'In Treatment' Returns for Season Four

For some people, therapy can be life-changing. But how does therapy affect your mental health when you’re the mental health professional? The television show “In Treatment” explores what this is like.

The television series originally aired in 2008 and followed Dr. Paul Weston during his sessions with patients in Baltimore, showing how his work intersected with his life.

It is unclear how the format for the fourth season will be similar to the first three, where each episode was dedicated to a particular patient. Weston was also seen receiving therapy as well. In an article for Vox, Emily VanDerWerff wrote about how this format was interesting to her as a viewer.

The conceit was brilliant, as it allowed viewers to pick and choose which patients’ stories they were most interested in, while also rewarding viewers who watched every single episode with revelations about how Paul’s interactions with one patient might inform how he treated another. You’d have patients you preferred watching to others each season, even if you watched every episode, but the joy of the series was seeing every patient have some kind of necessary breakthrough that season.

The fourth season stars “Orange Is the New Black” alum Uzo Aduba as Dr. Brooke Taylor, a mental health professional who, in the trailer for the fourth season, questions how she can support others when she’s struggling with her mental health herself.

Aduba told The Wrap that her performance in “In Treatment” was both challenging and rewarding. “This is easily one of the hardest jobs that I’ve ever had in my life,” she said. “This project came into my life at a time when it was needed, and has brought an excitement and an energy… there’s a thrill.”

You can stream the fourth season of “In Treatment” on HBO Max on May 23 and watch the latest trailer below: