The Pitt’s latest cliffhanger hit close to home for Fiona Dourif.

The hit Max medical drama isn’t afraid to be brutally honest in its realistic portrayals of medical emergencies and the stigmas people face when it comes to their past, weight, race and gender. In the April 3 episode, titled “8:00 P.M.,” Dourif’s character, Dr. Cassie McKay, was confronted with the consequences of her recent actions.

In the previous episode, McKay tempered with her ankle monitor — which she seemingly got after an argument with her ex’s girlfriend — when it started beeping as she was busy treating victims of a mass casualty event. The situation came to a climax at the end of the April 3 episode when the doctor and caring mother gets arrested by cops who show up at her workplace due to her violating the conditions of her probation.

Dourif, 43, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she had a strong reaction to reading that scene in the script as it reminded her of a bumpy experience she had as a teenager.

“I think I said, ‘Oh, goody. Oh, goody,’ ” the actress recalls. “I get to experience all this humiliation, because that ultimately is what it is. Some feeling of acute humiliation and frustration, and fear.”

As for being chosen to lead one of the show’s signature cliffhangers, she adds, “It’s a juicy, wonderful thing that you don’t get to do all the time.”

Dourif explains that she channeled her own emotions for the scene due to a personal experience, saying, “I was arrested briefly in my teens and sort of remember it. So, I was like, ‘Oh, well, at least that comes into handy finally.'” Ultimately, the scene left her feeling like, “I got it. I know what this is.”

McKay also faced another harrowing moment in the episode. When the cops announce that they have arrested the shooter of the music festival shooting, she realizes that her premonitions about a patient’s troubled teenage son, David, were wrong. Now, her and supervising attendant Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) find themselves back at odds after he reminds her that he warned her not to get police involved until they have more information.

Being concerned for the safety of those on David’s alleged “hit list,” McKay had already called the cops and the boy was taken in as a suspect.

“I think she is full of doubt,” Dourif says of her character’s conversation with David. “She just doesn’t know if she made the right choice and knows, considering the risks of the situation, if she were to go back, she would make the same choice. But I think there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

The True Blood alum notes that her character’s strong reaction to David may go deeper than what is on the surface. She says, “The thing about David is, I think she sees a version of herself when she was younger, or what could happen with her son. That could happen with anybody, really. You can make a series of bad choices and not come back from it.”

She continues, “McKay is somebody who made a lot of bad choices in her life, but was able to claw her way back, and she just wants the same for the kid or to save him some suffering.”

The scenes in the episode revolving around David were difficult to film, according to Dourif. “Watching him scream for his mother hit really hard,” she says. “It was quite emotional to film also.”

Jackson Kelly — who plays David — is a Chucky alum appeared alongside the actress’ dad, Brad Dourif, who also guest starred on The Pitt episode. She previously worked with Kelly on the horror franchise series, where she played a younger version of her dad’s infamous serial killer character.

“There was a beautiful reunion when he was cast. Actually, we texted,” Dourif says of Kelly. “I think he’s a really wonderful actor. He’s incredibly loose and malleable, and unpredictable. I certainly felt both protective of him and sometimes scared of him. He plays a really dynamic character.”

The Pitt airs its season finale on April 10 at 9 p.m. ET on Max.