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Understanding Adjustment Disorder Analyzing Riley'

Explore Riley’s emotional journey in *Inside Out* through the lens of abnormal psychology. Her struggles after moving reflect signs of Adjustment Disorder, showing how stress impacts behavior, emotions, and relationships in adolescents.

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    Lexy Grizzle Professor Dose Abnormal Psychology 01 February 2023 Character Analysis: Inside Out - Riley Inside Out, a 2015 animated Pixar movie, explores the difficult adjustment in the main character. Riley, as she moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her family. Many of her behaviors strongly resemble adjustment disorder; instigated by the move, an external stressor. The criteria for AD, according to the DSM-5, is a bit difficult to diagnose and is similar to other disorders such as CD, conduct disorder, or MDD, major depressive disorder. The symptoms include disproportional stress to the intensity of the stressor, and social, occupational, or other impairments. Riley and her family try to be positive in the move, but quickly Riley becomes stressed while experiencing problems making friends, not enjoying her favorite sport, hockey, and a general inability to control her emotions. Some examples of this are when she seems to get picked on at school, lashes out during hockey tryouts, has breakdowns in school, and starts pushing away her old friends in Minnesota. Visually in the movie, Riley in the beginning is seen wearing brighter pastel colors, and transitions to layers of dark and dull clothing. Riley's problems adjusting to her new environment are greater than normally developing adolescents in her age group. Her mood swings and defiant behaviors towards her parents at the age of 11 is also big sign of a developmental issue.

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