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Disney Pixar InsideOut emotions

5 Mental Health Takeaways from Disney Pixar’s Inside Out

As far back as I can remember I’ve been fascinated with how the mind works. In high school I wrote an essay on the subconscious and later I earned a degree in psychology in college (though I never made a career out of it).

More recently, I started practicing yoga and meditation, as ways to bring the subconscious up to the conscious level on an ongoing basis.

And even MORE recently, as part of my interest in trauma work in the realm of adoption, I’ve begun a year-long self-study of DBT — Dialectical Behavior Therapy. When I read (in either The Atlantic or People — I always get them confused) that Disney Pixar was about to release Inside Out, I did a double-take. Hey — that’s DBT in Buzz Lightyear style!

Based in Headquarters, the control center inside 11-year-old Riley’s mind, five Emotions are hard at work, led by lighthearted optimist Joy (voice of Amy Poehler), whose mission is to make sure Riley stays happy. Fear (voice of Bill Hader) heads up safety, Anger (voice of Lewis Black) ensures all is fair and Disgust (voice of Mindy Kaling) prevents Riley from getting poisoned—both physically and socially. Sadness (voice of Phyllis Smith) isn’t exactly sure what her role is, and frankly, neither is anyone else. — Disney Pixar

My family attended a pre-screening the other night (disclosure: we were guests at the theater). Each of us loved the movie, for different reasons. Reed liked it for the cartoon-y feel, bright colors, and fast pace. Tessa liked it for pulling on her heartstrings. Roger liked it for the multi-layered humor that Pixar is so good at (as in virtually any episode of The Simpson, there is in-your-face kid humor alongside more subtle adult humor).

I liked the film because it takes Dialectical Behavior Therapy from flat words and theories into dimensional images and a narrative. Along with basic tenets of attachment parenting, here are my takeaways (which will make sense even if you’ve never heard of DBT).

Disney Pixar InsideOut emotions

1. Every emotion has a purpose. None are “bad,” though some could be overused or neglected/repressed. Part of the journey within the film involves finding the purpose for sadness. It highlighted for me how much emphasis many of us put into NOT feeling sad.

disney pixar's inside out sadness

2. Relationships are key. Relationships allow for connection. Connection allows for resilience. Connection is required before claims can be made on a relationships. Before you correct, connect — as one of my tutors is fond of saying. When dealing with a traumatized kiddo like Riley (her trauma was being uprooted by a life she loved in Minnesota when her family moves to San Francisco), the connection with her parents must be perceived by her before requests of her can be entertained.

disney pixar's inside out relationships

3a. Play builds connection…Inside Out portrays each of Riley’s memories as a large glowing pearl. Memories that have great significance or are oft-repeated are called core memories. Joy explains in the clip above that “each core memory powers a different aspect of Riley’s personality, like my personal favorite, Goofball Island.

Courtesy Goofball Island, many of Riley’s core memories reflect her family’s silliness: food served in a zooming airplane spoon; undies worn on the head;  nekkid toddler Riley shaking her patooty to the sheer glee of her parents.

Riley’s core memories show strong connection within her family, which won’t prevent tough times but will make recovery easier when she encounters them.

disney pixar's inside out play

3b. …and we should invest in connection. The steady building of Goofball Island, Family Island, Friend Island and the other foundations are necessary for Riley to weather emotions she experiences due to stress-inducing events in her life.

Though in my home we are past the zooming airplane spoon and nekkid toddler patooty stages, we can still invest in Family and Goofball Island infrastructure through games and giggles like jumping rope, getting out the Twister mat, playing charades, bouncing on the trampoline.

4. Simply abide. We in the ALI (adoption/loss/infertility) community have a tradition of abiding with someone who is enduring a loss or facing a fear. We don’t dismiss the emotions (“it’ll all be OK”) or tell someone to “get over it.” We don’t avoid tough emotions. We sit with a person while she feeeeeeels it. We walk alongside.

Riley is able to fall back on core memories of being abided with as she deals with her losses and fears. Surprisingly, Sadness plays a key role here, especially when Riley is allowed to feeeeeel sadness and is supported while doing so.

disney pixar's inside out school

5. Becoming your own observer is one way to be mindful. I vaguely remember a similarly-themed FOX-TV series in the early 1990s called Herman’s Head. Perhaps turning our emotions into their own entities is an effective mindfulness technique because it turns us into our own observer even as we are also the observed. That helps us retain a rational element while also being intensely emotional. What would it be like to observe yourself in a moment of highly-charged emotion and lend a color, a name, a personality to that emotion? Would that make it easier to stay in control of the emotion rather than allow the emotion to control you?

disney pixar's inside out anger

Inside Out by Disney•Pixar is a movie my whole family recommends. If you see it, come back and tell me what you think of it.

Addison Cooper has reviewed this film also. Check out what he has to say on Adoption at the Movies.

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Lori Holden's book coverLori Holden, mom of a teen son and a teen daughter, blogs from Denver. Her book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole, is available through your favorite online bookseller and makes a thoughtful anytime gift for the adoptive families in your life.

14 Responses

  1. Oh, yes, yes, yes to point one. I found it interesting that Joy sort of ran the control panel and all the other emotions in the room deferred to her. In fact, they didn’t know how to function without her. What does that say about us? That we are so focused on keeping joy at the helm that we don’t leave room to deal with other emotions except in tiny amounts when it benefits us.

    1. I look at my dog, who has a much smaller repertoire and range of emotions, and see why being human is so hard. We don’t really want to feel all of them, except, as you say, in small measure when there’s a benefit.

      Why are we so afraid of feeling our emotions?

  2. Great post Lori. I cried a few time throughout this movie. The similarities between Riley and my older daughter surprised me. But it gave me some good insight into what she may be feeling at 11 and having lived through not one but two moves across state lines over the last three years.
    I love your use of the word “abide.” Such a solid piece of advice. We may not always know what to say, but to just abide with someone and be there for them can sometimes make all the difference.

  3. Great post! Sam & I saw the movie this afternoon, and loved it (although I think it should come with a Kleenex advisory). (My own post to come.) I thought of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book “Bright-Sided” and how our society is like Joy, frantically insisting we stay upbeat in the face of adversity — when all we really want sometimes is to sit with our Sadness for awhile and have people respect our need to do that.

  4. I love your review. It sounds so refreshing that a movie – for children no less – isn’t just brushing our emotions under the carpet, or resorting to cliches.

    I love your summary points too. I don’t know how many times I’ve said to people who are grieving loss that they’ll feel how they feel, and that’s okay. I love too the “become your own observer” advice. That’s certainly worked for me.

    Thinking I’m going to have to see this. Though wondering how I’ll convince my husband to see it with me!

    Off to read more about DBT

  5. Took I. to see the movie on Saturday. Forgot my Kleenex.

    I was grateful for the opportunity to talk about Sadness, about how all of the emotions are important … and it made me feel better about parenting, too … sometimes I feel a little like Joy at the helm, trying to keep things happy, even as much as I understand (from my own experience) how all of our emotions play a role in the (colorful) people we become. I love that moment when Joy discovers that the happy memory COMES from a sad one … that they are two sides of the same memory. Both of which are about being connected and loved. 🙂

  6. My husband insisted on seeing the flick, and I’m glad he did. I thought…. Well, there were lots of things I found interesting, including the real purpose of Sadness, which is how we process loss – a part of living. I also thought it was interesting that Mom’s Headquarters was led by her sadness character and Dad’s by anger. I also loved the Puberty button. Can you spell s-e-q-u-e-l?

  7. I haven’t seen this…I am woefully behind on my movies. I am not sure my little guys would not absorb things to this level at almost-six but I think I would probably get a lot out of it.

    Thanks for linking up!!!

  8. LOVED this move. Just loved it. I think it’s the first kids movie in awhile that I absolutely adored. I’ve actually been meaning to grab a copy at Target now that it’s out on video. I was so amazed at how many powerful conversations the film ignited between me and my kids. And as you said, I LOVED that each emotion was valued, including sadness!

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