Negativity

"I'm afraid I ain't got much hope."

- Michael De Santa

Negativity is a mission in Grand Theft Auto V. This mission is the first phone session between Michael De Santa and Isiah Friedlander.

Overview
Negativity is unlocked after the mission Mr. Richards, Dr. Friedlander will send a text message to Michael saying that he has not heard anything from him and ask if he does not want to do a phone session. The mission can be completed at any time by calling Dr. Friedlander and will be available until Derailed.

Description
Dr. Friedlander will ask how Michael is, to which Michael will respond, saying that things have been terrible for him. Friedlander asks if he has been "acting out" again. Michael's response will depend on the last mission that the player did before the session:
 * Mr. Richards - Michael says that his life has been awful and that he is making some bad decisions, he mentions his family leaving him and that they do not even take his phone calls. He also reveals that he met Solomon Richards and that they are working together and now he is a movie producer. Dr. Friedlander says that he is glad things have been looking up, but he also says that Michael should not look for validation outside of himself, and says that validation is not a label.
 * Minor Turbulence - Michael says that he is in the middle of the desert right now, and that his wife and kids abandoned him. He says that he is living in a trailer with his psycho friend and that they both bothered a man and kidnapped his wife. Dr. Friedlander says that Michael needs to have more time for therapy and that this is a major relapse.

Dr. Friedlander then asks if Michael had any other violent outbursts. Michael's response will depend on the player's actions in the game; sometimes Michael will say that he feels like "two different people" and that he doesn't like either of them. He may also say that he hurts other people without thinking and then feels bad about what he did, and other times he might say that he killed someone on the way to the clinic and that he is a "sick hypocrite". Regardless of Michael's response, Friedlander will give advice that the player can either accept or reject.
 * Reject advice - Michael will say that it is easy for Dr. Friedlander to judge and that he had a tough childhood.
 * Accept advice - Michael will say that there is a part of him that he just cannot seem to control.

Friedlander then asks Michael about his sexual behavior, again Michael's response depends on the player's actions; If the player did not sleep with any prostitutes or booty calls, Michael will say that he had "thoughts" but did not have any problems or he may say that he has been a "good boy" and didn't have any problems at all. On the other hand, if the player slept with a prostitute or booty call, Michael will say that he "got lonely" and called a girl. Friedlander will chastise Michael if he confesses this.

The phone session concludes with Michael saying that he is "kind of doing better", to which Isiah says that therapy can really help him and because of this he should be pleased with what he is doing. Isiah then says that he needs to end the session and that phone sessions are a little more expensive, but "so fulfilling".

Friedlander ends the session by asking Michael to speak again soon. Michael hangs up and pays Friedlander $1,500.

Trivia

 * The name of this mission can only be seen if the player completes the phone session with the autosave enabled or saves the game manually after the session ends. Then go to the load game option in the pause menu, and the name of the mission will be displayed in the last save.
 * Alternatively, the mission name can be seen by the player by switching to the Brief > Mission tab in the pause menu.
 * The name of this mission probably comes from the beginning of the session, when Michael looks very pessimistic about the recent events of his life.
 * Sometimes, after the Minor Turbulence mission, when the player switches to Michael, he will be having another phone session with Friedlander, but the game does not subtract any funds from Michael's account.