Child therapist explains how 'Inside Out' perfectly demonstrates how to respond to someone's sadness

Life is a series of ups and downs. Therefore, it's important to acknowledge and deal with different circumstances and how we feel about them. As adults, we figure out ways to maneuver around these emotions, but kids might find it hard to do so.

Child therapist Tracy Wilshusen (@tracy_wilshusen) recently shared a video to advise parents on how to help their kids deal with difficult emotions. She cleverly uses a clip from the animated movie "Inside Out" to make her point. The clip begins with Tracy saying, "If you are a parent, I want you to stop scrolling and watch this clip from 'Inside Out.'" She then states that she is a child therapist and frequently makes use of the clip with her clients all the time.

The movie personifies human emotions in a young girl's mind. In the short clip, we see Bing Bong, who happens to be Riley's (the little girl) imaginary childhood friend, witness his rocket being bulldozed off a cliff. In the context of the film, he undergoes a significant loss and is evidently devastated. Joy, who is happiness personified, attempts to comfort him, saying, "Hey, it's gonna be okay. We can fix this. We just need to get back to headquarters; which way is the train station?"

Her reassurances do not have any effect on Bing Bong, who continues to be sad. Sadness, who, as the name indicates, personifies being sad, does the opposite and openly acknowledges Bing Bong's loss. She says, "I'm sorry they took your rocket. They took something that you loved. It's gone. Forever." Joy asks Sadness not to make him feel worse by talking to him about his loss. However, she manages to make more progress than Joy by getting Bing Bong to process his feelings of loss by recounting memories, which ultimately makes it easier for him to move on. After hugging Sadness, he gets up and says that he's okay to return to their adventure.

Tracy includes her own explanations as text overlays to link the clip to her advice for parents. She explains how parents try to divert their kid's attention whenever they experience challenging emotions. Doing so gives kids the perception that negative emotions are not to be felt and are to be pushed down, which is unhealthy. Alternatively, parents can talk to their children, allowing them to process such feelings instead of repressing them. She finally suggests a few practices, such as drawing and journaling, to help kids process their emotions. Tracy ends the post with a valuable piece of advice: "Remember, there are no bad or good emotions; we must feel all the feelings." 

The clip from the animated film highlights the importance of confronting our feelings, happy or sad, in order to move beyond them. The message from the clip resonated with viewers, who shared their opinions in the comments section. @ghostintraining commented, "'Inside Out' is such an underrated movie." Another user, @mamaserrano, suggested, "The book 'The Rabbit Listened' is great for this example too."