Marlena Evans Told Xander Kiriakis She Would Drop Him as a Patient Unless He Dropped His Lawsuit on DAYS and We Have Questions for the Ethics Board

MARLENA EVANS IS JUDGING HER PATIENTS AND DAYS OF OUR LIVES NEEDS TO TALK ABOUT WHAT THAT ACTUALLY MEANS

TL;DR: On Tuesday’s episode of Days of Our Lives, Marlena Evans told Xander Kiriakis she would stop treating him unless he dropped his lawsuit against Johnny DiMera and suggested he apologize to him, and started taking ownership of his mistakes. Marlena is Johnny’s grandmother. We know Marlena is Days’ Golden Girl. We love her, too. But we’re concerned. If the ethics board hears about this, it isn’t going to go well.

What Marlena Actually Said

Marlena Evans told Xander Kiriakis this week that she would no longer treat him unless he dropped his lawsuit against Johnny DiMera. She even suggested Xander apologize to Johnny, and told him it was high time he took ownership of his mistakes. She framed it as Xander needing to change the course of what he had done. She delivered it as a condition of continued care.

Let’s sit with that for a moment.

A therapist told her patient that she would terminate their therapeutic relationship unless he took a specific legal action that directly benefits her grandson. Not because Xander posed a danger to himself or anyone else. Not because he had violated the terms of treatment. Because Marlena Evans disagrees with a lawsuit her patient filed against a member of her own family and she decided to do something about it.

That is not therapy. That is leverage.

Is Marlena Evans crossing a line or do you think she had every right to say what she said? Send your hottest takes to amber@soapoperamagazine.com and we just might publish them!

The Conflict of Interest Nobody Is Saying Out Loud

Johnny DiMera is the son of Sami Brady. Sami is Marlena’s daughter. That makes Johnny Marlena’s grandson. Marlena is actively treating the man suing her grandson. And rather than recuse herself from the situation the moment that conflict became professionally relevant – before they ever sat down together – Marlena stayed in the room and used her position as Xander’s therapist to push him toward an outcome that benefits her family.

The American Psychological Association’s code of ethics is not subtle on this point. Therapists are prohibited from using the therapeutic relationship to serve their own interests or the interests of people close to them. The moment Marlena’s personal investment in Johnny’s wellbeing collided with her professional obligation to Xander, the ethical move was a referral, not a negotiation.

Xander Kiriakis came to Marlena for treatment. He did not sign up to be managed on behalf of the DiMera family.

Playing God in the Therapy Room

There is a specific term for what Marlena did and it is not a compliment. Threatening to withdraw care unless a patient modifies their behavior outside the therapeutic context is coercion. It does not matter that Marlena genuinely believes Xander is wrong. It does not matter that she loves Johnny and wants to protect him. The therapy room is not a place where a clinician’s personal values get to override a patient’s legal rights.

Marlena Evans has been Salem’s moral compass for decades. She has survived possession, kidnapping, a cage in a DiMera dungeon, and more resurrection storylines than any one psychiatrist should reasonably endure. Nobody in Salem questions her judgment. That may be the problem.

When nobody questions you, it becomes very easy to confuse what you want with what is right. Marlena told Abe not to play God when he stepped aside for Lexie. And then she sat across from her patient and told him his continued access to mental health care depended on what he did for her grandson.

What the Ethics Board Would Say

A licensing board reviewing this situation would flag three issues at minimum. First, the conflict of interest created by treating a patient in litigation with a close family member. Second, the conditional withdrawal of treatment as a coercive tool. Third, the apparent breach of the foundational therapeutic principle that the patient’s welfare comes before the clinician’s personal interests.

Ruh Roh, Doc. What were you thinking?

Marlena Evans is not a villain. She is a woman who loves her family and occasionally forgets where the line is when the two worlds collide. Salem has been letting her forget for years. Xander Kiriakis deserves better from his therapist. We don’t like what he’s done either. That doesn’t mean we can use unethical practices to lessen his misdeeds.

Marlena Evans crossed a professional line this week and we need to know if you think Days of Our Lives will actually hold her accountable for it. Does Xander deserve an apology from his own therapist? Sound off below!

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