Posted by Lieutenant Surra Almikaz (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 Surra Almikaz (Chief of Psychiatry) in Counselling Suite- Doctors Make the Worst Patients
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Needs versus wants,” Myqian said. “Do I want to do this? No. Do I need to? There is a good argument to be made for going ahead with it. I hear what you’re saying and I actually agree with it. But right now my grief and the situation that triggered it is overwhelming me. And being hyper-aware of everyone, as I am, is only distressing me more at the moment.” The hand resting on the desk tightened into a fist, knuckles paling. “I don’t need to be a telepath to hear the whispers, see the worried glances. The crew is noticing that I’m not myself and that in turn is compounding my distress. I am not the kind of commander that has to appear infallible to the crew, but this is different and I’m not okay with it. And we’ve done a temporary suppressant before in crisis situations where I was overwhelming. Knocking down my abilities actually made me more clear-headed in those situations, not less.”

She sighed. “Séan wanted to do the suppressant for two weeks. That might be a bit excessive. What about three or four days? We ease that stressor and I can fall back on my other self care options and see where I end up.”

Commander Myqian, XO

Surra nodded. “I understand and I respect your decision. I think trying it out for a couple of days is an acceptable compromise.”

She picked up her PADD, displayed a holographic image of the Commander’s brain, and said, “Now Federation doctors have been able to identify the frontal region of the brain, specifically in Betazoids, is the part that controls the telepathy. Little is still known about Haliians but looking at this scan of your brain, from Dr. Iven’s previous research, your activity seems to come from the anterior and middle cingulate areas, precuneus, as well as the frontal regions. You are a powerful telepath, Commander, and I see why it affects you so intensely.”

Dira nodded. Some telepaths saw her inability to fully shield her mind as somehow indicating a weakness in her ability and a lack of mastery. But the opposite was true. She did as much as she could to block others out but at the same time even if she could disconnect herself fully it would be a lonely experience for a psi-positive person. The compromise was that some things leaked through, no matter what she did. She valued connection and so had learned to live in this state and most of the time it added something wonderful to her life.

The holographic image still displayed as she carefully laid her PADD back on her desk, and stood up as a real-time simulation of the medication and its effects of it on her brain ran, targeting the areas she spoke of. “The proposed treatment will consist of a fronto-hippocampal inhibitor that will suppress the interneuron activities in these particular areas of the brain.”

The psychiatrist in her followed this clearly, having had a good look at her own brain in a scan on more than one occasion. “That sounds reasonable.” It was a bit more targeted than the suppressants she was given on the fly recently, and that boded well for this little experiment.

She looked at Dira and said with raised eyebrows, “I am certain you will not experience anything other than minor side effects which might initially include some forgetfulness, blurriness, and a bit of vertigo but these should last no more than a twenty-four or forty-eight hours. Your brain will be trying to adjust to its new state. If you are having these symptoms any longer you will need to immediately let me know. I will be monitoring you but I will be consulting with Dr. Bonner to ensure that we are prepared for any…unexpected circumstances. And of course, you will need to refrain from your command duties until we can assess the full effects of the medication.”

Almikaz, CoP

Myqian shook her head. “Again, we need to compromise. I’ve already been off duty and the longer it takes me to get back to even my admin work, the more stress it will cause me later on. How about, no bridge duty, but I’m allowed light administrative work in my office?”

Commander Myqian, XO

Surra crossed her arms and looked at the Commander, “Somehow I knew you were not going to just say okay and I will comply.” She stifled a smile and said, “I know there is no way I am going win this one, so I will concede to your suggestion. No bridge duty. Light administrative work only.” Her eyebrows raised a she looked at her and said the two last sentences.

Myqian just gazed back. She suggested it, so she was willing to uphold her end of the bargain.

“No we need to find an ideal time. Are you ready to began treatment tomorrow? Will that give you enough time to settle everything and give notice to Captain Taylor?”

Almiakz, CoP

“Counsellor Iven and I decided to do this today so I’ve already made arrangements. I’m good to go on my end. Let’s just get this over with, shall we?” Dira managed to say that without a sigh but there was still resignation present in her voice. Just because this was the best path forward at the moment, didn’t mean either of them had to like it. And she knew that even with the potential relief from the sensory input, there were still things to discuss, to deal with. She wasn’t sure how detailed the notes Séan left behind were, but Dira suspected she’d have to reexplain the events surrounding Paige’s death and why everything had been triggering her.

Commander Myqian, XO

Surra wasn’t instinctively picking up on the same personality of the woman who had entered her office. There was something more and whatever it was, wasn’t in the notes Iven had left behind. “I sense some urgency Commander and I’d like to know why”, she said as she prepared two hypospray injections.

“It’s complicated,” Dira said softly.

After preparing the injections she walked behind the Commander with them both in her left hand. “The injections must be given as close to the brain as possible. Not in the head but the neck area. “The first one is a neuro-inhibitor this will began the process of slowing down those telepathic signals.” She quickly injected it into the left side of her neck.
“The next one is an FH inhibitor. It will help regulate the transmissions and suppress anything beyond normal, meaning human standard, brain function.” She gave her the second hypospray injection almost in the same spot. Now take a moment close your eyes, breath slowly, and focus all your thoughts and energy inwards.”
Surra walked to her desk to get her tricorder so she can observe how the commander was reacting to the injections.

Almiakz, CoP

“Don’t let the red uniform fool you, I was a psychiatrist myself for twenty years. I know my way around a telepathic brain,” Myqian said, closing her eyes. There was always a moment of unsteadiness that ensued and passed fairly quickly. Her brain had to adapt quickly to a lack of input and a reframing of how she was to interpret the world around her. It was no small thing. This Dira knew and understood and that was why she didn’t take this option lightly.

When she opened her ebony eyes, she was resigned. “My fiancee died needlessly, Surra.” If they were going to get into this, titles, ranks and surnames were only going to get in the way. “There’s always a risk to being involved with a shipmate. Worse yet if they are a security officer.” She tapped her head with two fingers. “Long story short, Intelligence was involved in a diplomatic mission we were on and Paige leapt into the path of weapons fire to protect one of the dignitaries. My mind caught an errant thought from one of the agents that they knew this was going to happen. Fine. Shit happens. But in the aftermath I was ordered into silence. It was a mercy not to have to tell Paige’s family that they could have prevented her death had they just been open with us, allowed us to take extra precautions. But no. The answer was to silence me.

“I can’t go into details but there was an incident here that also involved Intelligence and people keeping secrets and the past and the present got fat too blurred and I was triggered.” Dira opened her mouth to say something, but the pain etched itself all over her face instead.

Shaking her head, she just sighed. “I fell apart. Went numb. I took myself off duty for a couple of days to get myself together but I feel paranoid. With this weird sensory issue going on, everything feels heightened. It took me a long time to come to terms with Paige being gone, and even longer to allow myself to have feelings for another person.” Her eyes found a place on Surra’s desk and focused there. “I am honestly terrified I cant make good decisions. So Iven and I decided to take away some of the extra stressors so that I can weed out my own feelings from everything else that is going on, and whatever might have happened in the past.”

Commander Myqian, XO