Mental Health Session

Posted on 15 Jan 2013 @ 3:26am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle

2,176 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Captain's Quarters
Timeline: MD 10 - 1420 hrs

[ON]

"Thank you for seeing me here, ma'am. I figured you would be more comfortable talking here as opposed to your Ready Room." Delainey was relaxed and her tone was cordial. Despite the fact this was an official session, Carlisle didn't feel the need to stress it. She knew the woman before her was aware of Delainey's professional obligations, but it was more important to Carlisle that Lirha knew she had a safe place to let down her guard at least a bit.

Because she had returned to the bridge so quickly, Delainey wasn't certain what to expect. Would the Captain admit her struggles or breeze past them.

Inside of her quarters, Lirha sat on her couch across from the chief counselor. She had tried her best to put off the visit, but knew that she eventually needed to complete her post-stress evaluation, per Starfleet protocols. Now was as good a time as ever, she had decided, and now found herself at the beginning of what could be an uncomfortable session. The memories of her torments were still fresh in her head, as were the memories of her fallen crew, and the captain sincerely wondered if she would be able to talk about some of the events which had transpired during the previous week.

Clearing her throat and pushing some of her dark hair back behind her ear, Lirha adjusted herself on the couch and looked over at the blond, blue-eyed counselor. "Thank you for coming, you are correct that I prefer my quarters for such a session." she finally replied, then let her eyes wander around the room for a brief moment. "So...how does this work?" she asked, wondering what types of things Carlisle wanted to talk about.

"Well," Delainey replied, "there's no right or wrong with these sorts of sessions. All I ask is that you be as honest as you can about what you're thinking and feeling, especially if you're struggling in light of all you've been through. I can tell you honestly, the lack of symptoms isn't entirely the mark of health so much as the efforts you make to cope honestly and positively with your struggles."

A long moment passed while the captain considered Carlisle's words. Honesty wouldn't be a problem; Lirha was a very up-front woman and didn't usually mix words. But she had her doubts about how much she was willing...able to speak about while keeping her feelings in check. The simple thought of K'Nara was alone enough to spark anger within her. "Very well. I will do my best." she said simply, then waited for the counselor to begin.

"Any symptoms to report? For instance, panic attacks, anxiety, nightmares or flashbacks?" Delainey wanted to keep things as straight forward as possible.

Lirha let out a mental sigh. She had experienced all of those symptoms at some point or another, but the most disturbing had been her recent night terrors, which left her in a somewhat traumatized state every time she woke up from one. "Yes." she answered simply as she nervously played with her dark hair.

Picking up on her potential anxiety driven non-verbal cue, Delainey offered, "You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to talk about or do anything you don't want to do in here. All the same, I get the impression there's a few things you might want to get off your chest? I ask about specific symptoms just to get an idea of how you're doing. I'd like to monitor those just to track any changes. Over time, I have every confidence you'll work through them."

Adjusting herself in her seat, Lirha began to think of the specifics of her symptoms. "I do not get panic attacks very often, but sometimes I find myself suffering from a bit of anxiety. It happened during the promotion ceremony in the cargo bay, as well as later at the reception. I kept thinking of all the crew members who we lost, who were not able to stand there with the rest of the crew..." she explained as her voice trailed off.

A long moment passed after which Lirha finally regained her composure with a shake of her head. "I also have nightmares. They don't happen every night, but when they do, they're awful. Usually they are a flashback of me being strapped to the interrogation table on the Klingon Bird of Prey...and that psychotic Klingon captain is standing over me, ...doing things to me..."

Delainey listened quietly and then offered, "I have tools to help you process this trauma. Full recovery will take a bit of time and will require you to talk about your experiences in as much detail as you can recall, but I won't ask you to do that unless and until you've shown you can master several coping strategies first. Everything you've described is perfectly understandable and normal given what you've experienced."

Carlisle paused, then added, "I know talking about what you've been through in great detail may seem counter-intuitive as a therapeutic strategy, but consider right now these traumas are coming up when you least expect them. Over time, I can help you bring them up a bit at a time in a controlled setting so you're not continually overwhelmed by them. Right now, avoiding them is a short-term coping strategy, but it's like telling yourself not to think about a particular color. The more you fight it, the worse it gets."

The captain slowly nodded as her gaze aimlessly wandered around the room, then settled back on the counselor. "I understand." she began, "But it is hard for me to talk about something which I don't completely still remember. I was drugged and still can't seem to place all of the events. They've been slowly coming back to me piece by piece...in the form of nightmares."

"That must make sorting out your emotions that much harder," Carlisle sympathized. "For therapeutic purposes, we can work with what you do remember. Therapy might actually help you piece it all together instead of pieces coming back when you don't expect."

"That would be a...relief." the Orion said in agreement. "And what would this therapy involve? Talking about my incident?" she wondered out-loud. "I don't suppose you have any telepathic abilities that can make it easier for me?" Lirha added, giving the blond woman a small smile.

Delainey smiled wanly in return. "I don't, but even if I did, I'm sure I don't have to tell you the easy way isn't usually the best way. I've not been with you long, but you haven't ever struck me as the type to accept anything but the best, even if it was difficult."

"As for what the therapy entails," Carlisle continued, "I like to start with a bit of education about common reactions to trauma and what to expect as therapy progresses. I'm sure you know a lot of this already, but after a trauma when people are struggling, they often report feeling as if they're going crazy, like they're never going to feel safe again. I like to help remind people they aren't alone in what they're feeling, which reduces the chances they'll develop long term anxiety. Then, I'll focus on giving you relaxation strategies to use when you're feeling anxious. We won't begin to discuss the details of your memories until you've shown you can use these strategies to manage your anxiety. The last thing I want to do is make talking about what happened synonymous with uncontrollable panic, so we'll spend a bit of time also getting you in touch with your body's reactions and your emotions...things you may not be aware of fully."

"Alright." was all Lirha could manage to say. She had indeed had a few moments where she thought she was losing her mind, and she had found the easiest way to cope with it was to simply lock herself in her quarters and cry her troubles away. It wasn't exactly a long-term solution, she knew, but it at least helped her to unload some of her grief.

"Have I overloaded you?" Carlisle asked with a small smile. "Single word answers can sometimes suggest people are overwhelmed or just deep in thought. In any case, I just want this to be a place where you can just be yourself."

"Overloaded?" the captain repeated with a raised eyebrow, then shook her head. "No...if anyone is overloading me, it's Starfleet and the constant orders they are giving me. The stress of command is probably taking a bit of a toll on me, especially the ones concerning our last mission." she admitted. "But thank you for your concern, I feel comfortable enough."

Delainey attempted to read between the lines. "What do you do to cope with the stress you mentioned?"

"Well..." Lirha began, not sure how to correctly phrase her nocturnal activities. Her mind wandered back to her recent discussion with her XO, where he had strongly recommended that she stop sleeping with the crew. She hadn't given it much thought at the time, and in fact had become rather defensive, but she had slowly come to realize that she had become a bit over-sexed during shore leave, ever since they had returned to the alpha quadrant.

"I, um...well, I have recently been having a lot of romance...more so than usual." she finally answered as she fiddled nervously with her green fingers.

Delainey paused, once again attempting to read between the lines. "Are you speaking of sex?"

"Yes." Lirha answered simply with a nod, not wanting to tiptoe around the issue too much. If there was anything that her chief counselor could do for her, Lirha needed to be honest with the woman about her recent activities.

"Is there something in particular that bothers you about that?"

Clearing her throat, the captain let her eyes wander down to the carpet as she once again thought about the scolding she had recently received from John. After a long pause, she finally answered the question. "I've recently been having multiple partners...and some of them are members of this crew." she confessed, suddenly feeling very conscious of the inappropriateness of her choice of partners.

Delainey knew trust could be gained or lost depending on what she said next, but still her internal feelings were at war. On the surface, Lirha's behavior was highly inappropriate. Regardless of whether the other parties were capable, via age or state of mind, of consenting to sex with their Captain, there was still the difference in power at work. Could consent be freely given, truly, when one of the parties involved could make or break a career? Then again, she had to consider all possibilities.

"To the best of your knowledge, did you give your consent for these encounters? I know after you were rescued, the drugs you received in captivity were shown to play havoc with your pheromone suppressants, so while no member of the crew may have intended to have sex with you, is it possible you have been unable to keep it from happening?"

Carlisle hoped her tone conveyed concern without judgement. The behavior itself was cause for concern, but without more information, she wasn't going to lecture without being certain of its cause.

Lirha sighed as the thought about the possibility that she had been influencing her partners with her body's pheromones, then shook her head to dismiss the notion. "I gave my consent, yes. And I believe all of my encounters occurred with mutual consent." she replied, then paused for a moment before continuing. "Orion pheromones predominately affect males of various species, but all of my recent partners have been Human females, who generally are not affected by pheromones in the same way. At least, that has always been my experience."

"Would you consider talking to Pola about this as well? I don't doubt your experience, but I think it might be beneficial to rule out physiological issues for your behavior considering we know your suppressants were impacted. In the meantime, you can tell me anything about these encounters you like. This could be happening for any number of reasons, and above all, I want to help you get to the bottom of it."

"I suppose I can stop by sickbay and have a talk with the doctor...it might be for the best, just to be sure." she replied with a nod, but was not so eager to reveal her intimate life to the counselor. "As for the details of my sex life...I would prefer to keep that private for the time being."

Delainey knew she would have a hard time helping unless she knew at least some specifics, but that could wait. "Fair enough. Feel free to tell me when the time is right. For now, let's explore the feelings preceding these encounters..."

[OFF]

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CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Junior Grade Delainey Carlisle, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo,/i>

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