Synopsis: Lt. Tuvok is infected by a viral parasite that lives in the body by masquerading as a repressed memory.
This episode is an illustration of how the Logos-driven rational conscious ego reacts when confronted by bits of material from the Eros-driven unconscious.
In “Flashback” Lt. Tuvok comes down with an illness that The Doctor believes causes a repressed memory to appear and break into Tuvok’s consciousness. Because Tuvok is Vulcan, this is very damaging to him psychically and physiologically. Believing that the damage is being caused by a repressed memory, the only available treatment is to create a mind-meld with Captain Kathryn Janeway in order to try to reintegrate the memory into Tuvok’s conscious mind. The mind-meld is established, and Tuvok and Janeway are taken back to witness his first Starfleet assignment aboard the USS Excelsior, commanded by Captain Hikaru Sulu. When the mind-meld goes awry and The Doctor is forced to dissolve it, it is discovered that Tuvok did not have a repressed memory. Instead, a viral parasite infected Tuvok, and the way in which it survives in a humanoid body is to create a false memory that the ego will repress. In this episode, we see Tuvok acting much like the conscious ego does when it is confronted by bits of material from the unconscious. Tuvok wants to be in control of himself and will go to great lengths in order to re-establish and maintain control. And this is what the viral parasite was counting on. To hide out in an area of Tuvok’s mind that he would want to actively suppress. However, the parasite was unaware of how deeply Tuvok needed to be in control, and the parasite was discovered and destroyed. This is much like how the ego would like to think it can react to bits of unconscious material that it becomes aware of. But in truth, unlike the parasite, the unconscious never goes away, or can be killed, and what is more therapeutic for the ego is to integrate into itself bits of unconscious material that it becomes aware of, in order to become stronger and make the psyche more whole.
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