Health Concerns

A look at Rin's poor health.

STOMACH
Hatsuharu mentions that Rin suffers from ulcers that are likely stress induced. This may explain why she is a picky eater; she tells Tohru that her favourite food is jelly. If I had to guess, it's probably because it's very easy to digest and likely doesn't irritate her stomach ulcers.

Rin also tells Tohru that she doesn't like to eat in front of other people. This is probably a habit that formed after she moved into Kagura's home; Kagura and her mother would share meals together and Rin felt it too heartbreaking to watch, so she'd either skip meals entirely or eat alone in her room. Rin was also eating at the table with her parents when they snapped at her. I feel that it's very possible she developed an unconscious association with that event and eating. Haru is the only person she will eat in front of.

DEPRESSION & ANXIETY
Needless to say, the trauma Rin endured at the hands of her parents has left her with severe depression and anxiety. She doesn't really seem to sleep much as a result.

Depression forces Rin to enter a state of solitude. She withdraws from those around her, skipping a lot of school and missing out on opportunities to make friends with people. She spends most of her time locked away in her room because she feels it's too heart-wrenching to see Kagura's bond with her mother. Even the other students at her school don't know much about her other than she's rich and is in the hospital a lot. When Tohru visits to see if they know where Rin is, they're surprised that Rin even has a single friend at all.

For a period of time, it doesn't seem like Rin has much will to live and demonstrates several times that she doesn't have much regard for her own health. The only thing that keeps her going is her desire to see Hatsuharu freed from the curse. When she's alone, she's lonely and often thinks about her mother and Akito's comments about how worthless she is.

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
At one point, after throwing up in Shigure's home, Rin is so weak that she begins having hallucinations that Tohru (who had come to investigate what was happening) was actually her mother; she breaks down, crying and begging not to be punished. She's outright terrified that she's going to get severely punished for having thrown up.

Near the end of the series, once Rin has been released from confinement, she suffers from a PTSD moment when she witnesses Kagura hitting Tohru across the face. She screams at her that she has no right to hurt Tohru and begins to strangle Kagura. When Kagura realises that she's triggered Rin's painful memories, she immediately apologises to Rin and embraces her. Rin stops and calms down immediately.

PHYSICAL WEAKNESS
After being thrown out of a second story window by Akito and suffering physical abuse from her parents, Rin has a large, permanent scar running across her back. She's spent much time in hospitals and has grown to loathe being in them. She hates hospitals so much that she often sneaks out when she can; this is a bit counterproductive because it usually extends her stay overall.

Early on in the series, especially during her hospitalisation, we see Rin suffering from physical weakness. She struggles to even walk properly and suffers from a lot of nausea and dizziness. This weakness also results in her transforming into a horse on a few occasions. Thankfully, her transformations were never in public areas but it does present a serious problem when she needs to be hospitalised.

There are several examples of Rin collapsing or fainting throughout the series:

★ Rin gets a severe dizzy spell while looking through books and boxes at the Sohma's main house and faints.
★ Rin recovers from this and weakly manages to go to Shigure's home but ends up throwing up on the floor.
★ When she collapses at Shigure's, she actually turns into a horse and they are unable to bring her to a hospital.
★ Rin visits the Sohma's summer villa and is so weak that she collapses into her horse form just outside the house.
★ As children, Hatsuharu finds Rin collapsed on the street after she's kicked out of her home.
★ When Rin is hospitalised after being confined to the cat's room, she gets up and wanders in the street for a little bit before collapsing on the sidewalk.