Star Trek: 10 Best Holodeck Episodes
3. Deep Space Nine: It's Only A Paper Moon
The primary role of holodecks in Star Trek is entertainment. But sometimes, they become something much more important than that.
After losing his leg in battle, Nog had to have it replaced. This was followed by months of rehabilitation away from the station. Upon his return, Nog was met with open arms but seemed to be removed. Unsurprisingly given the situation, he was suffering from both posttraumatic stress disorder and phantom pain from the loss of his leg.
Nothing seemed to pull him out of his state until he went to Vic's in one of the holosuites. Under the direction of Ezri Dax, Nog used Vic's as a means of therapy as he learned to adjust to his new normal. The problem was Nog disappeared into the fictional world of Vic's, fully and completely. It got to the point where he rarely left, hiding in the holosuite from reality.
Vic exerted his impressive control by shutting his own program down and not allowing Nog to restart it. The move forced Nog to progress into the next stage of his recovery process, which ended up working.
The episode was important for two reasons. First, war and combat come frequently in Star Trek series but not the fallout from it. Discussing PTSD and phantom pain brought in some of the horrifying aftermath of battle to the fictional world. The second key element was the long term impact on the series. As a thank you for helping his nephew, Quark decided to dedicate one of his holosuites to Vic and leave it running full time.