Thought Drain
A less of mental faculties caused by being subjected to mindreading powers.
Causes
The current thinking is that this condition is caused by an excessive amount of having ones mind telepathically scanned. It is thought that the process of mind readubg causes disruptions in thought or memory to a very minor degree. Safe enough if only done once, but when these disruptions happen repeatedly, especially within a short time frame, it can lead to more noticeable effects.
Symptoms
Symptoms vary depending on the type and frequency of mental intrustion.
Light Scans
Low level telepathic monitoring has little impact on the subjects mind unless there is near constant monitoring for hours or days. In such cases the subject gradually loses the ability to internalise theit surface thoughts and will unconciously speak them aloud.Arcane Scans
Telepathic scans that rely on arcane magic to probe the thoughts of another can cause further damage by affecting the target's memories. Sometimes this can affect the memories that relate to what is being looked for in another's mind, potentailly reducing the effectiveness of the spell. In more extreme cases, repeated scans can cause the target to start to lose unrelated memories as the unnatural energies of a telepathic spell burn through the target's mind.Psionic Creatures
The more powerful probes of psionic creatures can cause greater damage in a short amount of time. This additional damage can cause the subject to lose their higher reasoning, making them highly suggestable. There is also a high likelihood that they will experience a wide range of memory loss.
Psionic creatures have the control to avoid causing this damage but rarely see any point making the effort to protect a lesser creature.
Treatment
For milder cases, most of those suffering from this condition will recover over time, with memories slowly returning. This can take up to a year after the last mental intrusion.
For more severe cases, especially where reasoning ability has been impaired, the sufferer is unlikely to recover without treatment. Some high order clerical magic can undo the damage but this is out of the reach of most people. The more common treatments involve the use of psychic powers.
The safest treatment is for a trained spell caster to use a mindreading spell on the subject without trying to gain information. While it sounds simple, the spell needs to be directed to the parts of the subject's mind that have been affected while still avoiding extracting any information. When used in this way the spell leeches sny remaining psychic energy from the subject's mind, allowing the usual pathways to reestablish themselves. Such treatment can take months to complete, as well as an extended period of waiting for the mind to fully heal.
A quicker but more dangerous treatment is to use a psychic blast to render the subject unconscious. This can cause further and permanent damage, but if it works it clears out any residual energy and forces the mind to return to it's original state in short order.
History
This was originally thought to be caused by the domination powers used by some psionic creatures. Certainly those who have experienced such effects have tended to experience the symptoms associated with this condition.
The first clue that the domination effect was not the primary cause was uncovered in Balri where repeated use of mind reading spells in interrogations led to some prisoners experiencing the symptoms. This was initially chalked up to the full scope of the interrogation, but when the effects were noticed in those who had experienced a more subtle infiltration of their thoughts it became clear that the mind reading itself was having an effect.
In any other land it likely would have been impossible to find a way to test this theory, but in Balri there were ample subjects who could be subjected to trials. The authorities in Barli were mostly interested in finding limits for how much they could use telepathic probes in interrogation but as a result of their efforts a sizeable body of evidence on the effects was created.
There was no research done on a possible cure for this condition until the infamous Mindripper, who terrorised Filishar, attacked a diplomat from Ironhammer halls. Keen to make up for their failure to protect the diplomat the Kingdom of Filishar offered to fund research for a cure.
Balri didn't want to hand over the research, but they were under pressure from others in The Alliance over other matters.
The search for a treatment was initially hampered by the difficulty in identifying those whose memory loss or reduction in faculties was caused by mental instrusion. This blocker was removed when Balri shared their research into the condition. A spell was developed to pick up traces of psionic interference allowing for a comparison of the severity of symptoms and psionic damage.
Type
Mental
Origin
Magical
Rarity
Rare
Interesting ethical dilemma with trying to assemble research on this condition!