Probably once again time to post this 1960s gem from the New York Times review of the original Star Trek, “‘Star Trek’ makes clear that life in space will probably be more traumatic than on earth. […] The accent was less on the super-duper gadgetry usually associated with travel in the heavens than on astronautical soap opera that suffers from interminable flight drag. It was TV’s first psychodrama in orbit”
Which is something that has occurred across multiple shows. It bothers me more that this is considered offensive.
No series had their shrink sessions with crew in the middle of a crisis anywhere nearly as often as DISCO. It's one of the reasons why I can never take those 'officers' seriously as professionals. It made Starfleet look like a damn joke.
I was talking more modern shows besides Star Trek but we see McCoy counseling Kirk in Balance of Terror too.
And when McCoy was talking to Kirk, it was during the long wait for the Romulan to make a move and it was in private, in Kirk's quarters. It wasn't on the bridge in the middle of a battle.
So the middle of a battle is the problem?
Or in the middle of a crisis with a ticking clock (in some cases, a literal one, like Stamets in "Face the Strange"). It makes the Starfleet officers seem amateurish and not professionals, especially since nearly all of them are Lt. Commanders and above.
To clarify, it's not a matter of comfort but understanding, especially in dramatic form. See it happen in MASH too. Yes, it's dramatic and it is meant to be.
