While the group battled the Spider Monster with fireworks at Starcourt Mall,
Max's past experience with trauma — namely, watching the Mind Flayer brutally kill her stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) in Season 3 — makes her a target for Vecna's manipulation.
Among Max's mental health issues, including anxiety and depression, he is also diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.
Eleven is examined as a child hero of the series who has a potential diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), has significant psychosocial developmental delays that she continues to overcome as the series develops, and is an emblem for the cultural mythology of the 1980s.
What was Chrissy's Trauma? Chrissy's life appears to be free from flaws on the surface, but in reality, she is struggling terribly to conceal her depression and self-image stemming. She was struggling with these issues, which resulted in her developing an eating disorder due to her mother's verbally abusive comments.
While intending to get his revenge on Eleven and Brenner, Vecna also goes after victims who have dealt with traumatizing experiences in the past (reminiscent of his childhood and his time at the Hawkins lab).
Brenner (Matthew Modine) states in the Stranger Things episode "Papa" that Vecna "consumes" everything about his victims, Vecna targets traumatized victims because it builds for him a well of sad and angry memories to draw from. With each victim, he can become gradually more powerful.
Other manifestations of PTSD in Stranger Things
PTSD can appear in many forms. Will Byers, the main victim in the series, suffers the most from PTSD compared to anyone else in the series.
Critics have suggested the character of Vecna in Stranger Things Season 4 (Netflix) symbolizes mental illness in adolescents and young adults. The fearsome antagonist has been associated with untreated trauma, abuse, PTSD, and depression.
In the two-and-a-half-hour-long finale, Sink's character Max Mayfield was gruesomely mangled by the mind-stalking Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), leaving her broken body in the hands of long-time love interest Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin). “It really is just so sad,” Sink told Entertainment Weekly.
But new villain Vecna is a reflection of something very real: post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and grief.
“Asperger Syndrome is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.”
'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood' Adds a New Character: Meet Max, Teacher Harriet's Nephew with Autism.
At some point in 1985, Fred was in a car accident which killed another student. He sustained facial injuries himself in this accident, which caused a scar on his left cheek.
Once he takes control of the mind, he traumatizes them by showing the visions of their dark past. He takes them to unknown places and gives them a glimpse of himself. The pain of his victims doesn't end here. Every single one of his victims experiences nose bleeding and severe headaches as well.
Of course, the real reason Max became Vecna's victim was because creators the Duffer brothers and producer/director Shawn Levy wanted to showcase Sink's talent and really allow her to get some meaty material to work with this season.
Vecna lives in the Upside Down and preys on people's past traumas and guilt. The monster curses its victims, making them relive their trauma in progressively more gruesome ways until it violently kills them.
Vecna as a Means for Externalizing Trauma and Depression
Chaiken suggests that while Vecna is a source of horror in Stranger Things, the monster can also serve as a useful vessel for externalizing issues like trauma and depression.
Using his supernatural psychokinetic abilities, Vecna can probe and influence the minds of others. Motivated by a cruel and misanthropic philosophy, Vecna targets particularly traumatized, mentally ill or insecure individuals.
Finn Wolfhard addresses Will's crush on Mike in Stranger Things 4.
Lonnie was an implied alcoholic and drug addict who was abusive to his family; he forced his son Jonathan, who was 10 at the time, to shoot a rabbit, while using homophobic slurs against his other son Will.
In previous seasons, Will touching his neck always implied that something bad was going to happen. Because he was possessed by the Mind Flayer in Season 2, he could feel the various evil creatures -- almost like his "spidey sense" for something Upside Down-related.
Realizing he had tremendous psychic power, he haunted his family with visions before ultimately killing most of them. His father was framed for the murders and locked away in a mental hospital as a disturbed serial killer. Henry then found himself in the care of Brenner, who decided he wanted more kids like the boy.
Time is an importance aspect of his character. That's why the sound of a ticking clock can be heard when he starts to haunt his intended victims. It's why they see the clock. It's a piece of his world, his home, that leaks into his psychic connection to them.
What Does the Grandfather Clock in "Stranger Things" Mean? The new season shows that the four chimes of the grandfather clock symbolize the four victims Vecna needs to claim in order to enter our dimension and take over humanity.