Inside Out—A Major Emotional IQ Picture

Source: Disney/Pixar

“Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?” ~Joy, Inside Out

Source: Disney/Pixar

I’ve never reviewed a film before, which is not surprising since I’m a therapist and all. But after seeing Inside Out with my 13 year old son, I can’t help myself. I was beaming for hours afterward, and my reserved, and sometimes sullen, kid wasn’t far behind.

When it comes to social/emotional intelligence (EQ), I am all in. As a counselor for youth, I firmly believe that EQ is the ticket to emotional wellness and recovery for the majority of stressors. To borrow another celluloid reference, teach them to understand and manage emotions and the kids are all right.

Since teens are concrete, literal thinkers, and digital natives, I’m constantly on the hunt for culturally relevant stories found on social and popular media. Showing a youtube video in session resonates more than lecturing about the importance of getting along with others and being a good sport. Especially when that message blends art and science.

Understanding the connection between our thoughts, feelings and actions is a tough sell because it entails visualizing something as internal and mysterious as the human brain. This is where Inside Out differs from other methods of story-telling, and why it’s so effective.

Balancing Joy and Sadness

Inside Out follows the journey of Riley, an 11 year old girl, as she leaves the comfort of Minnesota—the home of her positive core memories, and moves to San Francisco with her parents. Before we meet Riley as a tween, we glimpse her life via a series of video memories categorized as core memories according to the emotion they represent. The cast of emotions exist in Riley’s head and comprise five universal emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger (a sixth core emotion, Surprise didn’t make the cut).

Joy, the predominant emotion/character, scrambles to provide Riley with enough happy memories daily to bolster resiliency, while keeping the inevitable presence of sadness at bay. While Joy and Sadness wrestle at the helm of Riley's brain, Joy comes to recognize that life is not always a bowl of cherries, and sometimes sadness leads to wisdom and self-preservation.

What We Resist Persists

As Riley transitions into tweenhood, we witness the change for all its age-appropriate angst. Her turmoil is real as she attempts to tolerate the painful roller coaster of more complex emotions and social interactions. A tense argument between Riley and her dad illustrates how quickly anger can escalate. The powerful rush and release of an outburst in the heat of the moment underscores anger's one-dimensional aspect.

The scene’s aftermath leads to perhaps the most powerful lesson: differentiating between “normal” sadness, and the self-destructive behaviors of depression. As Riley boards a bus to run away to Minnesota, her mind turns to gray as rational thought goes out the door. We see her homesickness spiral out of control and get caught in the repetitive cycle of numbness and impulsivity. As Joy works overtime to try and make Riley feel good again, we see how happiness is often best understood in the context of its opposites: anger, sadness, and fear. All feelings go somewhere and when darker emotions are not acknowledged, they cannot be transcended.

Balancing positive and negative emotions is what makes us emotionally agile and resilient. Anger outbursts are often missed signs of depression in youth, who are too easily labeled by parents and school personnel as “hot-headed.”

Navigating the Loss of Childhood

Inside Out provides youth with the language to communicate their stressors as they leave childhood and enter the tween and teen years. In addition to supporting self-awareness, this film provides a whole new generation with the tools for increased understanding and empathy for the new kids on the block.

*****

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Copyright 2015 Linda Esposito, LCSW