Mental illness in TOS
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
The Federation maintains an asylum for the fifteen remaining incorrigible criminally insane of the galaxy. So, this a legal, criminal designation and this is a max. prison. The issue in Whom Gods Destroy is that these few criminals have resisted "the standard rehabilitation programs" and have hopes on a new medicine/drug treatment to "force" rehabilitation on these criminals. Yikes 
... then again, as Spock noted, "A total of fifteen incurably insane out of billions is not what I would call an excessive figure." 
, hmm. 
... then again, as Spock noted, "A total of fifteen incurably insane out of billions is not what I would call an excessive figure." , hmm. 
Are they incorrigible (unable) or stubbornly refusing to be "cured"?
Yes, plus I'll add that they are mentally ill. I assume without the rare mental illnesses of these inmates, a normal person responds (eventually) to the various rehabilitation programs.
Acquiescing is inevitable? That doesn't sound like free will. I'd hate to think what treatment could do to a well person convinced of illness.
It seems like this is what the episode is asking. Capt. Garth obviously refused treatment, as that was central to plot.
This is just the sort of argument Garth makes in the episode. It is hard to imagine that Starfleet or the Federation would force treatment on anybody in actuality, and Garth might be wrong about what is happening to him. Garth is stated to have tried to destroy a planet. We know that only contacting or visiting Talos 4 brings a death penalty in Starfleetin TOS, so who knows what Starfleet's punitive measures for such a thing would be.
Probably a mix of both. There are some people who feel that medication "dulls" them in a way. I have had (anecdotal) discussions with people with ADHD or other neurodevelopmental conditions who don't feel "like themselves" due to these interventions, regardless of how well meaning they are meant to be.
Likely restricting their ability to cause more harm.
Assuming that 23rd-century medicine expects the human brain to be within a certain baseline range of neurochemical balance, then presumably the medicine that Kirk mentioned would bring an individual's brain into that range. If they are already there, then the medication would have no effect. But hopefully, advanced scanning equipment within the realm of 23rd-century neuroscience would have shown that the person is already in the "standard" range during the diagnostic phase, greatly reducing chances of misdiagnosis.
Edit: This is, of course, based on the assumption that mental illnesses have their root causes in neurochemical imbalances. I just have a layperson's understanding of these things, and I don't know all the factors involved. And 23rd-century medicine should understand these things way better than we do today, in any case.
Kor
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