From a dramatic point of view, Hero Worship is standard TNG fare with few if any standout moments. However as a thought piece, it becomes one of the more interesting attempts to help its oft younger audiences to get a grip on complicated issues. In this case, it's identity and the natural tendency for children to struggle with it in early adolescence. What this episode cleverly shows is that it's perfectly natural for kids to be confused, especially in times of stress, and that it does not necessarily have to be life-defining. It can be a mere phase.
As a psychologist of several decades, I'm aware the subject of dysphoria is much more complex than any wiki definition or social media explanation can transmit. Unfortunately in the current climate any attempts at a rounded conversation quickly becomes embroiled in prickly commentary and nervous mediators. However, the fact that this episode depicts an albeit sci-inflected version of the disorder means it cuts thru any of that contemporary controversy. And in doing so, it allows us to appreciate that "Hero Worship" has much to teach the modern world about the potential transience of the disorder and of course the dangers of adults *wholly* embracing it in order to avoid dealing with deeper problems.
In short, the episode becomes a typically well considered episode of TNG where the characters become models for the audience as we all weave our way thru these choppy waters. For example, we see Troi advising Picard and Data to show an appreciation for wider context in which the troubled child is operating. In doing so, she encourages a crucial sensitivity to the very nature of adolescence itself as well as the tendency for young teens to use external models as they abstract (after all they are mere novices at this skill) their own age-appropriate internal stress into something that it is in fact not. Of course the kid wasn't an android. But he needed to believe he was for that short period of time so that his mind could adjust to the trauma. This is why Troi advised a soft indulgence-wait him out-as opposed to the fanatical and extreme solutions some might reach for today.
This is what TNG always did so well. It gave its largely youthful audience a safe platform on which to excavate and evaluate their burgeoning sensibilities and rapidly evolving feelings alike. To cast their mind into the safe space of science fiction and reel it back into the real world edified and better informed than it had been before.
As a psychologist of several decades, I'm aware the subject of dysphoria is much more complex than any wiki definition or social media explanation can transmit. Unfortunately in the current climate any attempts at a rounded conversation quickly becomes embroiled in prickly commentary and nervous mediators. However, the fact that this episode depicts an albeit sci-inflected version of the disorder means it cuts thru any of that contemporary controversy. And in doing so, it allows us to appreciate that "Hero Worship" has much to teach the modern world about the potential transience of the disorder and of course the dangers of adults *wholly* embracing it in order to avoid dealing with deeper problems.
In short, the episode becomes a typically well considered episode of TNG where the characters become models for the audience as we all weave our way thru these choppy waters. For example, we see Troi advising Picard and Data to show an appreciation for wider context in which the troubled child is operating. In doing so, she encourages a crucial sensitivity to the very nature of adolescence itself as well as the tendency for young teens to use external models as they abstract (after all they are mere novices at this skill) their own age-appropriate internal stress into something that it is in fact not. Of course the kid wasn't an android. But he needed to believe he was for that short period of time so that his mind could adjust to the trauma. This is why Troi advised a soft indulgence-wait him out-as opposed to the fanatical and extreme solutions some might reach for today.
This is what TNG always did so well. It gave its largely youthful audience a safe platform on which to excavate and evaluate their burgeoning sensibilities and rapidly evolving feelings alike. To cast their mind into the safe space of science fiction and reel it back into the real world edified and better informed than it had been before.