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hi everyone I'm Kell ooro and this is
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adaptable Behavior explained hi there
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thanks so much for tuning in to
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adaptable today I'm going to talk a
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little bit about the emotions and mental
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health and what we can learn from the
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movie Inside Out after watching inside
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out to I just knew I had to do a show
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about this and so um I think that
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there's so much we can learn and we can
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gain and I'm I couldn't be happier with
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Disney for putting this out do you ever
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look at someone and wonder what is going
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on inside their head did you guys pick
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up on that sure did something's wrong
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we're going to find out what's happening
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and not just part one but part part two
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because it continues to discuss the
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evolution of how our emotions and our
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mental health just are such key factors
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in in the behavior of us as human beings
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and they do a brilliant job with their
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writing having two um renowned
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psychologists on their writing staff to
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make sure they get it right and I was so
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excited about what the movie has done
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not just for society but for as a mental
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health practice uh you know we are able
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to ask our clients to watch the movies
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to help them prepare for starting the
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therapeutic process and the therapeutic
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experience and so I thought I'd bring to
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you some of the the things that I've
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gleaned from watching the show and and
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maybe help you to find more information
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about your own emotional experience and
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your own mental health this is so
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important to me because um like I said
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we use it every day but emotions are the
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building blocks of everything that we've
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ever done and uh it it guides and
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predicts everything that we do as far as
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our Behavior goes and this movie does
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such a brilliant job of discussing that
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Riley I do not like this new attitude oh
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I'll show you attitude over no no no no
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bre what is your problem just leave me
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alone sir reporting high level of SASS
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and so for those of you who haven't seen
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inside out I highly highly recommend it
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but for those who haven't and are
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interested in this anyway uh basically
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inside out for like I said for those who
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are not familiar was a movie from in
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2015 it was animated by Pixar and it it
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takes us viewers Inside the Mind of an
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11-year-old girl named Riley uh the
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story follows her emotions Joy sadness
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disgust I'm Joy this is sadness that's
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anger this is disgust and that's fear
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emotions as they navigate the challenges
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of her family's move from Minnesota to
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San Francisco uh each emotion is
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personified and it operates from
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headquarters the control center in
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Riley's mind the plot centers on Joy and
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sadness accidentally getting lost in the
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vast world of Riley's memories leaving
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anger fear and disgust to manage Riley's
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emotional state as joy and sadness
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Journey back to headquarters they learn
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the importance of all emotions working
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together to help Riley cope with her new
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life uh the film beautifully illustrates
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how emotions are essential for our
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personal growth and our mental health
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and it emphasizes the value of embracing
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all of our feelings not just the
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positive ones but the protective ones
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and so the role of emotions are so
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important and in this movie the the
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emotions Joy sadness anger fear and
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disgust are depicted in this movie um
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and I want to discuss a little bit more
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in depth from Yak pp's view of emotions
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as well as Bernay Brown uh and and her
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view of emotions I have another episode
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on emotions but this one is specifically
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related to uh the Inside Out movie
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sadness is part of the panic and grief
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system which is crucial for social
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bonding and attachment when life gets
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down that's when sadness takes over this
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sadness with a caring touch and a kind
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heart sadness leaps into action to let
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you it signals signals our need for
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comfort and support and it helps people
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to seek connection during distress and
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so when we don't allow for our sadness
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to be to be shown we end up dealing with
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um emotional experiences in in and uh
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being alone and sadness is a natural
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response to loss and disappointment it
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allows us to process our grief and Find
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meaning in our experiences the sadder we
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are when it comes to loss is really just
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the sign of how important something was
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that we don't have anymore and so
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embracing the sadness can lead a greater
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resilience and ultimately
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empathy an example that I want to share
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from the movie Inside Out uh where
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sadness is the hero of the story because
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she cultivates connection is in the
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scene with Bing Bong uh during their
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Adventure Bing Bong becomes really upset
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after realizing he's losing his place in
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Riley's life she matures and she grows
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and so her imaginary life isn't as
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prominent and so while Joy tries to
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distract him from his feelings which
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often times we do in our lives we try to
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get busy doing or paint a a brush of
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Silver Lining it and try to find the joy
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in things uh things tend to perpetuate
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and so sadness takes a different
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approach she listens to Bing Bong
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allowing him to express his emotions and
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to cry it's all I had left of Riley I
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bet you and Riley had great adventures
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oh they were wonderful once we flew back
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in time we had breakfast twice that day
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sadness it sounds amazing I bet Riley
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liked it did oh she did we were best
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sad and this act of empathy helps Bing
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Bong to feel understood and supported
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and allows him to move through the
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sadness that he feels by for no longer
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being the same place in Riley's life as
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he once was and It ultimately helps him
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to kind of grieve the moment and you see
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him kind of and then he's able to move
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on on and so this moment really
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highlights how sadness can foster such a
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deep Connection by validating our
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embracing our emotions rather than
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avoiding them um emotions only stay when
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we try to push them away and this is a
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powerful reminder of the importance of
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all of our emotions in building
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meaningful relationships the next
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emotion that I want to discuss is anger
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I absolutely love anger when things go
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wrong anger is there this is anger he
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will make sure the world knows anger is
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control in this movie I think it does
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such a beautiful job of illustrating the
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importance and so many people are really
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phobic to the emotion anger and anger is
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associated with the rage system and it
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it's activated when a person faces
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frustration or threats and it can
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motivate action to overcome obstacles
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and assert boundaries so uh I think it's
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important to recognize that anger helps
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to keep us safe gives us the uh enough
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power and energy to do something to
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protect ourselves and others from harm
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if we're In Harm's Way and of course we
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don't want to show our anger in uh when
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it's a really intense elevated State
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because our listener will then be
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defensive and they won't be in a place
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where they can listen and hear so we
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need to discharge our anger in a healthy
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way um before we address people but it's
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also a powerful emotion that that leans
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itself towards survival and an an
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example that I love uh in the movie is
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when sadness and Joy are trapped outside
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the window and disgust incites anger to
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give them energy to cut through the
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window and to save them and she
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purposefully ticks him off so that the
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power from the fire can come out of his
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head and she picks him up and and uses
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him to then of course save joy and
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sadness as they're trapped
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outside that worked well what would you
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do if you're so smart I tell you but
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you're too dumb to understand what of
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course your tiny brain is confused
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guess I'll just have to dumb it down to
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your level sorry you don't speak
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as well as you but let me
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try uh anger often masks deeper emotions
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like fear or hurt and understanding and
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expressing anger constructively it can
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lead to healthier relationships and
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ultimately personal growth and so I
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think that people who are phobic of
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anger need to understand that it really
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serves a purpose and it is the only
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emotion powerful enough that gives us
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the adrenal adrenaline we need to save
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ourselves and others from harm the next
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emotion that I'd like to discust is
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disgust sometimes life gets a little
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dirty that's when disgust takes over
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this is disgusted whether advising on
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your social life or On Life's little
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messes discust is there to well it's
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linked to the brain's protective
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mechanisms which helps people avoid
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harmful substances and situations you
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think about the smell of sour food and
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um and how quickly we avert from that
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because it'll make us sick it plays a
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role in maintaining hygiene and and
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social norms as well so something from
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the movie that I really like is Riley
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behaves in a certain way at school and
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disgust is trying to like manage her
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behaviors in a social way so that she
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can make friends and is is really almost
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anxious about her choices so that she
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doesn't do anything that's
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off-putting okay we got a group of cool
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girls at 2:00 how do you know double
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ears pierced infinity scarf wa is she
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wearing ey Shadow yeah we want to be
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friends with them let's go talk to them
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are you kidding we're not talking to
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them we want them to like us oh yeah
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wait what and so disuss can also reflect
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uh moral and ethical boundaries it helps
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us to navigate uh social interactions
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and and maintain personal Integrity over
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our behaviors and and so we want to
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listen to disgust if it's telling us
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something it's probably noteworthy and
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and necessary next we're going to talk
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about fear when the unexpected is
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staring you in the face fear is there to
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keep you safe with speed and wisdom fear
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assesses the situation and settles your
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nerves fear is part of uh it's part of
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the fear system essential for us to
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survive in our lyic system it triggers
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the flight or fight response and It
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prepares our body to respond to Danger
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it can be paralyzing but it's also a
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powerful motivator when we recognize and
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manage our fear it can lead to courage
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and vulnerability and it Fosters deeper
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connections because when we can you know
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when we can show up not just with fear
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but while being brave at the same time
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which I think that people who who are um
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engaging in things that are risky or
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sometimes new there's always fear and
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right beside it uh if we follow through
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is The Bravery that we need to overcome
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those fears and uh in the movie I just
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love fear because it's so hilarious to
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me how you know he's running through
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trying to make sure that Riley doesn't
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get doesn't get hurt but uh when when
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Riley's about to try out for the hockey
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team and her new school fear takes over
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the control panel imagines all the
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possible ways that things could go wrong
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from falling on the ice to being laughed
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at by our new classmates and this scene
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is great because it highlights how
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fear's vigilance helps Riley prepare for
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potential dangers and avoid risky
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situations wait what almost finished
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with a potential disasters where
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scenario is either quick sand
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spontaneous combustion or getting called
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on by the teacher so as long as none of
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those happen okay everybody we have a
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new student in class today are you
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kidding me out of the gates this is not
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happening Riley the constant worry and
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caution might seem excessive at times
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but it does serve an important purpose
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in protecting Riley from harm and
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helping her to navigate new and
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uncertain environments and so we want to
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respect and honor fear's role in our
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lives so long as it doesn't take over
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and and become too big and the next one
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we're going to talk about is joy and
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when I ask my patients who's your
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favorite oftentimes people say Joy is my
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favorite and when I say who's your least
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favorite they say sadness when it comes
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to this movie and I make them rewatch
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the movie and I I say I want you to
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watch it with the uh lens that sadness
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is the hero and I want you to watch how
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you experience yourself in relationship
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to Joy's act or to uh sadnesses actions
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and behaviors and that gives me a lot of
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information about how they understand
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their need to push sadness away and
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their propensity to to Really Want um to
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avoid feelings of sadness and then we
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just talk about how they notice that in
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their body but joy you know the main
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character when everything in your life
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is going your way that's when Joy takes
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control this is Joy with an Unstoppable
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spirit and beatable energy Joy is
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related to the seeking and the play
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systems and it promotes exploration
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creativity social bonding enhances
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overall well-being and resilience and
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joy is profound for the sense of
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connection and fulfillment Yak pinp
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talks about all all things that are
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enjoyed are better enjoyed in connection
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and and um with somebody and so Joy
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often arises from moments of
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authenticity gratitude enriches our
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lives and of course relationships when
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we can share and something that is
13:30
special that we can experience with
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someone else so of course there's many
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many moments of Joy uh influence on
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Riley's emotions but she's always really
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striving to keep Riley happy and um we
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see an example of Joy's importance when
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she helps Riley recall her happy
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memories to lift her spirits and one
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memorable scene is when joy and sadness
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worked together and they're trying to
13:54
retrieve a core memory that had turned
13:57
out sad and then Joy real realizes then
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that sadness is essential for Riley to
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process her emotions and to find true
14:04
happiness not just surface
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sadness Mom and Dad the
14:23
team they came to help because of
14:29
and so this this is one of the most
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pivotal moments is it shows her growth
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Joy's growth and also her understanding
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that happiness isn't just about constant
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positivity but it's also about embracing
14:41
and integrating the other emotions and
14:43
so you see the evolution of Joy's
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character when at the beginning she's
14:47
like you know sadness stay over here in
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the circle we we need you to just you
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know stop touching everything and and
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stop ruining everything and she doesn't
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know what's come over her and she's so
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she's so confused as to why she needs to
14:59
try to go to the control panel and take
15:01
over and it's because Riley really does
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need to exhibit the sadness that she's
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experiencing as a result of having to go
15:08
through this this really um painful move
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and you know I like to talk to my
15:13
clients about when you think about
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Riley's life you know she originally has
15:17
a pretty um for our viewers that aren't
15:20
that aren't too young kind of a Leave it
15:22
to Beaver life you know she's got all of
15:24
our needs met from the from the way we
15:25
see the story she's loved she's nurtured
15:28
she's got connection social supports and
15:30
then it all comes crashing down when she
15:32
has to move and when you think about
15:35
that move as something that really
15:37
really takes Riley to a place of a of a
15:39
fall down moment and you think about
15:41
things that have happened in your life I
15:43
mean it just goes to show our resilience
15:46
because something like a move and having
15:47
to have new friends and a new place is
15:50
so detrimental for her emotional
15:52
well-being and um and we when we reflect
15:55
on our own emotional experiences I think
15:58
it's important to note just how
15:59
resilient we are as humans because most
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of us has gone through way more than
16:03
just a move and and so I love that this
16:06
movie helps us to recognize that
16:09
emotional balance friendships connection
16:12
and Imagination and grief and protection
16:15
are all really essential to The Human
16:17
Experience and so I want to talk a
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little bit about the the other things in
16:22
the movie that are really important to
16:24
note we have the control center or
16:26
headquarters and this is where we're
16:27
going to understand the brain
16:29
the moving van won't be here until
16:31
Thursday you're kidding m
16:34
is is lost you said it would be here
16:38
yesterday I know that's what I said
16:39
that's what they told me they stressed
16:40
out they stressed out what are we going
16:45
do did you how the control center is
16:48
really brain life function and and a few
16:52
parts of the brain just in brief about
16:54
what the control center in the movie is
16:56
trying to um emulate so we've got this
16:58
cerebrum this is the big part of our
17:00
brain that helps us think and move and
17:02
act and feel and it's divided into three
17:05
different areas that handle our specific
17:07
tasks like seeing hearing and speaking
17:09
and then we've got the hypothalamus it's
17:11
a SM smaller part that keeps our body in
17:14
balance by controlling things like
17:15
hunger thirst and temperature our basic
17:18
needs to keep the resilience that we
17:19
need and then we have our brain stem and
17:22
this is the part that keeps you alive by
17:23
controlling basic fun functions like
17:25
breathing heart rate and um and of
17:29
course the lyic system which is the
17:30
emotional Center that plays uh that
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helps you to feel and remember things
17:35
and it includes Parts like the amigdala
17:37
which is our body's alarm s system and
17:40
it handles emotions and then the
17:42
hippocampus which H handles memories and
17:44
so this movie primarily uh talks about
17:47
the lyic system and how all of that
17:49
works but we also have the prefrontal
17:51
cortex and you see this go offline with
17:53
Riley um which is the decision maker
17:56
that helps us plan and solve our
17:58
problems and control our behavior and of
18:00
course these parts all work together to
18:02
help us think feel um and stay alive and
18:06
be in connection with people and they
18:08
make sure our body responds correctly to
18:10
what's happening around us and
18:12
ultimately when we've been traumatized
18:14
like we see in the movie with with her
18:16
move she's got emotions that take over
18:19
her prefrontal cortex and end up driving
18:22
her towards behaviors that aren't really
18:24
in line with her with her values and and
18:27
you can see that it just doesn't take
18:28
that much to to derail her her choices
18:31
so I love that this how this movie
18:33
illustrates you know in a normative way
18:36
when something bad happens to us how we
18:38
can really get thrown off track from
18:40
what's in line with how we are and who
18:42
we really are and so now we're going to
18:44
talk about memory and core memories
18:46
anyway these are Riley's memories and
18:49
they're mostly happy you'll notice not
18:55
brag but the really important ones are
18:59
I don't want to get too technical but
19:00
these are called core memories so
19:03
Riley's memories shape her personality
19:05
and motion emotions in many ways the
19:08
core memories are these important
19:09
memories that end up creating our
19:11
islands of Personality like family
19:14
Island hockey Island which defines who
19:17
Riley is and and it contributes to her
19:20
identity and each core memory Powers a
19:23
different aspect of Riley's personality
19:30
goofball island is my personal favorite
19:32
so these Hallmark moments that happen in
19:35
her life end up fortifying her identity
19:38
and her personality and things that
19:39
really matter to her and they represent
19:42
key parts of her identity and so when
19:44
core memories are lost or changed these
19:47
islands end up crumbling and it shows
19:49
how vital memories are to our
19:51
personality and as an EMDR therapist
19:53
when people come in with um with
19:56
symptoms we address the way memory is
19:59
held maladaptively encoded in our bodies
20:02
and we help to resolve the way they're
20:04
held by allowing us to fully feel an
20:07
emotional experience and so when you
20:10
think about Riley and how she's really
20:12
struggling after for example like the
20:14
hockey game she she was really sad and
20:18
then you see the sadness bring her
20:19
parents into to support her and then you
20:22
also see her team really support her but
20:25
um but how things can get stuck really
20:27
can affect the way that we we think and
20:29
act and it's important that we recognize
20:32
the emotional responses that are
20:34
predicated by the way memory shows up in
20:37
our body and so you you see in the movie
20:39
memories influence how Riley reacts to
20:41
new situations how happy memories help
20:43
her stay positive while sad memories
20:46
make her more empathetic but overall
20:48
memories help her to understand and
20:50
navigate her emotions and ultimately
20:53
shape her into who she is so when you
20:56
think about managing our emot tions we
20:59
want to acknowledge all of our emotions
21:01
and this movie does a great job of
21:03
showing us we when we try to shove
21:04
things away it just gets noisier and
21:07
when she's allowed to show the anger and
21:09
when she's allowed to show the sadness
21:11
that's when she starts to feel better so
21:13
all of expressing all of these emotions
21:16
really helps us to um to move through
21:19
painful experiences and come to the
21:21
other side we want to talk about our
21:23
emotions with someone that we trust so
21:25
that we can process them effectively if
21:27
we are not finding ourselves resolving
21:30
emotional experiences highly recommend
21:33
finding yourself a therapist primarily a
21:35
bottomup therapist like an EMDR
21:37
therapist you can work with memory you
21:39
can work with the emotional experience
21:41
that's not serving you in a way that's
21:43
helpful um we use positive memories and
21:46
we recall happy moments to boost our
21:48
mood during hard times and then
21:50
ultimately we can understand that it's
21:53
it's okay to feel a mix of emotions and
21:56
embrace change and be flexible and
21:58
adaptive especially during significant
22:01
life changes and so I think that this
22:04
movie helps us to normalize that there's
22:06
going to be an array of emotional
22:08
experiences when it comes to a a big
22:11
life change and that if we try to expect
22:13
that we won't have a an array of
22:16
emotions when we're going through
22:17
something that's really unfair um for
22:20
ourselves and we need to give ourselves
22:21
more grace so I want to give you some
22:24
strategies for for emotional balance and
22:26
mental Wellness if you are going going
22:28
through a time of difficulty I mean in
22:31
pretty much every podcast on Mental
22:33
Health you probably hear something about
22:34
mindfulness but it just couldn't be more
22:36
important and more true if we can engage
22:38
in mindfulness specifically a meditation
22:41
or a formal meditation practice to stay
22:43
present and reduce stress we're then
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ultimately just dealing with right now
22:47
we're not dealing with things in the
22:49
past we're not dealing with things that
22:51
that are in our future which is really
22:54
anxiety um we want to try to stay active
22:57
regular physical activity can improve
22:59
our mood and reduce our anxiety and help
23:02
us to deal with stressors it's a way to
23:04
offgas some of the energy that comes
23:06
with with life changes of course doing
23:09
hard things alone is never a good idea
23:11
so we want to build social connections
23:13
maintain strong relationships for
23:15
emotional support and most importantly
23:17
when you're in a hard time this is not
23:19
the time to shut down and go away from
23:21
your support it's the time to reach out
23:23
to the people who've built some trust in
23:25
your life often times we try to take on
23:28
more than we can and we don't set
23:30
appropriate boundaries so we want to
23:31
make sure we're setting boundaries
23:33
learning to say no taking time for
23:36
ourselves and self-care so that we can
23:38
avoid burnout and ultimately running out
23:40
of space we want to engage in creative
23:43
activities we want to use play and
23:46
Imagination like journaling or art to uh
23:49
Express or process our emotions and
23:50
ultimately keep ourselves a little bit
23:53
more balanced so I hope that you found
23:55
this helpful um I just love the movie if
23:58
you haven't haven't seen inside out uh
24:00
it's so great and I will be bringing uh
24:03
inside out to to you shortly as well
24:05
because there's just a variety of
24:07
additional wonderful Concepts that we
24:09
glean from inside out too so thank you
24:12
so much for tuning in I hope that you
24:14
found it helpful and useful and that you
24:16
can take some of the information from
24:18
the movie and apply it to personal
24:20
experiences in your own life and
24:22
ultimately give yourself some Grace if
24:24
you're not managing uh a hard situation
24:27
the way you'd like to seeing that even
24:29
Riley with only something as small as a
24:32
move how much that derails her life and
24:34
how we can have compassion for her in
24:36
the movie um uh for for navigating this
24:39
hard time and we're not judging her so
24:41
let's have some Grace for ourselves so
24:43
thank you so much for tuning in to this
24:45
show uh until we meet again don't forget
24:48
to lead with love it'll never steer you