Michael Urie says his starring role in “Shrinking” inspired him to start therapy

Michael Urie knows what it means to learn from his characters. The actor said he began a personal therapy journey after starring in the Apple TV therapy-focused show Shrinking.

“The show is so, I think, thoughtful and yet reckless with mental health,” Urie said People.

Shrinking stars Jason Segel as Jimmy, a grieving therapist who takes unorthodox and overly personal approaches with his clients. Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams round out the main cast; Urie plays Brian, Jimmy's best friend.

“We shouldn't be ashamed of our mental health care,” Urie said. “We should all explore it, we should all be open to it.”

As for his treatment journey, Urie said he's “enjoyed it” so far. “It was really fun,” he joked. “I enjoyed going to therapy and deepening my relationship with my mental health.”

The process also fostered his personal definition of mental health. “It's a science,” he said. “There is a science to mental health, but feelings and emotions are… I don't think it's scientific. I think we come in our own way. And as much as I like to think that my therapist can give me all the answers, the truth is that it's only part of the whole thing.”

As he continues to work on himself, Urie now sees therapy as “just part of my eternal journey to understand my heart and my brain.”

“It's been a journey,” he continued. “It was sometimes frustrating, sometimes funny, sometimes confusing, just like the show, in the same way that… the show continues to tackle new mental health issues.”

Urie teased that the second episode of the Emmy-nominated show will explore Brian's narcissism. “That, especially playing someone who is called a narcissist, is interesting and difficult because you can't really tell a narcissist that he's a narcissist,” he said.

Additionally, the show will focus on more select families, which Urie said seemed important to him. “We find new families chosen for all kinds of reasons, not just because our real family is not there for us, for whatever reason, but it may be closeness, it may be some sort of split, it may be that they no longer have time with us And this show has all of those things,” he said. “We find ourselves as a chosen family for all kinds of reasons why we can't go to our real family.”

He continued, “Certainly for me, as a queer person and as someone who has moved away from their hometown, anyone who leaves their hometown will eventually find their new chosen family.”

Shrinking season two will premiere on October 16.

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