In “Shrinking,” Jason Segel plays grieving therapist Jimmy Laird, who is struggling to cope a year after the death of his wife. Not only is he unable to connect with his teenage daughter, but suddenly his primary daily constant — his work and patients — has stopped making sense. And then he decides to start breaking some rules. Ignoring his training and ethics, he realizes that he can help people by pushing further into their lives (aka overstepping professional boundaries). And it works! The results are huge and positive, with his patients making major progress and Jimmy himself starting to feel like he’s moving forward. But eventually, throwing therapeutic norms to the wind is bound to have some less-than-desirable effects.
All in all, Jimmy is obviously a mess and his impulsive solution to his grief might not be the most stable move. And that messiness is exactly why Segel hopes audiences will connect with him. “We wanted to acknowledge that a lot of people are feeling unwell — there’s a sense of disease about what’s in the air,” Segel said. “I’ve dealt a lot with anxiety and depression, and I’ve taken great comfort and humor from when people go, ‘Yeah, welcome to the club, man. We’re all in this together, trying to find our way out.'”