'Inside Out' characters are the new 'go to' for therapists

'Inside Out' characters are the new 'go to' for therapists

Regardless of age, there’s no denying the relatability of characters like Sadness, Disgust, or Anxiety in Pixar’s “Inside Out” movies. In fact, beyond the vivid animation, heart-string-tugging score, and sing-songy dialogue delivered by Amy Poehler, the films have become a communication tool for therapists and educators. “As therapeutic practice, it has become a go-to,” David A. Langer, president of the American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, told the New York Times earlier this year. “The art of ‘Inside Out’ is explicitly helping us understand our internal worlds.” Snagging lines from the movie, using the characters’ emotive finger puppets to communicate with children, or placing figurines of the characters in front of a counselor to show which feeling is behind the “control panel,” the colorful cast of emotions makes the abstract concrete. According to the New York Times, the movies’ creators didn’t go into the creative process trying to prove a point about mental h…