Synopsis: A cartographer from a low-gravity world is assigned to Deep Space Nine and must deal with its higher level of gravity.
This episode illustrates the concept from depth psychology that where there is a psychic wound, there is also a great possibility for healing.
In “Melora” Ensign Melora Pazlar, from the federation planet Elaysia, is assigned to Deep Space Nine to chart the Gamma Quadrant. Her world is low-gravity and very few Elaysians have ever left their planet because of this. Since Pazlar naturally is more comfortable in low gravity, she needs to use a wheelchair, which she calls a trolley, or wear a body-support suit to move around in our gravity. Because of this Pazlar is extremely sensitive to being made to feel that she is ill, when she is not ill, her natural environment is just different. The sensitivity that Pazlar feels toward being made to feel less-than, can be compared to what Carl (C. G.) Jung would call a “feeling-toned” complex. Or what in common vernacular might be called having a chip on one’s shoulder. The complex reveals to the Logos-driven, rational conscious ego that there is a wound, or something that must be attended to in the Eros-driven, irrational unconscious. Our conscious ego may resist acknowledging the wound, just as Pazlar resists calling attention to what makes her unique.
When Pazlar first comes to Deep Space Nine she is very unreceptive to any suggestion that she should be treated any differently than anyone else. Something that Dr. Julian Bashir points out to her. This is because in the past she has felt wounded by being treated as if she is defective, and a burden on her peers, requiring special accommodations. She keeps herself separate from others, not trusting how they would perceive her. This is her psychic wound, or complex. What she craves most is to feel independent and able to move around as others do in the gravity level that is customary for humans. However, when the possibility to change herself to be more comfortable in the higher gravity becomes available, she has second thoughts. She would be giving up her uniqueness. Pazlar needs to make a choice between being independent or being who she truly is. Pazlar grows into understanding that just as she can be depended upon to do her job, so can others around her be depended upon to treat her as an equal; and that they do not see her as a burden. Pazlar’s real problem was not the gravity, but that she didn’t feel she could be herself around others. By acknowledging and accepting who she is and what makes her different, she begins to heal her psychic wound and becomes stronger in both body and spirit.
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