Shrinking is advertised as the story of the grieving therapist Jimmy (Jason Segel) who has lost his wife and wants to try a new approach to his loss, one that involves honesty, including telling his clients exactly what he thinks of them and their problems. Humour (it is hoped), insight into human nature (presumably) and a thoughtful consideration of the role of honesty in therapy will follow.
Unfortunately, for this viewer at least, there was precious little humour, less insight and some rather bizarre assumptions about human nature in general.
As a clinical psychologist of many years’ experience, I can tell you Jimmy commits many major errors of judgement within the first five minutes of screen time. Almost nothing of Segel’s character’s behaviour bore the faintest resemblance to the experience of real life therapy – even in the rather extreme environment of Hollywood.
