PTSD in TV and Movies: Ted Lasso

Ted Lasso is a much beloved character in the popular Apple TV+ series starring Jason Sudeikis. What remedy does Ted Lasso need for his PTSD?

SPOILER ALERT:  If you haven’t finished Season 3, go back and finish it and then read this blog.

Does The Character of Ted Lasso have PTSD?

Before we find a remedy for Ted Lasso, we should first discuss whether he even has PTSD.

Ted Lasso was recruited as a coach for the fictional AFC Richmond football (soccer) team in England. His character is optimistic, positive and kind. He is also a jokester and is very witty. He uses humor to deflect his feelings. As the story progresses, we learn that Ted’s dad died by suicide when he was young. I think we could safely classify that as trauma. His mother didn’t know how to handle it, so she didn’t.  She didn’t talk about it and pretended that everything was okay. In Episode 11 of Season 3, we witness Ted having it out with his mom about how she handled his dad’s death.

Throughout the three seasons, we can see how he is affected as an adult by how this was all handled. He has panic attacks, becomes a bit of a loner, displays some jealousy, as it relates to his ex-wife (also something that happened in the show) and one could even say that his positive mindset is toxic positivity.  These are ways to cope with trauma, which we call “compensation” in homeopathy.

I think we can say he may have PTSD.  At the very least, he has suffered the effects of long-term grief.

Symptoms

Let’s look at what symptoms, or characteristics, Ted Lasso has. Just a note, that not all symptoms need to be cured, only those that are pathological. However, healthy symptoms can still point to a remedy.

• He is kind. He has a way of getting his point across in a nice way.
• He is positive. He definitely looks at the world in an optimistic fashion, even if he shouldn’t.
• He is a bit of a jokester.
• He is friendly.
• His father died from suicide when he was young, so we can include Grief as a symptom.
• He also had panic attacks on the sideline of a game he was coaching.

That should be enough to find a remedy.  We do not have any physical symptoms, so we will have to work without them.

The photo below shows the symptoms I chose.  While there is a symptom called Positive, it doesn’t mean in homeopathy what it means when we say that Ted Lasso is a positive person.  Hopefulness and Optimism are the two symptoms that we would use.

I chose two grief symptoms, but, I would not expect BOTH of them to be included in the remedy we choose.

Benevolence is the symptom for “Kindness”.

Affectionate is the symptom for “Friendly”.

Homeopathic Symptoms for Ted Lasso

And the Remedy Is….

I would really need to have a few physical symptoms to make a decision I would be comfortable with.  But deciding based on what I know about him from the show, I would give him Ignatia, but Natrum Muriaticum (Nat-m) would be a close second.  As you can see from the picture, they both cover the same symptoms.  Symptoms I didn’t include but fit SO MANY remedies, including both of those are Suppression of Emotions and Guilt. We don’t know if he actually felt guilty, but when a parent of a young child kills himself, it would definitely set up a child to wonder if it was his fault.

Chosen remedy highlighted

One very important reason for choosing Ignatia is that Jesting is MUCH stronger in Ignatia than it is in Nat-M, and this is a pretty strong symptom in him.  Why he is jesting is probably a mix of both his personality and using it to deflect from some emotions he might be experiencing.

Also important are the Diamond Dog sessions the men have in his office. These would make someone who needed Nat-m pretty uncomfortable. Both remedies suppress their emotions, but it is very much a keynote symptom of Nat-m.  I’d also have to confirm liking or disliking salty food to give Nat-m.

You have probably seen this remedy mentioned in some of my other posts.  It is a really common remedy for PTSD, especially where grief and shock are involved.

Remedies for Characters

Of course, we will never know what remedies would be helpful for fictional characters.  But it does give you an idea of the breadth and capabilities of homeopathy.

Keep watching for posts on Remedies for TV and Movie characters.  Do you have a remedy for a PTSD character you would like me to write about?  Do any of his symptoms remind you of yours?

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