I can understand why this episode's reviews are mostly negative, even the 7's tend to be snarky. Anyway, I thought it was a fairly well done character episode for Troi. While it's naturally jarring to watch a regular character act unlikeable, to me it was more about Troi losing her confidence than her ability. While none of us are "empaths" in this sense, many people would react harshly to suddenly losing a natural talent that they've come to depend on. Our confidence would most certainly take a massive blow. I can't go higher than 8 because I felt the resolution was a bit too rushed. The idea of Troi losing her ability, and then regaining her confidence, would have made a good b-plot in a three episode arc, if done well. I get the negative reviews, but I don't agree with them.