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She's cool. She's orange. She's nerve-racking. Kids explain why Anxiety from 'Inside Out 2' is a top Halloween costume this year.
“What are you going to be for Halloween this year?” “Anxiety.” It’s not the answer you might expect, but it’s a top Halloween costume choice after this summer's release of Inside Out 2, the follow-up to the 2015 Pixar hit in which feelings are personified. Child development experts hailed the animated sequel for introducing young viewers to the newly added emotion of Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke), who emerges in main character Riley's brain as she navigates the pressures that come with being a teenager.
Among the witches, Minions, skeletons and other popular characters making the trick-or-treating circuit this year, families might also come across kid-sized costumes or Pinterest tutorials to help kids master Anxiety (something you never thought you’d say).
But for kids, it’s not just a simple costume. It's also the chance to dress up as a feeling that’s hard to communicate — even as reports show it's on the rise. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10% of U.S. kids between the ages of 3 and 17 have been diagnosed with anxiety.
Layla Kippert, a 10-year-old based in Tucson, Ariz., is one of the many kids who will be dressing up as Anxiety this Halloween. "I felt like the way Riley's brain was acting was really similar to how some of my brain acts," she tells Yahoo Life. That includes thinking, as Anxiety does in the film, that "you have to hang out with the cool girls, not your friends." Layla says she could relate to the character — “always preparing for the future, always cautious of your surroundings instead of just being you.”
"I felt like the way Riley's brain was acting was really similar to how some of my brain acts."Layla, 10
Layla says the Inside Out 2 filmmakers “got it right” when depicting how anxiety can feel. “How sometimes [Anxiety] would dress kind of awkwardly, and how also [she] would be like, ‘What if I need help?’ or would stumble upon [her] words, or how [she] would be like, ‘Oh, my God, we need to prepare for this and that and this and that ... these are the dangerous things that could happen.’ I feel like that's really nerve-racking,” she says.
Choosing Anxiety as her Halloween costume is an important step for Layla. "I used to just hide [my] anxiety," she says. "But if I dress up as Anxiety [the character], I can express my feelings. I feel like [we] have a lot of connection."
Some mental health professionals say that the costume can serve as a sort of “coming out” related to emotional struggles. “For some kids, it may be easier to dress up as Anxiety and have [people] ask them about it instead of them having to tell others they sometimes suffer from anxiety, or [that] they can relate to the feelings the character has,” says Vicki Bolina, a clinical psychologist at LifeStance Health in Vernon Hills, Ill.
Bolina notes that some kids may choose an Anxiety costume simply because they think the character is cool and don’t necessarily feel the emotion itself. Consider Isla Runge, a 6-year-old from Beaman, Iowa. She's dressing as Anxiety “because I like her," she tells Yahoo Life. "She’s cool and orange. She’s funny and silly and goes crazy when she drinks all the soda.”
But behind all the fun, even younger kids like her are learning about feelings in the process. “They made Anxiety want to make Riley a new Riley — a better Riley," Isla says. "Anxiety wanted to make her perfect, but no one can be perfect.”
Even kids as young as 3 are choosing other emotion-inspired characters for their costumes. Katie Wilson, a Cincinnati mom, says her 3-year-old daughter Elle picked out a Joy costume after they watched Inside Out 2 on the big screen. While Wilson says that Elle has learned that no emotion is “bad” from watching the movies and dressing up, she did have some qualms about her dad's plan to join in by going as the character Anger.
“[Elle] was very worried about my husband dressing up as Anger — he had to convince her that he wouldn’t yell and be mad!” Wilson tells Yahoo Life. Elle also wore her Joy costume at a recent tumbling class, which gave her teachers an opportunity to talk about big feelings. “She happened to cry about something in class, and the teachers told her she was Joy and to be happy," Wilson says. "Probably some teaching moments there about experiencing feelings."
Bolina adds that the conversations coming from the costumes are essential for fighting mental health stigmas. “Having more comfort around asking our kids questions about their mental health is vital," she tells Yahoo Life. "[So is] letting kids know if they are experiencing some distress that it is OK, and encouraging them to talk to a trusted adult. This will help steer more conversations and comfort in all things mental health."
