Posted by Lieutenant Séan Iven (Chief of Psychiatry) in Counselling Suite- Doctors Make the Worst Patients

Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in Counselling Suite- Doctors Make the Worst Patients

Posted by Lieutenant Séan Iven (Chief of Psychiatry) in Counselling Suite- Doctors Make the Worst Patients
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Of course it’s silly.” Séan said seriously. “If the crew knows and cares then they’ll respect your decision. Even if they don’t know why you had to take a break, this situation the ship is wrapped up in isn’t a picnic. While I can’t speak specifics, we’ve had a significant increase in visits from crewmembers who are having a hard time keeping things together. What’s going on is a tragedy and everyone has been affected. Your issue may not be as rooted in what’s going on right now but the initial trigger is buried in there somewhere.”

CoP Iven

She looked off the to side, even recognizing the body language as wanting to escape. “I’ve been getting these weird feelings lately. It’s hard to pinpoint, but sometime I feel like someone is watching me, but no one is there. And if I were able to shield my abilities better I’d batten down the hatches so to speak, but I can’t. Stuff always leaks through, so I can’t always be sure of the source without more concrete proof. And then there was a situation on board, a security breach, that we needed to deal with. It just… triggered everything. My fury at Starfleet Intelligence and people messing with others without care, chains of command and being made to stay silent about the details of how Paige died.” Dira looked back at him, tears rolling over her high cheeks. “I had to tell her family, people I loved, that she was dead, but I couldn’t tell them the whole truth. Even now that lie makes me feel ill. I thought I had accepted it. Apparently not so much.” And here she was sitting on the floor of a therapist’s office, trying to follow threads without entirely unravelling.

Commander Myqian, XO

Séan sensed an avenue to potentially help Dira within this latest admission. He hoped that he could be gentle handed about it though. “The nature of this job isn’t always pleasant, moreso when it pertains to someone we love. I can’t imagine the depth of your feelings in not being able to tell her family the whole truth. As a psychiatrist there are similar situations in where we can’t divulge information about our patients even to their loved ones. Even if it would help to bring family or partners into the loop to help treatment, if the patient refuses then there’s nothing we can do.”

He took a breath before pushing on with actionable ideas. “I’m concerned a little with the feeling you’re having of being watched. I don’t want to dismiss it and diagnose it as paranoia, mostly because you’re not showing any of the other signs for that, but also because your telepathy can cue you in to things subconsciously. I’d like you to tell me more about those feelings. What are you usually doing when they come upon you?”

CoP Iven

She had to dismiss the idle and unhelpful feelings of being judged that flared, knowing that Séan was just doing his job and following the trails she herself had revealed. Breathing deeply, Dira nodded. “I’m just going about my day usually. Twice I’ve been in the corridors doing my usual walkabouts, once in the lounge, and once when I was in my quarters.” She hadn’t yet seen if there was any predictability to the occurrences, but she didn’t have a ton of data for that yet.

Commander Myqian, XO

“So three public places in public and one in private?” Séan mused. “Not consistent for any sense of public anxiety, though the sample size isn’t big enough to be sure. What’s the effective range of your telepathy? I’m wondering if that aspect of your ability is picking up on something or adversely affecting you.”

CoP Iven

Dira blew out a breath. “It depends on a whole lot of factors. I can pick up anything on the ship if I really focused on it, though a personal connection makes it more accurate. Beyond the ship? Maybe. Again, it depends. The farther the distance, the more my abilities shift towards empathic impressions rather than specific thoughts or emotions.” Was she worried? Maybe a little. But it was more that strange sensation showing up so randomly that was getting to it. If she could just figure out what it was from, she’d be able to relax a bit more.

Commander Myqian, XO