Uzo Aduba, in the shoes of a therapist

The American actress plays Dr. Brooke Taylor in the series “In Treatment” (“In therapy”), which addresses issues such as racism, the privilege of whites in social circles and sexism.

Emmy Award-winning actress Uzo Aduba plays the lead in the fourth season of the In Treatment series: Dr. Brooke Taylor, an observant and empathetic therapist.

Topics such as the global pandemic and recent great social and cultural changes are the backdrop for Brooke’s work, as she takes the consequences of her decisions in her personal life.

We talked to Aduba about what it means to play a successful and vulnerable professional

What excited you about this “In Treatment” project?

Actually, what attracted me was the challenge. I was also drawn to this project because, being in the entertainment industry, I never realized that the conversation about mental health could be centered on someone like me, from any point of view. This holds true for patients as well, but the patients we see represented in In Treatment are a slice of so many diverse experiences and social settings. I had already represented characters who had been on the other side of the discussion, when it comes to mental health, but I had never seen someone like me as a therapist, on this side of the coin.

How did it feel to know that you had to take the place of Dr. Paul Weston?

To be honest, I didn’t watch the series before doing this job. I made a conscious effort not to see her either. For a number of reasons, I never do an update on something else. The world the show is set in is different from the world we all remember from Seasons 1-3. So in that sense, I knew something was going to be different. So I wanted to make sure that the perspective and experiences that I was inspired by and that brought me into the scenes were totally new. And also the world and the experiences of someone who is out there other than Paul Weston, but someone like me.

How much of you is there in Dr. Brooke Taylor?

With a lot of work, there are aspects or parts of me that I bring to the character or that I borrow from people I know or glimpses of experiences that I have. This was the first time that I felt like I could see more of myself in a character. And I could relate more to what she was dealing with in her everyday life. There is a difference in demeanor, but I still understood her pain and her loss.

In the series we have a black woman who allows herself to be vulnerable and asks for help. Was this aspect important to you?

Of course. They will be able to see her in her workplace, with a lot of strength, power and owner of the situation, something that we usually identify with black women. In general, the piece that we are missing and do not see is the struggle, vulnerability, challenges, obstacles, pain and harsh situations that we also experience, which in the series are given the same time and time. equal space so that they can be transmitted and felt.

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The series explores so many deep themes: racism, white privilege, ignorance, pain, sexuality, and sexism. What will the audience take from all this?

I hope that the audience gets the message that the conversation about mental health is not something that should continue to be stigmatized. I hope the audience understands that the person you think is perfect may be experiencing some problem, and now that we are slowly entering the post-pandemic, we will all have at least one thing in common. I think everyone has some unresolved issue.

Did you learn anything about therapists while representing Dr. Brooke?

I learned a lot. I go to therapy and never thought how difficult the therapist’s job is. I mean: a person is there for 45 minutes or an hour, but there is a person who came before and there is a person who will come later and the therapist has to process everything about me, yours and whoever enters their consulting room. And at the same time he has to face his own challenges, his traumas, experiences and problems at home. It is truly difficult work and it is not for the faint of heart. It made me feel an even deeper compassion for them and the issues they discuss.

How did you feel about launching this season of “In Treatment”?

To quote Stephen Sondheim, the great composer of the musical Into The Woods, I was “excited and terrified.” Excited that people are going to watch the show, and I hope people feel the connection. I hope that it reaches them and that it is a service and that it invites people to talk about it. I’m still an artist and at the end of the day one is always a nervous wreck. Stage fright exists for a reason. It is also disturbing that your work is available to everyone and that people can absorb it.