to be treating him in the mental hospital he was in because of his AxCrazy tendencies.
* In ''Fanfic/TheWizardInTheShadows'', its sequel and anthology of short stories, a good portion of the main cast are like this. Harry is borderline insane for most of the first fic - having immediately followed the Second Wizarding War by being trapped in Middle Earth for a good four years before the story even starts, with no real chance of return, and has been spending almost all that time conducting a one man war against every dark creature North of Gondor. [[spoiler:Then he dies. And comes back]]. And WordOfGod has pretty much said 'You ain't seen nothing yet'.
** Emrys Ap Derfel has a background that is arguably worse than Harry and was thrust into battle at the age of 14/15, after losing both his parents by the age of 8, suffering fairly epic racial discrimination from the moment he was born and having his sister sold to Isengard as a breeder (he being a smart boy, he very quickly figures out where the Uruk Hai come from).
** His sister and sole parental figurewas kept as Wormtongue's personal sex toy in Isengard for four years (from the age of 19/20 onwards) in a literal case of SoBeautifulItsACurse, and molested by Uruk's for that time.
*** She is also painfully aware that she was only a week away from becoming a breeder anyway. Emrys is forcibly confronted with the fact that he was nearly uncle to an Uruk child and when asked, is not sure what he would have done. And he's sixteen/seventeen at this point.
** [[spoiler:Sirius]] spent a good six or seven years in Saruman's dungeons being tortured mentally and physically.
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9644493/1/Zenith-Darkness-Reverie Zenith, Darkness, Reverie]]'', a ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfiction, combines an insolent shinigami with an exceptionally bleak outlook on life, smothering maternal figures, a mentally shattered teenager (two diagnosed personality disorders, denial of every aspect of her existence, peculiarly elevated intelligence, and severe psychopathic tendencies) with a mass murderer intent on psychologically and physically destroying the entire cast. [[spoiler: Said murderer is an alternate personality of the teenager. [[SarcasmMode Such fun.]]]]
* In ''FanFic/WarOfRemnantARWBYAnthology'', pretty much everyone has a DarkAndTroubledPast that left them with severe issues. Ruby and Yang lost their mother and were neglected by their father because of it. Weiss and Winter were raised by [[AbusiveParents Jacques]], with Winter experiencing further trauma with the lost of her wife and baby. Blake lost her best friend to a pedophile in her youth and was in a physically and sexually abusive relationship with Adam Taurus. That’s just team RWBY.