Thinking on this a bit more...
I'm likely neurodivergent. While I believe Asperger's isn't generally the term for it these days, I'd say I have a mild case of that, or whatever it's called now (I say mild having read an autobiography written by someone with it, and recognizing their atypical mannerisms within myself, though they had/have it to a much stronger degree than I (typically) do).
My father's a social worker, and when I was a kid he'd give me things that, as a kid, you think are fun activities and quizzes, but as an adult you recognize as diagnostic tools. Even Asperger's wasn't recognized when I was young, but I think my parents did know or at least suspect that I was neurodiverent.
I think that until I got into my mid-20s or so it probably did affect my social functioning, and I think sometimes it still does, and that the main reason it doesn't affect it as much these days is that I've developed adaptations over the decades, and I was lucky enough to only have a mild case in the first place.
I think about this episode and I recognize Bashir's resentment, because in a sense the person he is isn't the person he was, and his parents deprived him of the life he maybe could have had. But I also recognize that what his parents did they did at least to some degree out of love, because they were worried about him. It would be hard for me to be okay with my parents if they'd done something like send me away (IIRC my uncle was sent away at times) for treatment...I didn't even really like going to summer camp and being surrounded by strangers for two months and deprived of the things I was comfortable with, even if it was probably good for me to have those experiences. And the uncertainty would gnaw at me a lot...maybe I would have ultimately been just fine if my parents hadn't done anything, or maybe I never would have been fine.
The more unsettling idea, especially given I only have minor symptoms (usually) to begin with, is that they could have treated me without me even knowing it. Like, imagine if in the episode Bashir hadn't only been Augmented but didn't even know until the events of this episode that he'd been Augmented. I don't know how I could reconcile with my parents for never telling me about that...but again, they probably would never have told me because they didn't want me to have to bear the burden of knowing.
It may not be the most well-executed episode, especially with the Love Quadrangle or whatever element added, but it raises a lot of compelling questions to me about how one, as a parent, deals with a child who they feel is struggling, and how far parents should be willing to go to try to help their children.
It's like father's day week!
