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The captain had explained how holding his Katra nearly ruined the Doctor, which was perplexing, he had performed a simple meld, it shouldn’t have been detrimental.
A mind meld, when done properly, is when 2 minds come together as one. Thoughts, emotions all swirling in a way that both parties can parse any and all information.
It’s an intimate act that must be done carefully. And Spock was always careful.
Always.
Spock had been in a hurry, but McCoy was his friend and trusted his presence enough to not outright reject him.
Something had happened to him, something bad. the priestess who performed the reformation mentioned how it felt like his mind was in tatters. How it wasn’t equipped to hold a katra, and how any further melds would need to be done slowly and carefully.
She also mentioned that what was left behind felt eerily similar to his own presence.
Spock was sure of what had happened.
What happened to Doctor McCoy was not a mind meld. It was a mindinvasion. Everyone, telepathic or not, has mental barriers, for a mind meld to work they needed to be pliable enough to phase through.
McCoy had been alarmed, his barriers were up and had been easily overwhelmed.
He had been invaded careless and quickly. So when Spock left his katra, instead of forming into a condensed being of memories and emotion, it spread. Filling out all over the mind, consuming and merging with him, but McCoy had no psi abilities, no way to discern what was what and who was who.
Spock never wanted that, and he was sorry it happened. He never wanted to hurt his friend.
And if he ever met mirror Spock again, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able his finely buried rage.
There wouldn’t even be enough left to bury.