Inside Out 2 Is Being Praised For Depicting An Anxiety Attack So Accurately

Inside Out is a tough act to follow. The 2015 film has an almost perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes (98% Fresh) and has been praised for its ability to merge a high-concept idea with emotional oomph. Fortunately, the sequel film has received glowing reviews, and audiences seem to be most impressed with the “anxiety attack” scene in Inside Out 2.

Note: Spoilers for Inside Out 2 are ahead!

The film picks up at Riley’s 13th birthday. She is officially a teen and embodies all the emotions that go with that... literally. In addition to all the emotions we know and love — Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust — Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui, and Envy, arrive on the scene. When Riley heads to hockey camp the summer before high school starts, Anxiety takes the wheel, or rather, the control panel inside Riley’s head, and her core emotions find themselves repressed.

In a particularly poignant scene, Anxiety — who exists to “protect [Riley] from all the scary stuff she can’t see” — is trying to help Riley perform on the ice in order to make the hockey team. It does not go well. Riley finds herself in the penalty box and Anxiety finds herself frozen to the spot, unable to let go of the controls to Riley’s mind. Orange light swirls around her, pushing out all the other emotions as Anxiety, and by extension Riley, each struggle haplessly to get control of themselves. Finally, Joy is able to break Anxiety away from the panel and all of Riley’s emotions gather to help their girl cope.

The scene has already sparked lots of reactions on social media. “So great but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a visceral reaction when Riley had that panic attack. They did that a little too well,” tweets @JustinDGentry.

“The way they depicted Riley experiencing that panic/anxiety attack healed something in me,” agreed @The_Sarahnade. “I felt seen. Like someone got inside my head and gave me a visual for the absolute blender of a brain I get when my anxiety is out of control.”

“I thought how [the movie] depicted an anxiety attack was so well done,” says @KDean1010. “As someone who suffers from chronic anxiety I was blown away with how Riley’s anxiety attack was handled and shown. Because it is both a whirlwind and being frozen in fear; and for teens and kids to see that, and normalize it was so amazing. I thought the movie itself was so well done. So good.”

“Anxiety showed such an accurate visual depiction of how it feels to have a panic attack,” @SurvivorsLiveOn writes. “The total spiral into complete loss of control and then being frozen with fear. I cried so much when I saw her like that. I truly understand.”

Honestly, this is no less than we expect from Pixar. In fact, we’re kind of waiting for the day when we don’t cry during a Pixar movie, but Inside Out 2 is definitely not the one.