Star Trek’s Poor Depiction of Mental Illness in a Hopeful Future
The medical advances depicted in Star Trek are nothing less than extraordinary, but solutions have not been found to maladies that millions in our world are struggling with: mental illness. This article examines the few instances where characters are depicted as struggling with mental illnesses, and sadly concludes that Star Trek’s writers completely failed to present us with a future where such illnesses have been eliminated, nor one where mental illness does not carry the stigma it carries today. This is a two-part article, with the second describing my own struggle with mental illness and how I use Star Trek to help.
