Paul's Dedication to his Work
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — In Treatment
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(October 23, 2014 07:27 AM)
Can Paul be blamed for interrupting family time to be with patients? I'm specifically referring to
cookie baking with his son when Jesse appeared at his door after hours.
Jesse looked like he could have been suicidal. If he actually did it after Paul turned him away, wouldn't Paul have been liable?
Paul's profession is like that of a doctor, cop, or EMT. It demands his full attention at certain times regardless of what else is going on. His wife didn't know what she had signed up for when she married him, so she called him cold and distant. -
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(November 13, 2014 08:17 PM)
Sorry if you think that was worthy of a spoiler shield. I guess I didn't consider it so, but I'll edit it. It wasn't a huge plot point I was referring to, just a moment when Paul put his patient ahead of family. This is the thing his wife Kate hated him for, and which contributed heavily to her leaving him.
I'm just saying that I think there are some professions where it is necessary to put patients or family before family because emergencies arise, and here was a concrete example of it with Paul. The list of professionals includes therapists, medical doctors, police, EMTs. Members of all these professions have a high divorce rate, too, I believe. But their spouses should understand how critical these jobs are and how much dedication they require.
I think you're right that helping his patients Paul heals himself, he has huge issues of his own. He does avoid his family because he's better at dealing with patients than dealing with normal people. But still, he's in a profession where he has a good excuse.
Read this post before my stalkers get it deleted.