For real though, she was an absolutely horrible psychotherapist in pretty much every way. The writers really should have consulted actual social workers.
Rewatching TNG as an adult, Troi’s empathic skills are actually useful. We, the viewer, may already be aware, but she clues Picard and the rest of the crew in on things they need to know at that moment.
As for her abilities as a therapist, I think Starfleet failed to train her for “frontier/first contact” situations properly. On most any other ship in the fleet, she would be fine. On the Enterprise she had to wing her way through events and problems that have never been experienced before by any member of Starfleet.
And for the record, she did help Barclay get better at interacting with other people. I appreciate that we get to see more of them in Voyager.
Right, but what I am saying is they could have easily just talked to some actual social workers to find out what would have actually worked with someone like Barclay instead of just deciding it. It’s kind of a shitty way to treat mental illness as a subject.
Just like they could have easily talked to a real fucking Native American.
But I don’t think this one was an unforced error. That was all most well-intended Americans (yeah, I really do have to qualify it that way) knew at the time. It was progressive then, but insulting today.
Otherwise, you can chalk it up as yet another Berman Conflict™.
So I don’t think that’s applicable here. They thought they had consulted someone properly in that case but they were wrong through no fault of their own. With Troi, all they had to do is find one of the millions of social workers in the U.S. or just the thousands in Los Angeles and talked to them.
For real though, she was an absolutely horrible psychotherapist in pretty much every way. The writers really should have consulted actual social workers.
Troi: see’s visibly angry person/alien
Troi: “I sense anger is this person”
Rewatching TNG as an adult, Troi’s empathic skills are actually useful. We, the viewer, may already be aware, but she clues Picard and the rest of the crew in on things they need to know at that moment.
As for her abilities as a therapist, I think Starfleet failed to train her for “frontier/first contact” situations properly. On most any other ship in the fleet, she would be fine. On the Enterprise she had to wing her way through events and problems that have never been experienced before by any member of Starfleet.
And for the record, she did help Barclay get better at interacting with other people. I appreciate that we get to see more of them in Voyager.
She helped get Barclay better because the writers decided she did, not through any therapeutic techniques that would have actually worked.
Yeah, because she was written by science fiction writers. The enterprise saved the day because the writers decided it did.
Things got more realistic during their scenes in Voyager, thankfully.
Right, but what I am saying is they could have easily just talked to some actual social workers to find out what would have actually worked with someone like Barclay instead of just deciding it. It’s kind of a shitty way to treat mental illness as a subject.
Just like they could have easily talked to a real fucking Native American.
But I don’t think this one was an unforced error. That was all most well-intended Americans (yeah, I really do have to qualify it that way) knew at the time. It was progressive then, but insulting today.
Otherwise, you can chalk it up as yet another Berman Conflict™.
In that case, they were fooled by a con man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamake_Highwater
So I don’t think that’s applicable here. They thought they had consulted someone properly in that case but they were wrong through no fault of their own. With Troi, all they had to do is find one of the millions of social workers in the U.S. or just the thousands in Los Angeles and talked to them.
I tease in this meme, but yes, I agree with you.
I know. That’s why I love this community. We argue over meaningless lore details while upvoting each other.
Troi: I sense great deception with this man.
Picard: He’s a goddamn Ferengi!
Betazoids can’t read Ferengi minds/feelings. Sorry, had to get it out of my system. Your point still stands for her stating the obvious.
As long as she memorizes the Rules of Acquisition, she COULD read their minds
Guinan ends up acting like a better counselor on the show. They should have made Troi a diplomat.
Plus Guinan served booze, the best therapy