Talk:Ken Kaneki/@comment-28129688-20160405170547/@comment-25047329-20160406024458

What makes the situation so difficult is that it's been ingrained into his mind since childhood that if you truly love someone and want to be loved, you give literally your ALL for others. Kaneki's mom taught him the unhealthy lesson of "it's better to be hurt than to hurt others" which was followed up by abuse. That was warped even further when his mother died as Kaneki suppressed the bad memories of his mother. Hide accidentally made this mentality worse by "sacrificing" himself for Kaneki further cementing the idea that martyrism is the way to go.

All in all, Kaneki is a very warped individual who can't grasp the concept of love because he doesn't recognize what a healthy relationship looks like even when it's placed in front of him on a silver platter. Some strides to reach him work, but only by so much because no matter what anyone does, nothing is enough to prove that others love him unless it's literally a matter of death. Somehow the root of the problem has to be tackled, but Kaneki won't open up to anyone as part of his martyr complex. No one can help him unless Kaneki can muster up the strength to reach out first because his loved ones don't even fully grasp what the problem is to try and help in the first place. I don't know if even Hide knows about some of the more sensitive stuff like the abuse.

It somehow needs to be undone the idea that martyrism is the apex of love, get Kaneki to open up about his problems, and to get him to recognize that he already has love and that there's a difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.

TL;DR Kaneki is a hot mess right now and if he ever heals, it's going to be a slow and hard process. I don't think there's going to be a single key event where he "snaps out of it". However, Hide can potentially be a big player.