Two questions about Deanna Troi

[at Quark's]

This is probably a dumb question, but what exactly was Troi's most important function on the Enterprise ?

I believe she is referred to as 'ship's counselor', but what is that function, exactly? Does that mean she is first and foremost a psychotherapist counseling crew members having problems, or is her main function to be on the bridge and provide extra information to Picard using her empathic skills ? We see her do both things (though I gather we see her on the bridge a lot more ...but would that imply that is her main role or do we just see less of her regular workload to make more room for the exciting stuff?)

Also, the Enterprise crew is often supposed to be among the best and the brightest of Starfleet. We see many instances of Troi having useful input for captain Picard (and, granted, also a lot of cases where she just states the blatantly obvious), but is there evidence in the series she is good in her work as a psychotherapist as well ?

 

[Nerys Myk]

This is probably a dumb question, but what exactly was Troi's most important function on the Enterprise ?

I believe she is referred to as 'ship's counselor', but what is that function, exactly? Does that mean she is first and foremost a psychotherapist counseling crew members having problems, or is her main function to be on the bridge and provide extra information to Picard using her empathic skills ? We see her do both things (though I gather we see her on the bridge a lot more ...but would that imply that is her main role or do we just see less of her regular workload to make more room for the exciting stuff?)

Also, the Enterprise crew is often supposed to be among the best and the brightest of Starfleet. We see many instances of Troi having useful input for captain Picard (and, granted, also a lot of cases where she just states the blatantly obvious), but is there evidence in the series she is good in her work as a psychotherapist as well ?

Didn't she help Barclay with his problems?

I think the bridge thing was because she's an empath, but isn't part of a counselor's regular duties.

 

[Vanyel]

I always thought her bridge duty was supposed to be important. Her empathic powers giving Picard a heads up on any duplicity on the actions of the other ship or if they truly are friendly.

Her counselor position was her primary job to help deal with a large crew that was originally going to be away exploring for years at a time. But the Borg and Romulan threats changed the Enterprises mission so it was closer to Federation space. That put more emphasis on her bridge duty.

 

[Kilana2]

Some counselors prefer to stay away from bridge duty. And Betazoids are in short supply as counselors in Starfleet. Picard was lucky when he had one. He wanted to have another Betazoid when Troi left the E-E to change over to Titan.......

Spoiler: after Nemesis

he didn't get one

So Troi essentially has a double function as psychologist and diplomatic/first contact specialist/advisor.

 

[at Quark's]

So Troi essentially has a double function as psychologist and diplomatic/first contact specialist/advisor.

Probably... but I keep wondering ....as her "bridge" function seems much more important (at least as depicted in the TNG series), why didn't they simply give her such a job title ? (something along the lines of your suggestion)

 

[Kilana2]

So Troi essentially has a double function as psychologist and diplomatic/first contact specialist/advisor.

Probably... but I keep wondering ....as her "bridge" function seems much more important (at least as depicted in the TNG series), why didn't they simply give her such a job title ? (something along the lines of your suggestion)

Good question. I leave it open for discussion.....

 

[Disco]

I always got the impression Deanna was the Counselor for the senior staff and as most experienced Counselor took on special cases such as Barclay. She was the head of a team so commented on overall crew feelings based on feedback from other Counselors.

The bridge duties were an extension of her focus on senior staff and her abilities.

 

[at Quark's]

She was the head of a team so commented on overall crew feelings based on feedback from other Counselors.

The bridge duties were an extension of her focus on senior staff and her abilities.

Interesting theory, and it sounds plausible, too.

Do we actually ever get to see another member of her "team" (like we do in Beverly's case)? Or is it only mentioned that she has a team?

 

[Disco]

Unfortunately as far as I'm aware the only supporting evidence there is to my theory that there's more than one counselor is that Ezri Tigan was an 'assistant counselor' in her previous post.

 

[Timo]

One does wonder whether mere 1000 people would warrant two shrinks. Possibly these aren't full-time ones?

One also wonders about specialization in general. Is there a dentist aboard the E-D? There definitely are several MDs, but we don't get any idea of a division of labor, be it by level of expertise or field of expertise. Perhaps everybody is an ace of all trades in the future, within the broad parameters of "sawbones" or "engineer" or "physicist" or even "researcher"?

This isn't anything specific to TNG, mind you. McCoy just happened to be a specialist of space psychology and M'Benga a specialist on Vulcans, but these attributes never meant much (usually, it was McCoy who helped out Spock, say).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

She fulfilled the important function of eye candy aboard the Enterprise Dee.

 

[Nerys Myk]

One does wonder whether mere 1000 people would warrant two shrinks. Possibly these aren't full-time ones?

One also wonders about specialization in general. Is there a dentist aboard the E-D? There definitely are several MDs, but we don't get any idea of a division of labor, be it by level of expertise or field of expertise. Perhaps everybody is an ace of all trades in the future, within the broad parameters of "sawbones" or "engineer" or "physicist" or even "researcher"?

This isn't anything specific to TNG, mind you. McCoy just happened to be a specialist of space psychology and M'Benga a specialist on Vulcans, but these attributes never meant much (usually, it was McCoy who helped out Spock, say).

Timo Saloniemi

It's a TV show. Specialists only show up when the plot calls for one. (Like Dr. Noel in "Dagger Of The Mind.") Not sure if M'Benga was a specialist or just had experience from his time as an intern at a Vulcan Ward.

 

[at Quark's]

This isn't anything specific to TNG, mind you. McCoy just happened to be a specialist of space psychology and M'Benga a specialist on Vulcans, but these attributes never meant much (usually, it was McCoy who helped out Spock, say).

Timo Saloniemi

More in general (and going offtopic in my own thread), I've always wondered at the ease with which general practitioners of any field (and I don't mean only doctors, but engineers and other crew as well) seem to be able to pick up on what should have been highly specialized research, and sometimes even casually improving upon designs that specialists have worked on for 20+ years within one episode or even inventing entire new technologies.

I always explained it away with the idea that the flagship crew is supposed to be ridiculously bright and able to be a master in any subfield you'd care to name

 

[Granola Gwen]

One does wonder whether mere 1000 people would warrant two shrinks. Possibly these aren't full-time ones?

One also wonders about specialization in general. Is there a dentist aboard the E-D? There definitely are several MDs, but we don't get any idea of a division of labor, be it by level of expertise or field of expertise. Perhaps everybody is an ace of all trades in the future, within the broad parameters of "sawbones" or "engineer" or "physicist" or even "researcher"?

This isn't anything specific to TNG, mind you. McCoy just happened to be a specialist of space psychology and M'Benga a specialist on Vulcans, but these attributes never meant much (usually, it was McCoy who helped out Spock, say).

Timo Saloniemi

Since Beverly Crusher takes the roles of being a commander and a veterinarian for animals like Spot, so I could possibly see her branching out into be a dentist as well. I like to think that in the future wih more time on their hands instead of worrying about currency or food, they have more time to be experts in multiple fields.

 

[trekshark]

she should have been a civilian in the diplomatic corps

really any starfleet ship with a primary purpose of going to unexplored regions and making first contact should have had dedicated diplomats on board to handle it

 

[Vanyel]

Speaking of Doctor Crusher, I would think that Troi would fall under her command, and be crossed trained as a medic. Although he emphatic powers might make he no good for triage because of the sheer amount and intensity of emotion in such situations. But in sick bay helping with those already treated and perhaps alerting the doctors to those who are dying, those emotions - for lack of better words - flat line or begin faltering.

I think Troi was introduced as Ship's Counselor (I hope I used the right word damn those homonyms.) to me that implied she did have a staff.

 

[Lance]

I believe she is referred to as 'ship's counselor', but what is that function, exactly? Does that mean she is first and foremost a psychotherapist counseling crew members having problems, or is her main function to be on the bridge and provide extra information to Picard using her empathic skills ? We see her do both things (though I gather we see her on the bridge a lot more ...but would that imply that is her main role or do we just see less of her regular workload to make more room for the exciting stuff?)

I've seen her refered to as the Enterprise's one-person HR department. As far as being on the bridge is concerned (note, she probably isn't *always* on the bridge, at least in theory), I think her function is probably to be there beside the captain in high-pressure situations. In TOS we saw instances where Captains went mad or made wrong decisions, resulting in the loss of their ship. Even Captain Kirk had his moments where he really skimmed the edge. So I like to imagine it was a new Starfleet initiative to have somebody there right beside the Captain at all times, to monitor them and maybe step in when they think it's really necessary (a little like Bones did a few times in TOS, but with a permanent presence on the bridge to monitor *all* of the Captain's reactions and give an informed consensus on it). We see Deanna do exactly that in "We'll Always Have Paris", taking Picard aside and (gently) asking him if he is okay, and I imagine that in real high risk situations where relieving him of command might be necessary, then the counsellor gets together with the ship's doctor and rattles out a report to seal the deal (we see something like this almost happen in "Lonely Among Us"). I like to think that this is generally why she's got that third chair on the bridge. She might just have the most important role of all.....

 

[Csalem]

I always thought she should be like what she became in the Titan novels and act as a contact specialist. Her duty could be to learn and advise the captain on first contacts and new species. Riker as first officer could focus on the running of the ship and the logisitics and Troi could focus on learning about cultures and the civilian aspects of the ship. Together they could both advise Picard.

We did see her a few times in the series being sent off to learn about the different alien cultures and protocals. It would make more sense for her to be on the bridge in that role than as counselor.

 

[velour]

I believe she is referred to as 'ship's counselor', but what is that function, exactly? Does that mean she is first and foremost a psychotherapist counseling crew members having problems, or is her main function to be on the bridge and provide extra information to Picard using her empathic skills ? We see her do both things (though I gather we see her on the bridge a lot more ...but would that imply that is her main role or do we just see less of her regular workload to make more room for the exciting stuff?)

I've seen her refered to as the Enterprise's one-person HR department. As far as being on the bridge is concerned (note, she probably isn't *always* on the bridge, at least in theory), I think her function is probably to be there beside the captain in high-pressure situations. In TOS we saw instances where Captains went mad or made wrong decisions, resulting in the loss of their ship. Even Captain Kirk had his moments where he really skimmed the edge. So I like to imagine it was a new Starfleet initiative to have somebody there right beside the Captain at all times, to monitor them and maybe step in when they think it's really necessary (a little like Bones did a few times in TOS, but with a permanent presence on the bridge to monitor *all* of the Captain's reactions and give an informed consensus on it). We see Deanna do exactly that in "We'll Always Have Paris", taking Picard aside and (gently) asking him if he is okay, and I imagine that in real high risk situations where relieving him of command might be necessary, then the counsellor gets together with the ship's doctor and rattles out a report to seal the deal (we see something like this almost happen in "Lonely Among Us"). I like to think that this is generally why she's got that third chair on the bridge. She might just have the most important role of all.....

If that is Troi's job description, it would make her seem to be like those communist commissars, political hacks embedded in the military to keep the military people in line. I know it's not a perfect analogy. Troi was not there for political reasons.

Nevertheless, I don't think it would be good for captain or crew morale to have somebody whose job is specifically to keep a watchful eye on them to make sure they don't stray.

I think there are already proper regulations in place to allow the captain to be relieved of duty by his officers for good cause without the need to have a commissar-like person on board.

 

[Nebusj]

Nevertheless, I don't think it would be good for captain or crew morale to have somebody whose job is specifically to keep a watchful eye on them to make sure they don't stray.

``I mean, what are we supposed to do, just have civilian control of the military?''