Ted Lasso S3 E3 - 4-5-1 (Uncut Reaction)

The therapist dating his patient IS unethical but it was unethical way before that. Ted had said that Jacob was Michelle's personal therapist who then gave them marriage counseling. That is already not best practice. Ted said he felt like he was being ganged up on and that's because he was. The therapist had been getting Michelle's side of things for who knows how long so he was already biased towards her POV. They should've gotten a different therapist to be their marriage counselor so that the mediator would be neutral and unbiased. The fact that he is later dating his patient is even worse. 1) There's an imbalance of a power dynamic. Even if he is no longer her personal therapist, he has way more information and insight into her personal life than she has of his which already makes for an imbalanced romantic relationship. It'd be like dating your stalker. And especially since he has training in behavior modification, he could use that information he has about her from their sessions to manipulate her in their relationship. I'm not saying he would, but that's what makes the power dynamic imbalanced and that's what makes it unethical no matter how long ago it was that she was his patient. 2) And he must've developed an attraction towards her during his sessions with her cuz it wouldn't make sense to suddenly develop an attraction now after all this time of knowing her intimately (emotionally speaking) which means he was even more biased during his marriage counseling sessions, whether he realized it or not, into breaking up her marriage...which is, again, why it's usually recommended to see a therapist that's different from your personal therapist. It would be a little more balanced if he was seeing both of them individually from the start at but even then it's a little gray. I cannot overstate how much I dislike Dr. Jacob as a therapist and as a boyfriend. It seems he either has terrible judgment or he is untrustworthy. However, I don't think Michelle was pressuring Ted to sign the divorce papers so that she could start dating again. I think she was in a hurry because she had been feeling trapped and suffocated in their relationship (because of Ted's constant optimism and desire to avoid negative emotions) so she just wanted that sense of freedom. (sorry for the long paragraph)

Heather