All about Tyler Hanson

 Mr. Blue Eyes. Cold, mean, and rude.

He doesn't come across as a nice guy but as you read on, you can't really blame the guy. He went through something super traumatic that would make anyone act like him. Tyler wasn't always this cold-hearted man. Josh testified for that many times. He use to be nice and friendly, just like how he is when he's in uniform. Tyler was pretty social, thanks to his parents taking him pretty much all over the world. Donald and Elizabeth owned the largest and most popular entertainment agency in Illinois and in the U.S. It was also super popular all over the world. You guessed it, yes, they were millionaires. They would be billionaires if they were still alive. 

Tyler's mother Elizabeth was a famous model before she met her husband-to-be. Donald was a top sales men and later worked for the stock market. They met, got married and put what they did best together to create Hanson Entertainment. It had everything, modeling, magazines, advertisement, commercials, and more. They were in movies, t.v shows, and everyone had some part of Hanson Entertainment. Of course with fame comes enemies. The enemy that took his parents and brother remained a mystery for Tyler for 16 years. I can't imagine just living your life without your family. Some people turn out fine but for me, I wanted to make Tyler's experience a bit more realistic. 

As I said before, Tyler went through something very traumatic. Even though he did not have any physical injuries, I felt like he would definitely have some type of mental issues from all of this. His age, being 16 at the time, made him more susceptible to getting a mental illness or multiple ones. 

Now let's go back to how I gave Tyler what I did. So, a fun fact, I have a Psychology Degree and I love learning about mental health and mental illnesses. I also had the opportunity to work with individuals who have various mental illnesses. I would say if I had a dream job it would be just to learn from them. The mind is an incredible organ that we know so little about and you can see how much it impacts us when it doesn't function properly. 

Now back to Tyler. So Tyler's official diagnosis is, PTSD, anxiety, depression, survivor's guilt, and what I would call a mild form of auditory and visual hallucinations that only occur during traumatic experiences (they are pretty rare for him but scary). Later on in the story, those hallucinations will appear. Tyler's biggest struggle is with his PTSD. He has a fear of blood, like lots of it, and seeing anything similar to how his parents died such as someone getting shot. Sometimes he can handle it like if it's a gang member getting shot, he's fine. If it's an innocent person, it bothers him a bit more. Once an episode starts, he has a difficult time controlling it. Tyler refused therapy when he was diagnosed as a teenager. If he did get the help he needed, it would be less likely he would struggle as much as he is now. Later on, Masen tells Tyler he also has PTSD as a result of being in a gang. Tyler tells him to get help and not become like him. 

His mental health issues not only affect him but Josh as well. They both talk about Tyler's darkest moment when he attempted suicide shortly after his parent's death and Andy's kidnapping. As I said before Tyler also has survivor's guilt, he used to question why he survived and that he felt like he shouldn't be alive. After his suicide attempt and recovery, he found his reason to live which was to find Andy. Even though I write about Tyler's experience with mental illness, I also highlight Josh's experience of seeing Tyler's struggles and how that has impacted him as well. I feel like that side of mental health isn't shown much. 

That side will lead to Josh's story and his relationship with Tyler. I know it's a lot of sad stuff but it's important we talk about it. I hope those who can relate to Tyler or whoever in the story find comfort in knowing they are not alone. 

Next time we talk about Josh, the sexiest cop in Greenwaters!

See you later minna~