Does Ted Lasso have anxiety? (+5 Main causes)
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This detailed article will answer if Ted Lasso has anxiety and the reasons for this. We will also be checking out the other depictions of mental health in the show, Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso is the main character in the show which follows an English soccer team.
Does Ted Lasso have anxiety?
Yes, Ted Lasso has anxiety. Ted Lasso, the main character in the show ‘Ted Lasso’ is first shown to have a panic attack in the first season of the show, when the entire team is celebrating their first win against Everton in 50 years.
Ted Lasso has another panic attack in the middle of a quarterfinal game after which he seeks professional help from the team psychologist. Ted’s first panic attack was mainly due to his divorce from his wife which was kept hidden from other members of the team.
Reasons for Ted Lasso’s anxiety
Ted Lasso’s anxiety is covered extensively in the show and has been instrumental in breaking the stigma around mental health for viewers. In this section of the article, we have explored the various possible reasons for Ted Lasso’s anxiety.
Ted Lasso’s father killing himself
The main reason for Ted Lasso’s anxiety can be blamed on his father’s suicide. This fact, however, is not revealed to audiences early on and is only mentioned when the character calls the team psychologist and explains what he has been through.
Only after the mention of his father’s suicide is the audience able to fully grasp what Ted Lasso has been actually carrying with him throughout his life, since his teenage years. The suicide led Ted to blame himself and also feel abandoned along with his mother.
His divorce from his wife
Another reason for Ted Lasso’s anxiety can be because of the divorce from his wife. From the very first episode of the show, the audience gets the feeling that not everything between Ted and his wife are okay and that something majorly wrong is afoot.
The confirmation of the divorce from his wife is the main reason for Ted Lasso’s first panic attack. When Rebecca Welton, the president of AFC Richmond, sings the world-famous song from Frozen, ‘Let it go’ at karaoke, Ted can be seen running outside.
The football coach is shown to be confused and muddled with the lights in the room and feeling suffocated due to which he runs outside. He can then be seen sliding to the ground all the while hyperventilating, with Welton finding him later and reassuring him.
His move to a new country
While this reason is not exactly openly mentioned in the series, it can still be understood that a move from America to England can be anxiety-inducing for anyone. This could be another under-rated reason why Ted Lasso has anxiety.
This is particularly even more painful when the viewer is shown the strong bond that Ted Lasso wants to have with his son, something that he was not able to have with his own father who had killed himself.
Him dealing with a new team
Ted Lasso is given a new team to handle upon his arrival in England which further could have contributed to his anxiety. The team is a mix of misfits who are opposing each other in every turn, causing Ted to change his actions and approaches many times.
Apart from the main players, even the support staff in the team brings a lot of anxiety to Ted Lasso. In trying to bring the team members together and helping each person deal with their mental health issue, Ted might have overlooked his mental health needs.
Ted Lasso taking on a broken club
AFC Richmond is clearly a broken club when Ted Lasso takes over and his job is only given out of the owner’s spite for her ex-husband. Even if Rebecca is upfront about this deal much later on, Ted has to deal with a lot of problems in the team and the club-infrastructure.
Depictions of mental health in Ted Lasso
Apart from Ted Lass’s anxiety and panic attacks, there are numerous other depictions of mental health in the show. The different depictions of mental health and mental health issues in Ted Lasso have been discussed in the following points.
Ted Lasso’s panic attacks
Ted Lasso’s anxiety and panic attacks take the center-stage of the mental health spotlight in the show. The main character is shown to suffer from two panic attacks. While the first one comes during karaoke night, the second one comes during a match.
At the end of the second panic attack, Ted Lasso is shown curled up in Sharon, the team psychologist’s office. Ted Lasso’s anxiety and panic attacks are mainly because of his divorce and his childhood trauma caused by his father’s suicide.
Rebecca’s hatred towards her father
Similarly, just like Ted Lasso, the owner of the club, Rebecca Welton, also struggles with hatred towards her own father. This mainly comes by due to the fact that she caught him having an extra-marital affair which destroyed their trust and relationship.
Rebecca opens up about this to Ted on the day of her father’s funeral and he responds with his own share of childhood trauma. They both discuss how these incidents permanently scarred them and are the main reasons for their emotional issues.
Jamie confronting his father
Jamie is often shown to be a very conceited and self-obsessed footballer. But the viewers can’t help but feel sorry for him after his drunken father is shown to be bullying him after he lost the first game against his old team.
In a surprising retaliation, Jamie punches his father in the face and is immediately supported by Roy in a shocking embrace. Jamie is then seen to be crying after the punch. This scene melted hearts as the viewers were made to empathize with Jamie’s difficult upbringing.
Nate and his low self-esteem
One of Ted Lasso’s first changes was to make Nate an assistant coach from just the maintenance crew. Nate can be seen to struggle with poor self-esteem throughout the show and constantly requires the attention and support of Ted.
When Ted starts giving more importance to himself and his mental health needs, Nate starts feeling left out and lashes out at him. Eventually, he leaves the club. This scene realistically depicts how mental health issues can affect someone’s social relationships with others.
Dani’s guilt
Dani is a football player whom the viewers fall in love with almost immediately. He is also the first footballer to take the help of the team psychologist, Sharon. After he accidentally kills the team mascot, a greyhound called Earl, Dani faces a lot of guilt and requires therapy.
This is one of the rare instances on television when a therapist is shown to be closely working with a sports team. Sharon, the psychologist, shows Dani the sheer line between life and death and that everything needs to die someday and that’s perfectly alright.
Ted opening up to his peers
After suffering from panic attacks and realizing that he indeed has anxiety, Ted Lasso decides to open up about his mental health issues to the other coaches. The other coaches support Ted and also throw in their own struggles with mental health and emotional traumas.
Ted arguing with Sharon
Even if he voluntarily seeks help from Sharon, the team psychologist, Ted Lassos does not show much trust in the process. He can be seen arguing with Sharon that she genuinely does not care about him and his recovery and is only doing it for the money.
This scene is important in mental health awareness since it shows the doubts and questions that people may have towards the intentions of the mental health professional that they are consulting.
Conclusion
This detailed article has answered if Ted Lasso has anxiety and the reasons for this. We have also checked out the other depictions of mental health in the show, Ted Lasso.
If you like this article, please post your comments and questions in the space below.
Citations
Take Control of Your Anxiety Today: Personalized Counseling with BetterHelp
