Non-locality stress disorder

Non-locality stress disorder (NLSD), previously known as non-locality shock, is a long-term psychological response observed in most individuals after experiencing a prolonged state of non-locality, usually during faster-than-light travel. It is most commonly comorbid with post-metempsychotic dissociative disorder, given that cases of extended periods of conscious non-locality often occur alongside an extended period of V-E union. Cases of NLSD, particularly severe ones, are characterised by somatoform physical discomfort, transient episodes of extreme aggression or panic, chronic dissociation, and/or catatonia.

NLSD is typically developed in the wake of FTL jumps that undergo abnormally extended periods of non-locality due to lachesic inaccuracies or errors in beacon lock. Brief exposure to slipways or failures in V-E union can also induce NLSD. In general, mild cases present in the wake of exposure periods lasting between 1-3ms, while moderate and severe cases are most often the result of over 10ms of exposure. Catatonia is almost always present in cases with more than 200ms of exposure, although patients will often return to lucidity - albeit with severe waking symptoms - within days or weeks.

In sufficiently mild cases that are provided medical attention shortly after exposure, amnestics are the primary form of treatment. In severe cases or cases that cannot be treated with amnestics due to collateral memory damage, symptomatic treatment is the mainstay, primarily through mood stabilizers. Antidepressants and antipsychotics have been shown to have little effectiveness in treating NLSD.

Individuals who live with NLSD often describe the experience as being a traumatic response to a near-total perception of the universe; that is, experiencing all events at all points in space and time. Diego Rafael Viamonte describes in The Second I Was God: "I saw the beginning of the cosmos and I bore its cold and eternal death. I laid witness to every wonder of every world, and I saw every horror, abominable being and act, that the God whose eyes I ephemerally wore could in his boundless cruelty beget. I lived every life, and suffered every agony. The flesh of my mind laid woven into every inch of heaven and earth, into every creature and being, into every fire and every city. And when I awoke back into my slice of the eternal cacophony, when the debris of my brain splattered across space and time was shoved back into my perplexed carcass, I understood, if not envied, the prophets who gouged their eyes at a glance into what lay beyond."