Does Star Fleet not run psychiatric examinations on its recruits?

[JirinPanthosa]

psychiatry is evil.

hopefully the Federation would have realised that.

Psychiatry's not evil, we just usually do it wrong.

For every five people who are prescribed SSRIs, one benefits, and four get addicted and experience symptoms worse than the disease. But that doesn't mean that one doesn't benefit.

Also people who are intimidated by authority figures just immediately put up their defenses around psychiatrists and most of them have no idea how to deal with that, and also have no idea how to relate to people who are really independent-minded.

But that doesn't mean they couldn't get better to a point where they are beneficial.

When I was 10 I was a lot like Barcalay so they sent me to a psychiatrist. I avoided talking about things that were personal and we pretty much just played with toys and played cards. My school wanted to get me diagnosed with OCD, but in my first session I wore a really stained shirt and the psychiatrist just kinda said "Ummno".

Later a guy just gave me social feedback and pointers for what I was doing wrong, and my social life improved instantly. That should be the role of psychiatrists with socially awkward people. Give them useful social feedback, let them discover how their behavior is perceived and get them pointers on how to make people interested in them.

Social awkwardness and anxiety is not a psychological disorder. It is a lack of the social skillset that most people develop on their own.

 

[The Wormhole]

Didn't TOS have one guy who DID fail a Psych test do he couldn't be a Starfleet Officer? That guy from the "Roman Planet" episode?

Indeed he did.

 

[1001001]

For every five people who are prescribed SSRIs, one benefits, and four get addicted and experience symptoms worse than the disease.

80% of patients become addicted to SSRI's? That is not correct. SSRI's are not addictive.

As for Barclay, I wonder if the Federation has some sort of equivalent to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable accommodations and so forth. If he can do his job, then it shouldn't be a problem.

And if he struggles, do they have an equivalent to an Employment Assistance Program? It kind of seems like he was doing something similar by having to see Counselor Troi.

I would think in the enlightened future that there is room for people with all kinds of challenges, and tolerance, support, and compassion for people who temporarily backslide. We (theoretically) try to do that now with ADA and EAP. Barclay does not appear psychotic or dangerous. And he appears competent at his job, generally speaking.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

For every five people who are prescribed SSRIs, one benefits, and four get addicted and experience symptoms worse than the disease.

This statistic is completely bogus. SSRIs are not addictive in the way that illicit drugs are. The danger of taking an SSRI is that the brain adapts fairly quickly to the medication, so patients should avoid stopping SSRIs abruptly as doing so may precipitate symptom rebound.

--Sran

 

[Crazyewok]

What a loser...

I find that quite offensive.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^Is that right?

--Sran

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Teamwork works both ways. Yes, Barclay's withdrawn attitude and antisocial behaviour make him the weak link among the engineering staff, but at the same time his co-workers could try working with him, drawing him out of his reclusiveness and encourage him to give his input, to make him part of the team. Isn't that basically the point of Hollow Pursuits?

Exactly. It's easy to single out the one person in the group who's not like everyone else, but it takes real effort to make that same person into a valuable member of the team. Guinan had it absolutely right when she told Geordi the story about her aloof relative. Everyone has the potential to be something more than they are: it's merely a matter of pushing the right buttons to draw them out of their shell.

--Sran

 

[Crazyewok]

^Is that right?

--Sran

Yeah!

Just because someone might have mental illnes or social problems does not write them off as dead weights and useless.

Some of the most genuis people in history have had
social or mental problems.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Just because someone might have mental illnes or social problems does not write them off as dead weights and useless.

You misunderstood my point. I was referring to your misspelling of quite and how it changed the meaning of the sentence.

--Sran

 

[Crazyewok]

Just because someone might have mental illnes or social problems does not write them off as dead weights and useless.

You misunderstood my point. I was referring to your misspelling of quite and how it changed the meaning of the sentence.

--Sran

Fixed

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I have family members who are and have been on SSRIs. They work well for a while then your brain adjusts to them and they stop working, and quitting them cold turkey leads to a severe crash. They're not addictive the way heroin is addictive but they certainly cause dependencies.

SSRIs are awesome if the cause of your depression is chemical. But modern psychiatry jumps to the conclusion that they are, and when they're not, they're not helping at all. They're just a long term crutch that keeps people from dealing with the real cause of their depression (Except in the case where it's chemical).

If Barcalay existed today nobody would reach out to him and try to help make him more socially comfortable. They'd just give him SSRIs, and he would have never learned the social coping skills he did by the end of Voyager.

 

[QuarkforNagus]

Are you telling me they can't cure a stutter in the age of warp drives, holograms, and genetic resequencing?

 

[The Wormhole]

Are you telling me they can't cure a stutter in the age of warp drives, holograms, and genetic resequencing?

They cure it the same way it's cured today, by working with the people who stutter and helping them overcome the nervousness which causes the stuttering.

 

[-Brett-]

What a loser...

I find that quite offensive.

I suspect that was the intent. Barclay is the stereotypical Trekkie, and unfortunately that stereotype has more than a little basis in reality.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Are you telling me they can't cure a stutter in the age of warp drives, holograms, and genetic resequencing?

They don't do genetic engineering in the 23rd century.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^Except to repair serious birth defects.

--Sran

 

[Solariabsg25]

Teah, the memories form the Eugenics War still cut deep over a century later.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

I love Reg! <3

 

[Greg Cox]

Didn't TOS have one guy who DID fail a Psych test do he couldn't be a Starfleet Officer? That guy from the "Roman Planet" episode?

Merrick, yes.

And clearly Marla McIvers had her issues as well . . ..

 

[MacLeod]

^And there was also Janice Lester, compared to them Barclay is perfectly sane.