INSIDE OUT THE MOVIE PSYCHOLOGY MOVIE

(It looks a little bit like the sprawling Department of Mysteries, from Harry Potter.) Crucially, they're not fixed a visit from Sadness can turn a happy memory sad, an aspect of the film that's been praised by neuroscientists. Inside Out imagines them as color-coded, marble-like spheres maintained in a massive storage facility. 'That's pretty accurate in terms of what you see with depressed pre-teens: social withdrawal, lack of friendships…' Joseph, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with a practice in Manhattan. Given Riley's particular cocktail of feelings, 'I think what the character was trying to portray was what we call Childhood Depression,' said Judith F. 'Not everybody is born with the same control panel as everybody else,' Kalikow said. Kevin Kalikow, a child psychiatrist who (full disclosure) once saw this reporter as a 4- or 5-year-old patient, echoed the point: 'Parents who are always expecting their child to be happy, that's not a helpful perspective.' But he wished the film had more acknowledgment of differing temperaments.

INSIDE OUT THE MOVIE PSYCHOLOGY MOVIE

'Early in the movie-I don't remember the exact quote-but the parents are like, 'Be my strong girl.' So I was taken with the fact that the movie put in the position that sadness is OK and sadness is reasonable to feel.'ĭr. Erica Chin, a clinical psychologist who works in the child and adolescent psychiatry unit of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. 'The thing that it really highlighted was how important emotions are-not just the positive and happy ones,' added Dr. That's what connects us many times to families, to sad events, to friends, to understanding the meaning of empathy.' 'I thought that was a brilliant ending in the movie, to see the importance of having a feeling like Sadness. 'I like the idea that basically Sadness saved the life of this child,' Dr. Several experts emphasized the lesson that plot point contains. Sadness, both a nuisance and a downer, proves its (and her?) worth as the film progresses Joy realizes that Riley can't adequately communicate her mental state without it. 'If a kid is feeling sad or if a kid is acting out and they've seen that movie, I can use that as a reference point.' 'I thought it was helpful in putting feelings into words, for helping kids identify their feelings and start a dialogue about it,' Guthrie told Newsweek. Elisabeth Guthrie, a child psychiatrist who teaches at Columbia University Medical Center, plans to use the film in sessions with children. Those emotions are very difficult for kids to understand.'ĭr. Haddad was struck by the chaotic interplay between Riley's emotional components: 'You can be angry and sad at the same time. Fadi Haddad, who has a practice in Manhattan and opened one of the first child psychiatric emergency rooms in the country. 'I've never seen a movie like this that talks about the brain and the emotional part of the brain in kids,' said Dr. Though defiantly unscientific, Inside Out, it turns out, is filled with genuine insight on child emotional development. So we sent a half-dozen child psychiatrists to the movie (separately), wondering what they'd make of its depiction.

Inside Out is perhaps the only major motion picture ever to deal so directly with the inner workings of a child's mind. The surreal brain landscape (A movie studio for dreams! An island of personality!) and the voice actors (Amy Poehler plays Joy, Mindy Kaling is Disgust) keep the concept from tripping over itself true to emotional form, this little film is joyful and sad and fearful all at once.

There, a team of anthropomorphic emotions-Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear, Sadness-sift through a fantastical memory-storage apparatus and fight to stabilize Riley's mental state.

The bulk of the action takes place in Riley's head, which is not to say that it's from her point of view but that we're physically in her brain. (Warning: More minor spoilers ahead.)Īnd that's pretty much it for primary plot. (Spoiler: So are you.) So she plots a revolt. Riley, our 11-year-old hero, is lovable enough but devastated by her family's business-driven move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Being a kid, specifically-one confronting the confounding barrage of emotions that comes with preadolescence.

So it's striking to realize that Inside Out, the Disney-owned studio's latest work of wonder, is a movie about being human. Pixar, the animation studio that rose to prominence with 1995's beloved Toy Story, has humanized rats, cars, toys, robots, fish and monsters.

Inside out the movie psychology