To have slight concerns about Inside Out 2

[Rainallnight]

We loved Inside Out. DC are 8 and 6. 8 year old is v emotional (this is relevant).

I’ve seen a trailer for Inside Out 2, and I’m a bit concerned about the Anxiety character. I’m not keen on the current tendency to label normal worries and discomfort as ‘anxiety’, and it’s not really an idea I want to introduce to the DC (DD in particular).

What do other people think? Anyone else share my mild concern?

(NB I’ve deliberately not posted this in AIBU because I’m up for a chat about this not a big row. Thanks)

With my DD (diagnosed GAD see above), we are quite happy to help her distinguish normal worry/being anxious from her anxiety.
eg worried about exams or granny's operation = normal, anxiety about a dog touching non existent remnants of toothpaste on her hands that may have come from non existent toothpaste round her mouth = her anxiety.
I'd better book the film.

I saw it yesterday and found it really good. It teaches us how all emotions are valid and we don’t have to suppress them but deal with them.

Anxiety is the part of the brain where worry comes from. Anxiety deals with consequences to decisions, responsibilities etc. Worry is when we feel there will be a negative outcome to an event or decision.

They don’t make Anxiety into a disorder in the same way they don’t make Sadness into depression
Exactly this. Riley feels anxious about a specific thing she is trying to achieve and about how her life will change going to High School. All totally normal to he a bit worried about these things. It doesn't suggested she is suffering with Anxiety as a disorder.

The overall message is that all kinds of emotions make us who we are and trying to suppress "bad" memories is a bad idea.

@PandaRosie I find it hard to believe you have never experienced an anxious feeling. It can be a fleeting feeling not an overpowering emotion. You couldn't possibly be on time everywhere or organise things without a little bit of it. That's what the character anxiety says he is doing at first, he is protecting Riley by thinking of options and solutions.

I don't think I am anxious but yesterday for example I was driving DD and 2 friends to an event on a remote road I don't know well. At one point I realised I didn't recognise where I was and thought I had taken a wrong turn. I quickly began to calculate when did I last see a familiar junction so i could return there. I looked for a place to pull over to check my map. I decided i could C to tell everyone we are running late. I calculated how long we needed to catch up. I wondered if we were out of signal. While having these thoughts my tummy tightened a little and I became extremely alert, the kids singing in the back felt too loud. Then I saw something familiar and realised I was OK after all and all those feelings went away, this all happened in about two minutes. I would think this is a healthy example of an anxious feeling working, had I been on the wrong road i would continue blindly with no thought of solution and DD would be late and upset.

If the film can reach a few people on the level that is reached @Heavymetaldetector then that's an amazing and something to be applauded.

I don't think that pretending it doesn't exist is the issue. By continually talking about it, children are more likely to think they have an anxiety disorder rather than merely worrying. I don't think this is helpful. I am a teacher and there has been a big increase in children making anxiety a big part of their identity and it affecting what they feel they can do everyday. It's definitely a problem.

I am a teacher too. What we are discussing here is whether the film discusses anxiety appropriately and I feel it does and helps to show that it is a part of all us but MUST NOT become your identity, which for me it did, because I had absolutely ZERO awareness of what normal, healthy anxiety is. And I didn't realise how unbelievably anxious my parents are, and how that affected the way they treated me, and if they had been able to have a healthy conversation around anxiety maybe they wouldn't be the nervous wrecks they are now, but who at the same time think they have no mental health issues and how its all nonsense and "people didn't have them in my day we got on with it" sort of attitude.

The rise in children using an anxiety as something to define themselves is a separate issue, as I've said. That is also harmful. But this discussion is around whether exposing children to Inside Out 2 will lead to children thinking they have anxiety problems and my argument is no, absolutely not, rather it will help to avoid that. And how I wish I had had it explained to me as a child in the way it does in the film.

This kind of speech reminds me to those that are against lessons related with sexuality or lgbt. Just because we expose our children to these lessons we are not forcing them to sexual relations nor to being gay or lesbian. Normalising anxiety is not forcing kids to have it but making those kids that are anxious feel that their emotion is valid and that if they need help it’s ok to speak up.

children taking anxiety as part of their identity -> that’s where we as adults have to help them. Support them with what is making them anxious and how can the worry be addressed. Just by ignoring it we won’t make things better

I watched it yesterday and it is the best thing Pixar have ever done. It is so good at helping to understand the purpose of anxiety and how to not let it take hold. Absolutely fantastic film. I totally recommend it - especially if you have children around that age.

What a ridiculous and frankly insulting analogy. Have you not heard of social contagion? Do you realise that mental health problems increase if they are used as a narrative point in a soap opera, for example? I'm not saying ignore anxiety at all, but I have seen the effects of talking about it too much (and in the wrong way) in the mainstream and the harm it can cause. Btw what possible reason do you have for suggesting this has anything in common with sex education? Unbelievable. For the record, before becoming a teacher I worked in mental health in the NHS ...and I have been diagnosed with GAD. What's your background?

With the film, Riley has normal anxiety which everyone experiences, not what could be described as an anxiety disorder.

She does experience the beginnings of panic attack at one point because she is putting herself under too much pressure and doesn’t want to feel vulnerable, but it seems justified in the circumstances.

I know there are a lot of things on social media now which do seem to be spreading a social contagion of certifiable disorders, but this movie is part of the solution, not the problem. It’s great for parents who are worried about this very thing.

It’s an interesting point. For me “I have anxiety” clearly sounds more medical it’s like “I have hay fever” or “I have arthritis “. whereas “I am worried” is a very different language structure, more like “ I’m laughing/ sleeping/ eating/ running” which sounds more mundane.
We are hoping to see it next week, probably need to rewatch Inside out 1 beforehand .

I have always said ‘I feel anxious about this exam’ or whatever.

There are parents that don’t want their kids to be exposed to some topics because they say we are forcing them to behave in a certain way or to do things they don’t want to.

i don’t believe that talking about anxiety increases the number of those suffering from it. I do believe that talking about anxiety increases the numbers of those that suffer from it and talk about it. I’d rather if a teenager is dealing with anxiety they know they can talk with relatives or with teachers. I’d prefer it over our teenagers feeling they have to keep it quiet.

if the only reason preventing some watching IO2 is because of this character is because of anxiety then it’s a shame but it’s their decision. I’m trying to teach my son that all emotions are valid and that I’m here to hear him when he doesn’t know how to deal with any of them (remember that anxiety is not the only character in the movie, there are many other)

Even if young people can't relate to the experience directly, they'll probably know someone who does suffer with overwhelming feelings- this is another way to look at the film. The two friends in the movie, for example, don't react to the situation they go into in the same way as Riley.

I think it's a brilliant way to help contextualise emotions and the changes at different points in development. The fact the brain was under construction/ a mess was spot on!

There is a tendency at the moment for some children to do this:

I feel a thing > I self diagnose with a disorder based on that thing > I can't do perfectly normal things because of this.

Whether it's anxiety, ADHD, depression their identity becomes the disorder and they block themselves from doing things as a result. DD has diagnosed ADHD but the message here is 'it's a reason, not an excuse'. So many of her friends can't do so many things based on their self-diagnoses. It's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of doing the things which make them worried or are hard, which helps.

And in later teens they are all medicating with cannabis. Which is causing more issues.

We went to watch the movie on Friday and this is the EXACT message 😊

@EasterIssland You still didn’t explain what your background is and why you thought it was appropriate to equate my cautionary approach to discussing anxiety with not wanting to have sex education in schools. You may be trying to teach your child that all emotions are valid, but at the same time it seems you are having difficulties in understanding that just because someone doesn’t have the same opinion as you, it doesn’t mean they are a bigot.

Remember Butlins used to have a mascot called anxious the elephant? Parents went crazy when she was changed....

Sorry, very off topic.

In general I agree that mental health issues are given too much prominence in schools and are over-normalised. But in the film Anxiety is clearly portrayed as an emotion which has its place but shouldn't drive your behaviour. I can't see how it would be problematic for children of the target age. My 7 year old enjoyed it and we had a good discussion about the message of the film.

Completely agree that there is a lot of confusion and misuse over anxiety and we need more vocab around this issue. A family member had anxiety. It was horrific and debilitating and she couldn't do anything, even things she desperately wanted to. Like many mental illnesses, it is a sliding scale and I don't want to dismiss people who have milder but still difficult anxiety.

However, I really object to, 'I can't because of anxiety' used in a weaponised way when what they mean is 'I don't want to do this because it's difficult, makes me nervous, I'm worried about it.' which is normal and should be supported but is not anxiety.

I'm very worried, stressed, overwhelmed and anxious about certain life situations. I do not have anxiety as its situational. There's not a huge amount of resilience around.

I don’t have to explain my background to strangers in order to give my opinion .

Exactly this @MrsTerryPratchett.

Haven't seen the film so can't comment but that's what the researcher at Oxford is looking at. She's not dismissing the importance of professional diagnosis and support when needed.

She herself had anxiety as a teen. It's a fine balance, the communication about mental health.

There's been another article in the guardian recently too about how that mental illness has been described as a physical difference in the brain which then meds help with, which leads to the assumption that it's permanent. Which often isn't true for many conditions such as anxiety and even ocd, which the author herself had.

www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/13/i-was-the-poster-girl-for-ocd-then-i-began-to-question-everything-id-been-told-about-mental-illness

@EasterIssland No, you don't but when your opinion is to attack another poster's opinion, it's good manners to at least explain the reason why you think that's appropriate. But I don't want to derail the thread which has been very interesting.

Well I was born in the 70s and we aren't all off out now killing people because that's been the main thing with soap opera's since that time !

People need to be talking about it with their teens these days , theres so much sm influence through tiktok etc, not soap operas, how many teens do you actually think watch that crap these days?

An awful lot of teens need to know that not everything is great, straightforward and happy happy. It's OK to be nervous or a bit anxious in certain situations. It's totally normal and we work through it