How Anxiety Nearly Destroyed INSIDE OUT 2

We've all likely seen that Inside Out 2 is in theaters, it's breaking box office records and captivating hearts and emotions across the country. Or perhaps we've seen the original Inside Out and we have Inside Out 2 on our list for the long holiday weekend coming up. I went and saw Inside Out 2 in the theaters and had to create a reacts video to the film, because I had to dive deeper into Anxiety as a therapist. So I created an Inside Out 2 reaction video. If you're unfamiliar, Anxiety is a character in the film voiced by Maya Hawke. As a therapist, I've seen many patients who have struggled with anxiety for much of their life and it's an emotion that continues to drive their life. So how did the creators of Inside Out 2 do in representing this important anxiety emotion? Let's react to this and dive in to find out...

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More on Inside Out 2:
The little voices inside Riley’s head know her inside and out—but next summer, everything changes when Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” introduces a new Emotion: Anxiety. According to director Kelsey Mann, the new character promises to stir things up within headquarters. “Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, might be new to the crew, but she’s not really the type to take a back seat,” said Mann. “That makes a lot of sense if you think about it in terms of what goes on inside all our minds.” A trailer, poster and film stills are now available for what promises to be the feel-good (or feel-everything) film of Summer 2024.

Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone. Maya Hawke lends her voice to Anxiety, alongside Amy Poehler as Joy, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger, Tony Hale as Fear, and Liza Lapira as Disgust. Directed by Kelsey Mann and produced by Mark Nielsen, “Inside Out 2” releases only in theaters Summer 2024.

Chapters:
0:29: Impact of New Emotions on Adolescent Emotional Development in Pixar's Inside Out 2.
4:16: Anxiety attempts to take control by overpowering other emotions, leading to a battle for dominance.
7:34: The devastating impact of anxiety on a character's emotional control and well-being.
11:31: The importance of acknowledging and accepting all emotions, including anxiety, as they serve a purpose in our lives.
15:32: Anxiety causing chaos by repressing memories in the mind, while joy seeks to retrieve the old sense of self.
19:13: Accepting all parts of oneself leads to feeling complete and true self-acceptance.
22:42: Exploration of emotions' complexity and interactions in a powerful representation.

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#insideout #insideout2 #therapistreacts

[kaylasmommy]

I love the way you've explained the movie.

[DorianParpari]

Just took my son and went with friends to see it yesterday. His therapist said it was his homework assignment. Everyone needs to see this film!

[laurendawn]

Anxiety is the only one that comes with baggage, which is such a clever detail! 😊

[SpectrumPOV]

I love how they depicted Anxiety at the control board, where she's moving really fast, but also staying still at the same time.That's how I've felt with my anxiety.

[janetslater]

I flat out cried when Anxiety had the "freeze" stare, and it looked like Anxiety "dissociated" for a moment...like it took a while for Anxiety to "come back" with Joy's help. As someone who has been through trauma, I felt Anxiety so hard right then, and I ended up in tears.

[joshliam]

As someone who's had anxiety my entire life for decades, I thought this movie had one of the best depictions of anxiety I've ever seen. Loved this movie so much.

[beautifulsunset]

The anxiety attack scene was so spot on. The racing around so fast and yet standing so still in the middle, and when Joy steps inside and tries to get her attention gently and Anxiety let's a tear drop 🥺 And then she says she wasn't trying to hurt her, she was trying to protect her...😭 oh man I had to hold it together!

[siriushp]

A clever part I found funny is at the end when joy was taking care of anxiety having her drink tea, the tea was called anxie-TEA. That made me laugh.

[Leoo]

I was so surprised they got the entire psychological portion of it so correct. It was amazing. I'm so used to writers just making up their own fantasy of how they wish things worked, but this time, they were so accurate, and literally everybody can relate to it. And it actually had a HEALTHY message at the end. It was truly amazing. They did such an awesome job with this movie.

[aubreyrose]

I had to explain to my kids why I was crying in the middle of a kids movie. Everything just hit home so hard. Everything I'd been dealing with the past few years perfectly laid out and all my emotions just can spilling out right there in the theater.

[tmell]

I like how in the end scenes in the mom’s brain, her Sadness says, ‘welcome back anxiety’ when she realizes that Riley is hitting puberty. As a mom of a 13 year old I totally felt that - like the mom worked hard to either get rid of her anxiety or regulate it and when her daughter hits all these emotions and she’s trying to help navigate and guide her through it, her anxiety returns.

[Beautifullyaberrant]

When anxiety started to panic my eyes couldn’t help but well up. I’ve never seen such an accurate symbolic imagery.

[Julesb]

I loved when anxiety was told "you don't get to decide who she is "

[zairi]

Something that really resonated with me was the literal flood of suppressed memories during the panic attack. When I was younger and didn't know how to manage anxiety, I used to almost consciously grasp at these suppressed memories like my brain was trying to justify my low self worth. I'm in awe of how Pixar explores these mental health concepts and encapsulates them so clearly.

[SurferJoe]

A lot of these animators are old friends, colleagues, and classmates of mine, and I know how hard they work to do their homework and get the big things and the little things right. Pixar does a lot of consulting with professionals on things like this, and I'm glad to hear that it shows. They would be extremely proud to get a good grade from Kati Morton.

[misopeachy]

I have GAD and saw the movie recently, that panic attack scene with Anxiety stuck and tearing up to then say she was just trying to help Riley made my eyes well up because of how relatable it was. The sense of self saying "I'm not good enough" resonated with me a lot.

[Luiseut]

Anxiety also made Reiley a people pleaser and I believe the only thing that could stop that was a strong sense of self. That's why anxiety got rid of that as soon as she could.

[tourmalinestar]

My take on the parents' driving emotions is this. Anger can be tied to protectiveness, in the way a father is traditionally alert for threats to the family. Sadness is tied to empathy, in the way that a mother is traditionally always alert to her family's emotional needs. My kids and I talked about it and that's what we think about that little tidbit, anyway.

[pixelpup]

I read someones comment from somewhere else where they brought up how in the first movie at the end Joy told Sadness that "Riley needs you", where in the second movie Sadness told Joy "Riley wants you". I think it shows how as we mature and grow our emotions dont control us anymore, rather we control our emotions and make decisions based on our sense of self that we have developed. I also liked how when anxiety tried to force Riley to abandon her friends at first Riley actually refused to do it because her sense of self was "Im a good person" and "im a good friend" and Joy even stated that Riley wouldnt do that because thats not who she is. This movie was great I could talk about it for hours 😅

[jasmynenatasha]

Lost my mother in late March this year on Easter weekend, watched her go through hospice care. Hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. When Joy told Sadness “Remember Sadness anywhere I go you can go too” I teared up. That’s grief.