Frame of Mind ( episode ) Riker thinks he is losing his mind when reality keeps shifting between an alien hospital and the " Enterprise " , where he is rehearsing a play . Summary . Teaser . Commander William T . Riker is in a play , rehearsing on the with Commander Data . The play , " Frame of Mind " , is a dark story of an insane man , who is trapped in an insanity ward , where the doctor s torture him . After a short but excellent performance , he expresses doubt , not sure if he is right for the part . Doctor Beverly Crusher reassures him that he is . He repeats his lines in the corridor , making several other people wonder about him . But when he gets into the turbolift , he sees an alien , in a science officer ' s uniform , whom he has never seen before . Riker ignores the alien at first , but then focuses on him at the moment as the doors close . Act One . During his next briefing with Captain Jean - Luc Picard he informs him that they will be going to Tilonus IV . Their government has fallen to anarchy , and there was a Federation research team on the planet . Riker ' s mission is to find where they are hiding from the factions and contact them . Lieutenant Worf ' s briefing in the observation lounge is informative , but forceful . He wants to make sure Riker knows every single word . During the demonstration of how to perform a blade - waving ceremony with the " nisroh " , Worf accidentally cuts Riker ' s face , requiring him to go to sickbay . Doctor Crusher heals the wound perfectly with a dermal regenerator , but is surprised when it continues to pain him . Unfortunately , she has to deal with another medical emergency when a crewman enters who had a plasma torch blow up in his face . As the medical staff are treating him , Riker just looks at him , and sees blame in his eyes . Later in Ten Forward , he tells Counselor Deanna Troi about this and several other times people have been staring at him . He has been feeling restless and uneasy . She advises that it is nothing to worry about ; he is not used to the feelings the role requires him to explore . He should not be concerned . She says it is sometimes good to explore the darker side of the psyche , and encourages him , joking that he is becoming a good actor . Then , his cut bothers him again , and he looks behind her to see the alien again . He asks Troi about him , but she doesn ' t see him . He decides to check the personnel logs tomorrow . During the play , Data and Riker perform very well and receive a standing ovation . But after he bows and looks back at the audience , he sees the alien from the turbolift in the front row , not clapping . Disturbed , Riker bows again . The clapping ceases and , when he looks back up , the audience has been replaced by a wall . He turns around to find an alien standing behind him who says , " I can see we have a lot of work to do . " Act Two . When he asks what happened in an accusing way , the doctor sighs , and attempts to determine the cause of his relapse , of delusions that he is on the " Enterprise " - D . He asks Riker a long list of questions , to find surprising answers . Riker doesn ' t know who he is but his memories of the ship are vivid . At the doctor ' s suggestion , he is reminded ( and remembers ) that they contacted an Admiral Budrow at Starbase 29 , and they had never heard of him . The doctor standing before him continues reminding him of things that really happened . He tried to escape , and hit his head on the door , which is why it hurts . But Riker is still wondering about all this . He still doesn ' t know where he is or why he is here . The doctor , Syrus , answers where he is , in ward 47 of the Tilonus Institute for Mental Disorders but will not explain why . He simply compliments Riker on his excellent progress and leaves . The attendants soon arrive , and take him to the cafeteria for lunch , through a corridor with sounds of screams . On the way , Riker recognizes a doctor who resembles the same alien he bumped into at the turbolift . In the cafeteria , no one is eating . All are playing games or building crafts . sits him down , and fetches his lunch . One of the other inmates , , comes over to talk to him . She explains that she is also a Starfleet officer and she and several more on the were captured and brought here . She says she has made a communicator and will ask for a beam out . She then pulls a spoon from her sleeve and talks into it . Riker ' s eyes sink . The attendant watches him while he eats and makes jokes about Riker ' s mental state . Riker begins to remember things , like the attendant ' s name , Mavek , but the picture is incomplete , so he asks the guard . He says that Riker was brought in screaming , his hands and clothes covered with blood and that he stabbed someone to death . Riker jumps up and grabs him by the throat , making another guard rush over and sedate him with a very large needle . Riker wakes up in his quarters on board the " Enterprise " making it all seemingly a nightmare . Act Three . The play has not yet occurred . It is one hour before curtain and Riker is applying dark makeup under his eyes . Riker tells Crusher about his vivid dream . She is astonished ; opening night concerns are one thing , but this is quite unusual . She hopes that night they also get a standing ovation . As he performs the play he is momentarily distracted by an attendant from the hallucination looking at him through the prop door window . Crusher has to remind him of his lines . He then starts hearing noises off the stage and looks around as everyone continues to watch . Data finishes the scene , but Riker turns around to see the alien from the turbolift and the corridor outside the cell in his dream . Enraged , Riker storms off the stage and into the audience , grabs the man by the shoulders , and demands to know what is going on . The man is shocked and says his name , Lieutenant Suna . In sickbay , Crusher scans him , and cannot find a cause of the hallucinations . Other than elevated blood pressure , he is physically fine . At his insistence , she scans his body for drugs but cannot find any traces . Finally , no one reported anything strange happening during the performance . She tells him to get some rest so that he can recover from all this . He walks with Troi and confesses that he feels like an idiot for his behavior . She tells him that everyone understands the stress he has been under during his preparations for the mission on Tilonus IV . According to Data , it was unorthodox but ingenious to use an improvisation to draw in the audience , and it gave a realistic picture of multi - infarct dementia . Riker continues his conversation with Troi but stops in his tracks when he hears the doctor ' s disembodied voice , telling him he needs another treatment . Riker excuses himself and heads for his quarters . After the door of the turbolift opens , he sees the corridor of the hospital leading to his cell . He closes his eyes , tells himself that it is not real , and when he opens his eyes again the usual corridor of the " Enterprise " is there . Turning a corner , he encounters Jaya , the inmate with the " communicator " . When he runs to his quarters , the doors clank shut . When he turns , he finds he is back in the cell . He screams to be let out of his cell and then silently falls to the floor , quietly asking for help . Act Four . In the common area , Riker talks to Dr . Syrus , explaining that he wants to be here , where things make more sense ; reality isn ' t real on the ship . He still isn ' t sure if he killed someone , but the doctor finds this progress encouraging . However , the doctor has bad news . The case must be decided one way or another within the next few days . They will use reflection therapy to determine if he is fit to stand trial . It ' s not painful , but interacting with holographic projections of hidden parts of his psyche can be disturbing . The only other option is synaptic reconstruction , a medical procedure that will permanently alter Riker ' s personality . As the reflection therapy begins , Riker examines how he felt before he supposedly became a killer . A holographic representation is created from each aspect of his personality ; each manifestation being a member of the crew . Troi is Riker ' s feelings , and talks about being cold and frightened in the dark . Worf his actions , and talks of being watched and defending himself . Picard is his attempt to rationalize , and fills in more details about the incident . He was in an alley and was attacked from behind . Finally the alien from the turbolift – who it is now revealed as Mr . Suna , the hospital administrator – is the one who apparently attacked him . Both Riker and his doctor are confused as to what this might mean . Riker ' s reflections then take a left turn . Troi , Worf , and Picard all try to convince him that the " Enterprise " is his reality , he is in danger , and he is being tricked . He finally tells them to leave him alone , and the holographic projector shuts down . The doctor says he has made progress , and they will continue later . Later , when he is eating , Doctor Crusher , dressed in drab clothing , walks over and sits down at his table . He tries to ignore her , telling himself that she is an illusion . Crusher explains that he was on an undercover mission , he supposedly killed someone , and the crew is being blocked at every turn to try and get him back . The crew is attempting to unravel a conspiracy . His instructions are to sit tight . No one else seems to see her , so he tells himself it is not real . After some sleep , he starts hearing noises . Data and Worf appear in black commando gear and try to break him out . He shouts , but they take him by force . Before they can get down the corridor , guards arrive to investigate the disturbance . Riker runs to the two Tilonians , giving them Worf ' s phaser and hiding from Worf and Data . Act Five . Data and Worf are approached by Mavek and the guard but they quickly fight them off , and Riker tries to run away . They grab him , transporting him against his will to the " Enterprise " using transport enhancer s . As Crusher gives him her diagnosis , Riker simply stares straight forward . She says someone has been accessing his long term memory and he is in neural shock . Picard tells him that he was abducted during the mission and put in a psychiatric ward . Crusher heals an identical cut on the left side of his face , which still hurts . Yet it reopens and starts to bleed . He suddenly gets the sense that none of this is real , so he knocks down Worf and grabs his phaser . If it is not real , Riker explains , when he shoots himself nothing will happen . Turning the phaser on himself , he fires . The world appears to shatter around him . He appears to be back in his cell and finds the doctor telling the attendants about his failure to respond to reflection therapy . He broke out of his cell and ran down the corridor , telling them that he was being taken back to his starship . The doctor concludes he will have to perform the synaptic reconstruction . Riker can ' t figure out why he still has a phaser . The doctor says it is a knife and asks him to hand it over . Riker clutches his face , which is still painful and bleeding . He shoots Mavek , who shatters apart . Riker tries to focus – he can ' t die while the illusory people and objects around him appear to be destructible . None of this is real , he concludes . He sets it to level 16 , enough to destroy half of the building and fires into the wall and it shatters . He is back in the play , but Suna is where Data should be on stage . Riker starts demanding answers , and refuses to answer Suna ' s questions . But when Suna makes a demand , Riker starts bleeding again . He figures out that Suna is lying and trying to manipulate him . When Suna pleads , " " Let me help you , " " Riker replies , " " NO ! " " The audience applauds . He shoves Suna away , and the audience cheers him on as he continues to resist . He pounds the set , and finally he and the scene shatter apart for the last time . He wakes up on a table , a neural drain probe in the side of his head . Looking around , he soon locates the ceremonial knife and the secret communicator . Suna and another Tilonian in the room quickly realize he ' s awake , but Riker fights his way back to his feet . He uses the knife to hold them off and activates the communicator . The " Enterprise " locks onto Riker and beams him back aboard . Picard explains what really happened , and Riker remembers it . He was attacked from behind and abducted in an alley . As he tried to fight them off with the ceremonial knife , the " nisroh " Worf gave him , Riker ' s attackers injected him with something . Picard concludes that they were attempting to extract strategic information from him . Troi explains that everything he saw was a defense mechanism , which allowed his mind to keep its sanity . Most notably , the bleeding coming out of his head exactly corresponded to the point the neural drain device was attached to his head ; it was his body warning him he was being injured . Picard advises Riker to get some rest but he has something he must do first . Later on , Riker returns to the stage where he had previously performed in the play . Crusher tells him that they plan on striking the set in the morning , but he decides to strike the set himself ; he couldn ' t sleep knowing it was still up . Instead of using any tools when Crusher leaves , he starts tearing it down forcefully with his bare hands . Memorable quotes . " " You ' re starting to sound angry again . Maybe you need another treatment . " " " " What I need is to get out of this cell . I ' ve been locked in here for , for days . You ' ve controlled my every move . You ' ve told , you ' ve told me what to eat , and what to think , and what to say , and then when I show a glimmer of independent thought , you strap me down ! You inject me with drugs . You call it a treatment ! " " " " You ' re becoming agitated . " " " " You bet I ' m agitated ! I may be surrounded by insanity , but I ' m not insane ! And there ' s nothing you . . . there isn ' t . . . there ' s nothing . . . ' " " ( Riker stops and laughs ) " " " I ' m sorry . Could we go back to , to you ' re becoming agitated ? " " " " No . Why don ' t we take a break for tonight . I think we ' ve made a lot of progress . " " " " The last several days , I ' ve felt like everybody ' s been staring at me or talking about me . It ' s as if I was in " Frame of Mind " . " " " " The play is full of disturbing images . People losing their minds , being tortured by doctors . I can ' t get it out of my mind . " " " " The ship again ? " " " " I am not that far gone , am I ? " " " " Of course you are ! " " " " Well , we have one hour before curtain . How are you feeling ? " " " " I feel like an actor . " " " " Well . . . you ' re certainly starting to look the part . " " " " NO ! LET ME OUT OF HERE ! LET ME OUT OF HERE ! HELP ME ! Help me . " " " " I hope you ' re hungry ! They ' re serving spiny lobe - fish today . " " " " Commander , I must congratulate you on your performance this evening . " " " " Oh ? " " " " Your unexpected choice to improvise was an effective method of drawing the audience into the plight of your character . You gave a truly realistic interpretation of multi - infarct dementia . " " Links and references . References . 47 ; abduction ; administrator ; alley ; anabolic protoplaser ; anarchy ; assassination ; attendant ; bartering ceremony ; blood ; Bloom ; brain ; Budrow ; cerebral cortex ; common area ; communicator ; conspiracy ; delusion ; dermal regenerator ; epidermal ; doctor ; fatigue ; Federation ; " Frame of Mind " ; hallucination s ; hospital ; hypospray ; insanity ; ; knife ; merchant ; multi - infarct dementia ; nerve damage ; neural shock ; neurochemical ; neurodrain ; neurosomatic technique ; nisroh ; number one ; opporozine ; painting ; parietal lobe ; patient ; pattern enhancer ; plasma torch ; play ; prime minister ; protoplaser ; reflection therapy ; rehearsal ; research team ; ; sedative ; security ward ; set ; spiny lobe - fish ; spoon ; Stafko ; stage crew ; stage fright ; Starbase 29 ; Starfleet Academy ; stasis unit ; stress ; surgery ; synaptic pathway ; synaptic reconstruction ; Tilonian ; Tilonian pendant ; Tilonus IV ; Tilonus Institute for Mental Disorders ; torture ; transposition ; turbolift ; utensil ; ward 47 ; ;