Mental Illness in Star Trek

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by DanGussin, May 3, 2019.

  1. Refuge

    Refuge Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Suder - Voyager. Some of the best episodes ever in Trek. It was really revealing when Suder melded with Tuvok and then became the centred one when Tuvok unravelled. I really felt for Suder in Basics both when he couldn't keep it together in front of Janeway and then when he had to revert to his base instincts to kill and try and help retake the ship.
     
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  2. Henoch

    Henoch Glowing Globe Premium Member

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    Yikes, how did I forget this gem from Dagger of the Mind:
    MCCOY [on monitor]: Oh, I'm assigning your technical aide, Captain. One of our psychiatrists does have a background in rehabilitative therapy. Doctor Noel, standing by in the transporter room now.​
    So, the Enterprise has multiple psychiatrists with one that has a background in rehabilitative therapy: Helen Noel. :adore:
    [pause, smile, sigh]
     
  3. Laura Cynthia Chambers

    Laura Cynthia Chambers Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    On a ship, with unsuitable for duty people being screened out, the mental issues you would have to deal with are either things which are undetectable early on, or products of their time on the ship/things which happened afterwards.

    So Angela Martine, after returning from bereavement leave, might need ongoing counseling for her fiance's death, which of course was not a factor prior to her Starfleet career, the way a person who has OCD or some such issue would be, having had it for some time.

    Similar to the difference between a genetic condition and an accident. Both might leave someone paralyzed, and both would require therefore a neurologist and anyone else associated with such a condition, but for different reasons.

    On a Starfleet ship, you'd have people who specialize in acquired conditions, if there is any measurable discrete difference between that and genetic ones in 22nd-24th century medicine.
     
  4. Tenacity

    Tenacity Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    In episode one, Voyager apparently started with a otherwise full compliment, so why not a counselor?
     
  5. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Perhaps died in the initial kidnapping to the delta quadrant?

    Or maybe it's something like Voyager being smallish with a crew of 150, and Starfleet only assign them to crews of 400 and above.
     
  6. Henoch

    Henoch Glowing Globe Premium Member

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    She seemed to bound back quite well, but she may have been suffering from a self-identity issue or she had serial marriages since she kept changing her name or repeatedly getting married. First her name was Angela Martine, then shortly after the death of her fiancé, she either got married or changed it Angela Teller. She had a little romance with Rodriguez on Shore Leave (ship gossip was she was still married and infidelity led to divorce). Lastly she either got married again or changed her name to Angela Lysa. By the end of Season 3, we see that she dyed her her red and became a sexy vixen (ship gossip about infidelity continues...).
    [​IMG]
     
  7. DanGussin

    DanGussin Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    I thought Voyager was more of a test bed for new systems and tech that got dispatched to the Badlands on a short term mission as part of an overall performance evaluation. So while having a "full crew" in terms of operations some of the support personnel may have been left to be assigned at a later date.
     
  8. Shamrock Holmes

    Shamrock Holmes Commodore Commodore

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    Similarly, I've suggested that a good chunk of their Life Sciences section appears to have been "left on the dock" as a biologist would include a wide variety of subjects - botany, biochemistry, biotechnology, biotaxanomy, botany, cytology, ecology, environmental science, genetics, molecular biology, physics and zoology - would have given them a far solider grounding to be a nurse/medical assistant than Paris' one semester of biochemistry or Kes' ad hoc lessons after she joined Voyager (though she may have had some knowledge of botany and farming before that).
     
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  9. Tenacity

    Tenacity Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Or it's two different characters played by the same actress. "Reusing" previous actors was common during TOS.
     
  10. Henoch

    Henoch Glowing Globe Premium Member

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    Nah. The next thing you'll be telling me that Eddie Paskey played three different Mister Leslie's.
     
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  11. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That's actually made explicit in "The Cloud":

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  12. Henoch

    Henoch Glowing Globe Premium Member

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    It's a shame that the Federation stopped the Five Year Missions by the VOY era. Back in the day (TOS), they would have diverted one the 5YM Connies to handle the matter. They would have been better crewed and equipped for the mission home. Since the Connies were 100's to 1000's of times faster, they would be home in a few weeks and certainly back in time for the next episode.
     
  13. DanGussin

    DanGussin Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    One thing I sometimes qinder~

    Does it make sense for a senior brudge officer and advisor to the captain to be carrying a normal casel load and supervising a Dept responsible for over 1000 people.?

    To me this seems to be a set up for disaster in terms of Trois patents and for her to fail to provide good consistent care to thise in crisis.
     
  14. Steven P Bastien

    Steven P Bastien Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yes, she would be as overworked as you appear to be. No doubt her reports would have just as many typos.

    :) sorry, I couldn't resist.
     
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  15. Tenacity

    Tenacity Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    ^ But how many of those 1000 people would require frequent mental help, as opposed to rarely, or in some cases never? Troi would not be constantly seeing everyone on the ship.

    Troi would fill in her time by hanging out on the bridge and going on away missions.