Movie review: Inside out (2015) - meet the little voices inside your head

Movie Review: Inside out (2015)
11 year old Riley has a lot going on for her, she is moving to a new town, leaving behind her friends, her sports team, and her school. There are little voices inside of Riley's head- the feelings, the memories, and the core memories.

And "joy" is busy inside her keeping her happy. Of course fear, disgust, sadness, and anger have been keeping "joy" company as Riley has been growing up, but her emotions have been fairly simple to date. That is until "sadness" plays out of turn and both "sadness" and "joy" go missing from her control centre in the brain. The movie takes the audience of adventure between childhood and adolescence, and we finally realise that happiness/joy can't dominate our life, and sadness or even more complex emotions can be quite useful for us.

Sometimes we have to let go of being happy all the time, because other emotions have their place too.

My psychological perspective:

As a therapist, this movie is a fantastic resource. It's a great way to introduce the topic of emotions to children and adolescents, it is also a useful way to begin conversations about cognitive processes.

From an emotional intelligence perspective, the movie brings out the development of different emotional expression. The movie is surprisingly accurate at a gross level. Children do have more simple emotions that are quick to change and predictable. As children bridge the gap to adolescence, there is a hypothesised "storm and norm" period, and this movie was able to capture this adventurous journey to creating a new control centre of the brain.

The movie also captures interesting cognitive processes of short term memory, long term memory and even personality development due to core memories. I thought it was quite clever in it's execution.

Topics to talk to your kids about
Feelings, sadness, joy, fear, growing up

My Christian Perspective:

From my Christian perspective, I think it is also an opportunity to talk about bullying. Sometimes, no most of the time it feels good just to have positive affect. And we do things that provide us with immediate pleasure. However, we are called to set our eyes on longer term things, even if this results in shorter term disappointments. 

My overall rating: 

Superior
This is a fantastic resource or was an extremely great use of time.

This is a great resource for therapists and parents of children and adolescents. I strongly recommend seeing this movie this school holidays and getting a copy when the movie comes out on DVD. I will surely be referring to it in session with my clients. 

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Book review: Give, Save, Spend with the Three Little Pigs (2014) sneak peek

Book review: Give, Save, Spend with the Three Little Pigs (2014) sneak peek

The ideas presented in this book are great. And I couldn't help but smile all the way through.

My psychological perspective

This book probably would make no sense to younger children, as their brains haven't developed enough to understand the concepts of savings. This is a great idea for kids who are about to get some pocket money. And is a great opportunity to teach them different ways to spread out their money.

My Christian perspective

If we view our money as God's money, but just ours for safe keeping, then it makes sense for us to be good stewards of His money. In fact, recently, we had a great discussion in Children's worship about monetary offerings. So teaching children about money and how to spend it seems like a great idea.

My overall rating: 

Superior
This is a fantastic resource or was an extremely great use of time.

For those that have read a few reviews of mine, you will find that I don't give "Superior" ratings often. I'm entirely biased because of my background in both psychology as well as business. In fact, I think I should send a copy to Kochie on Sunrise to have a look.

Give, Save, Spend with the Three Little Pigs (2014) will be available from amazon from 4 March 2014.

I was provided with a review copy but this did not influence my opinion of the book.

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Movie Review: Smurfs 2 (2013)

Movie Summary: The Smurfs 2 (2013)

This was much better than the first movie, which doesn't happen often with sequels. I'm not sure why there are so many negative reviews out there for this movie. It was never intended as a masterpiece. The humour is such that adults can have a little giggle while their children enjoy the adventure.

*spoiler* Some of my favorite bits include the use of a media play- ipad like device to plan ahead, and "Patrick-Barney" coming to terms with loving a step father.

Yes the graphics weren't the best, but they were great compared to the 2d blue smudges I used to see on TV. And what I liked about the movie is that it didn't lose sight of the main themes and attitudes of the original Smurf series.

My psychological perspective:

Suitability for children: 

I believe that this movie is suitable for most of the family. Kids any younger than 13 should really have parental guidance as the action scenes can get a little scary and some of the jokes a bit off! The story lines and morals are great for the kids. -- it doesn't matter where you came from or who you were, it's who you choose to be.

Things to talk to your kids about:

Good vs evil. step parents

Things to talk to your teens about:

Rebelling, identity, step parents, unconditional love

My Christian Perspective:

The theme about choices in this movie is great. Grumpy can choose to be grumpy or positive, smurfette can choose to be a smurf or a naughty. Some choices can have small consequences, but others choices can influence your entire life and even the future of the world as we know it.

My overall rating: 

Superior
This is a fantastic resource or was an extremely great use of time.

This review may have been slightly biased because I grew up with Smurfs on TV, but which review isn't biased by personal experience? This is a keeper. When the DVD comes out, it will be on my shelf and I intend to watch it many times with children of all ages. And I think this is an excellent addition to any DVD library.

This isn't a movie for everyone's taste, but if you are a fan of kids animated movies, the original smurfs series, this is one for you.

#Smurfs @sonypicturesAUS

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Book review: The Portable Mentor (2013)

Book Summary: The Portable Mentor (2013) : Expert Guide to a Successful Career in Psychology 

The authors were like Gurus in their own rights. The book covered issues and tips from before you apply to graduate studies in psychology, through to first starting work in psychology, through to supervising and teaching students.

My Psychological Perspective:
The Portable Mentor (2013) was well written and easy to understand for anyone with an undergraduate level of education.

It was such a practical guide. I found the rationales and explanations very useful. They provided great questions to help you ponder whether psychology is the career for you. They provided ideas to help you improve your graduate school applications. Looking back at applying to a Masters in Clinical Psychology and PhD, I wish I had read more, and asked more questions before I begun. I probably would have made the same decisions, but I would have been more prepared. This book was written for a North American audience so you will have to adapt some information locally.

The book also covers some great basics and reminders about producing good quality research and publishing in journals.

I found the sections on teaching psychology and preparing for private practice very useful. I guess I am biased because that is essentially how I found the book in the first place. I was searching for hours on the web for information to take with me to a contract meeting, and here it was written out clearly to help me make great decisions. If given the opportunity, I would love to write in more detail the Australian implications of some of the chapters in these sections. The registration processes in Australia are significantly different.

But just as I thought the book was done teaching me new things, the editor throws in guidance about media engagement and postdoc fellowships.

My Christian Perspective:

It would be exaggerating to say that this book is like a bible for careers in psychology but definitely, ask and it will be given to you (Matthew 7: 7-8). This is a great guide for Christians considering psychology as a career choice. While some Christians believe that psychology is of the devil, I believe that the two can play happily together. As this current book is concerned, there is nothing glaringly against God in it.

Psychology as far as I am concerned is, an understanding of human behaviour and emotions. This book is in no way prescriptive. Instead, it gives you more information to make informed choices. When considering psychology as a career choice, firstly pray. Then pray. And then pray some more. It also doesn't help to ask people for advice, read up about it (in books like this) and to give it a go.

My overall rating: 

Superior
This is a fantastic resource or was an extremely great use of time.

Most people know me to be a fair reviewer, sometimes critical. When I mark college assignments, I find it hard to give full marks because that implies there would be no room for improvement. Well, The Portable Mentor (2013) edited by Pristen, Mitchell J (Ed) was brilliant. Even though it was written for a North American audience, I found it useful even in an Australian context. 

I wish I had something like this when I was considering graduate studies in clinical psychology. And this is certainly a resource I will point students to when they are considering a career in psychology. It would be a shame if it wasn't available at your local library. If you are looking for a present for your high school student or graduate school student, this might be it!

The Portable Mentor is available for sale now on Amazon. 

I was provided a review copy of The Portable Mentor (2013) by the publisher but was in no way paid for writing this review.

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