Inside Out

Thoughts on Pixar's Inside Out? We all face situations like surviving on broccoli pizza, loosing a moving van and living in a house where rats go to die but we don't loose our personality in the process. If one of our emotions is the ultimate control freak, maybe.

Supposedly this movie explains neuroscience in a way kids can understand; I don't know of a situation in which a person looses their personality. Splitting a personality I can relate to. Loosing our personality? No.

Jeanette Isabelle

I've known mentally ill people who lost their personalities. I know what it takes to get a court to order an involuntary commitment of a loved one.

I've also seen dissociative-type disorder behavior from teenagers going through crisis.

My neuroscience degree seems to not actually exist, so I wouldn't feel good about critiquing the movie from that perspective. I will say that it spurred some good conversations between me and my recombinant DNA.

Dissociative behavior does not describe what we've seen in the movie.

Jeanette Isabelle

I seem to recall that Riley showed some dissociative symptoms especially around a lack of feeling regarding what's going on around her.

Riley did display a symptom of disassociation; what she had was not disassociation.

Edit: Disassociation and what Riley experienced are both personality disorders.

Jeanette Isabelle

All I can say is that Inside Out made me cry like a little girl!

I cry every time I watch that movie.

Jeanette Isabelle

I have not seen this flick. Not likely to, given that it evidently is not a musical comedy

There are comic relief scenes like Fear having dream duty; there's no music.

Jeanette Isabelle

Me too, Phaedrus! We've watched it several times here, and I really enjoy it. It reminded me a lot of a sort of similar experience when I was about 13. Big move across the country, lost belongings, the challenge of trying to fit in, having a family who loved and supported me but who I thought didn't understand.... I was lost for while.

The movie takes it all to an extreme, but exaggeration is popular in movies, especially kids movies. It did a great job and helping my kids understand emotions and how easy it can be to jostle your own or someone else's emotional roller coaster, and how hard it can be to control once it's rolling.

FWIW....(not to doubt Riley) dissociation is not a personality disorder. Dissociation is the name given to a symptom: disconnecting from one's thoughts, feelings, memories or sense of identity....usually triggered by anxiety/trauma. This symptom can appear in Dissociative Identity Disorder (used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder), Dissociative Amnesia and Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder. Those three disorders are not considered personality disorders, and for reasons too involved to mention here... there is no longer a classification for a Personality Disorder based on Dissociation. Dissociation (the symptom, not the "disorder") can be seen in several psychological conditions.
just my $0.02

Point. Disassociation can either be a symptom or a "disorder" such as Dissociative Identity Disorder or Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.

Multiple Personality is what it was called but that label is a misnomer. Split Personality is more accurate given that it describes what happens. A person does not receive a second personality from thin air. Instead the personality that the person does have splits into two or more partial personalities. These partial personalities (if put together) equal one complete personality.

The classification must then have changed since 2005. At least then it was classified as a personality disorder because it affects the personality.

Jeanette Isabelle

"Multiple Personality is what it was called but that label is a misnomer. Split Personality is more accurate given that it describes what happens. A person does not receive a second personality from thin air. Instead the personality that the person does have splits into two or more partial personalities."
I wouldn't say that. The vast majority of mental health professionals never see anyone with this disorder... and in fact some don't agree that the disorder is involuntary. BUT, for the "believers," I've never seen the distinction described the way you described it. The diagnostic criteria require that each personality is a fully integrated and complex unit with memories, behavior patterns and social friendships.

"These partial personalities (if put together) equal one complete personality." While that may be one way to view the goal of treatment, (resolving and merging the "alters") it isn't a universally accepted concept among treating practitioners. But we could write a book about this (oops... others have), and never get high levels of agreement. This is a fairly good summary article which I belive was part of a doctoral dissertation: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED501858.pdf but alas, things have changed even since this was written in 2007. The changes have been (IMHO) political - in the highly controversial restructuring of the concepts and definitions of personality disorder by the American Psychiatric Association; not empirical...

And I apologize for semi-hijacking the tread: this diverges or dissociates from Jeanette's original post.... sorry.

You could probably do a dissertation on the personality development of Norman in the A&E series "Bates Motel" as I understand the series ends (final season is on now) with a fully developed Norman Bates ready for "Psycho". Hint: He's off his meds and his now dead mother has some very funny "dead joke" lines.

Challenging me to think about the disorder I was diagnosed with is good. My description is a summary of how I understood the explanation given to me.

As you said, each personality is complex with memories and behavioral patterns. But, if the host personality did not split, where did the alternate personality come from?

I understand this article's point of a dissociative disorder being a development disorder and not a personality disorder.

Given my experience and understanding why the mind disassociates, I question calling it a "disorder" and "treating" disassociation as long as the person is functional. I think a better alternative is help the person develop the skills they lack. This is not brain surgery.

Jeanette Isabelle

What do you call it when one personality is completely destroyed and replaced by another? What do you suppose it would take to make that happen? Is it really a split if one no longer exists?

I don't know of any case in which the host personality is completely gone.

Jeanette Isabelle

I know of one case in with an alternate personality died. Supposedly, from what I heard, this is not unusual. In your question are you referring to an alternate personality or host?

Jeanette Isabelle

I've been watching You Tube videos discussing Pixar movies. What got me thinking are the ones on Inside Out. Videos on The Incredibles are also thought provoking but that's for a different thread. What I commonly hear is consistent with what I believe: You need a box of Kleenex to watch Inside Out. What I find interesting is what scenes are and are not sad vary from person to person. I was choked up when Bing Bog sacrifices himself to save Riley but I was not in tears. Others have said that is one of the saddest moments of the movie.

I often hear people say Riley and her parents in a group hug is the saddest moment of the entire movie. Yes and no. In that moment what goes on in the physical world is nowhere near as sad as what happens inside Riley's mind. Joy, the ultimate control freak, says to Sadness "Riley needs you now." She hands control over to Sadness and, on top of that, she gives the core memories to Sadness.

For me the other saddest moments are when Riley looses her personality and Joy is crying.

Others have said one of the saddest moments is when Riley is called on in class. It was a "Can I use that curse word now?" moment but it wasn't sad.

I did not notice this until it was pointed out: When Riley was called out in class Disgust was actually even more frightened than Fear. Fear would be afraid of being embarrassed but Disgust would be even more afraid of being embarrassed.

Jeanette Isabelle

On the balance Inside Out did a masterful job of hitting all those childhood memories of sadness, loneliness and alienation that everyone experiences. We're reminded that although as adults we know those moments are transitory but as kids they're agonizing, and it can feel like things are never gonna get better. They do a good job of examining how we learn to navigate the troubled waters of life.