INSIDE OUT 2 psychology explained by therapist

Oh no, what do I pin as a comment when there isn't a sponsor in the video? Uhhh, here's the link to the video on the first film: https://youtu.be/IIVC0NFDEq8

Is it a perfect metaphor? No, but my 10yo daughter with clinical anxiety and level 1 (minimal intervention) autism reached for my hand while tears flowed down her cheeks, and we cried together. It is a beautiful, simple depiction of what anxiety feels like, especially to a child who is in the midst of figuring out who she is.

I thought this movie had the most accurate depiction of anxiety I've ever seen. Adored this film.

I dont think the message of the movie is "be true to yourself", i think its more like "your sense of self is going to be complex and self acceptance will help make the best of moving through the world". Key words, complex and self acceptance. It builds on the message of the first Inside Out where they crack the facade that only relying on Joy as the backbone and primary emotion doesnt always lead to the best outcomes for Riley. In Inside Out 2, even though Joy has integrated with Sadness, everyone still leans on Joy as the leader at the start of the movie. I LOVED the scene where Joy talks about the pressure of always being the leader, and essentially revisiting that conversation about toxic positivity.

Obviously some people won’t get it but as someone with an anxiety disorder i really liked the joke they made where joy says when they get back to the headquarters they should tell anxiety to relax, and how she probably didn’t think of that one yet, to which the other emotions react by agreeing and thinking its a genius idea. It’s ironic how many people genuinely think saying that to someone struggling with anxiety will somehow “cure” them, even if they don’t know any better

“Chucking all the bad stuff away, trying to focus only on the good experiences means that all the bad memories are floating around unprocessed and not acknowledge but still there. And because they are suppressed and avoided it makes them doubly scary and doubly impactful. They feel like a threat to your sense of self- I am a good person but only if I hold everything else at bay, and knowing I’m holding it at bay makes me feel like I’m not a good person at all.” Holy shit you have no idea how hard that hit me.

As someone who suffers from anxiety and depression, I spent a good chunk of this movie crying uncontrollably during Joy's breakdowns and the panic attack scene. It was like looking into a mirror of my own experiences.

To me, the moral of the movie is every emotion has a function but not every emotion is helpful to lean into at every moment. They also did a good job of showing why it’s not helpful to just suppress unpleasant memories. That was an interesting nuance that I enjoyed

Coming from someone who's a child therapist as well: I think you nailed it with the idea of anxiety appearing because of the repressed memories. That was exactly my thought when she first appeared and I was a little surprised they didn't explain in the movie that was the reason she did. Overal I think these movies are a blessing for us therapists because they offer such a good simplified visualization of such complex subjects. I've learned that these help immensely in making children and parents understand themselves and their actions. The key is not to explain things perfectly or as thorough as you can, but to explain it in a way that people grasp the basic concept and can work with it. These movies do that exceptionally.

I’ll say as someone who’s always struggled to feel happy, Joy’s breakdown in this film didn’t hit me super hard. But I completely agree the moment in this movie that shocked me with its accuracy was that first “I’m not good enough” because, man, I think everyone has heard that voice before, and the desperation and dread in the voice actress delivering it was very well done. I also greatly appreciated that rather than anxiety being contained or otherwise punished. That single tear when she’s frozen at the controls, eyes completely locked until Joy calls her attention again, that’s so, so real, even if on the surface you don’t express it that way.

As someone who’s experienced both unhelpful phrasings, Joy memeing about telling Anxiety to “just stop worrying so much” and then the actual solution being Joy telling Anxiety to “let go” was both infuriating and hilarious that that was the actual solution.

I’m struggling through severe anxiety right now. Every other thought I have is a scary one. You telling me that it’s okay to not be able to handle it made me cry with relief.

I just realized, and this makes me love the inside out movies even more! The first movie that was about sadness made you sad and happy just like they did to Riley. In inside out two, which is a movie about anxiety is a tense movie! We are made to feel what Riley feels! 😭

I think it’s a pretty good representation of cognitive dissonance in the scene on the ice when she has to pick teams. Does a good job of showing the discomfort that comes with dissonance. I also think the parallels between sadness and embarrassment and fear and anxiety were cool

I love inside out 2 more than the first movie. It made me more connected to my anxiety. I have GAD I used to do all the things you say make anxiety worse. I would try to suppress her and try to be happy. When she was trying to tell me something. I wouldn’t listen because it scared me to think about what she said. Then I saw a ted talk about how anxiety is an emotion like happiness and it won’t last forever, and to let her steer the boat for a little. ( his words ) From then on I basically comforted my own anxiety instead of ignoring her, and whenever I got super anxious I would just imagine me talking to my anxiety like I was talking to a scared child. Then inside out 2 comes along and it just solidified everything all of my beliefs and made it easier for me to appreciate my anxiety. I related so unbelievably hard to the movie! Ps, I personified my anxiety before inside out 2 came out. His name is Bruno like Bruno from Encanto because “we don’t talk about Bruno” and I didn’t talk about my anxiety. Get it? I thought that was funny and clever. He is lavender and he is a sheep child in pj’s holding a stuffed animal because stuffed animals help me feel better when I’m scared. He is a sheep because it’s a stereotype that sheep’s are meek scared little creatures, and they always hide in a heard which to me symbolizes the fear of being alone and the struggle to “fit in”

I had hoped when Sadness got to headquarters the new emotions would adopt her as their own. That would’ve felt very true to my experience 😂

I liked your final comment. Supressed memories made anxiety appear. That would indeed have been an interesting way to approach this.

I was SO annoyed with Anxiety taking control over all of Riley's actions, until the panic attack scene where Joy realized Anxiety is OUT of control. They did such a good way of portraying it tbh. Sometimes it's like that, you just gotta be easy on yourself and not let anxiety rule the mind even though it's gonna stick around. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's harder.

I actually liked this movie more than the first one, but I think part of that has to do with my frame of mind now verses 8 years ago when the first came out. The way this film depicts anxiety though? Incredible. Between this and the panic attack scenes on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, I feel like I now have a great visual representation to point to to help people understand what I go through. I'm 43, finally accurately diagnosed Autistic and ADHD at 40 after years of wrong diagnoses (depression, OCD, etc). Almost every Tuesday my mom and my brother and I meet up and go see a movie, it's almost a tradition at this point, and this last Tuesday we saw Inside Out 2. My mom struggles to understand and relate to my experience of the world (as far as we can tell she seems to be neurotypical, where my dad was clearly autistic in hindsight). Being able to turn to her and say "that moment when anxiety starts spinning around in a whirlwind and loses control, that's my brain 2-3 times a day on a good day" it felt like she finally had some idea of what I deal with regularly. Crazy to think an animated movie can help a 70 year old mom better understand her 43 year old son, but there ya go. She recognized Riley's panic attack right away because she's seen me go through that, spiralling out of control trying to make sense of the current moment. That's what I love about movies, they often create moments that can help us better communicate ideas to one another by sharing a reference. I'm sure the next time I call my mom in the middle of the night spiraling out of control from a hurricane of thoughts I can say "remember that scene in Inside Out 2..." And it'll be a shorthand to get to a solution faster, even if that solution is as simple as reminding me to breath. The trauma, PTSD, and anxiety that come from a way-too-late diagnosis are real and strong, but any time I can point to a scene in a movie to help someone better understand what I'm going through in a moment, it is a gift. Its often one of the best communication tools we have because we don't all have the same experiences, but we often do see all the same movies. Using movies to create metaphors is how I got through many of those years before being correctly diagnosed. So yep, I like Inside Out 2 more than the first one, but I'm biased.

in terms of movie, i prefer the 1st one. but in terms of whats portrait on screen, this one takes the cake by a mile. the moment i saw anxiety's whirlwind and than total paralysis at the same time Riley was breathing hard and clutching her chest it brought me back to my own panic attacks...it was the exact same and, for me at least, the first time i actually saw that from the outside insteatd of feeling it myself. perfect, excellent depiction of it. by the way, love your videos! keep up the awesome work! <3