Star Trek: Voyager – Season 7, Episode 11: “Shattered”

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Synopsis: Voyager and her crew are divided into different time periods. This episode illustrates one of the therapeutic methods used in analytical psychology, the process of the union of the two opposites: the Logos-driven rational conscious ego and the Eros-driven irrational unconscious. In “Shattered” Voyager is hit by a temporal space anomaly that divides the vessel into 37 different periods of time. Commander Chakotay, who was struck by a power surge, is treated with a vaccine created by The Doctor, so that his physical being remains stable as he moves through the different time periods on the ship. Chakotay asks The Doctor to create more vaccine, so that he can inoculate other members of the crew, and together Chakotay and the crew stabilize the entire vessel at a point in time just before it experiences the temporal space anomaly. Once this is accomplished, Chakotay is able to change the actions of the vessel to lessen the damage from the anomaly. In this episode, what Chakotay and the crew are doing and experiencing can be analogized to the therapeutic process of analytical psychology. Chakotay being hit by a power surge can be compared to an individual experiencing a traumatic event, that often leads one to enter analysis. The Doctor creating a vaccine that stabilizes Chakotay into a single being can be seen in the role of the analyst trying to make the psyche more whole. Chakotay asking the doctor for more vaccine so that the rest of the vessel can be stabilized can be compared to when one bit of unconscious psychic energy is acknowledged and integrated into the conscious ego, then the ongoing process of assimilating other bits of unconscious material begins. Finally, when Chakotay is returned to a moment in time just before the space anomaly is experienced can be analogized to the analysand being able to better adjust to future psychic wounding, because the ego has become stronger and the psyche more whole.

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By Myth Maggie

My name is Margaret Ann Mendenhall, PhD - aka Myth Maggie. I am a Mythological Scholar and a student of Depth and Archetypal Psychology. I am watching an episode or film from the Star Trek multiverse every day* and blogging about it from a mythological and depth psychological perspective, going back to The Original Series. If you love Star Trek or it has meaning for you, I invite you to join the voyage. * Monday through Friday, excluding holidays

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