The Psychology of Psychonauts - Milla's Dance Party 

Fun fact: according to the devs, there used to be a glitch that caused the Nightmare Room audio to play everywhere in the level, which apparently _thoroughly_ freaked out a programmer who didn't know about the room.

So I remember the developers saying that mias mind is an example of a healthy one, she's moved on from her past but it still pops up

If you turn on Subtitles in the game and enter the nightmare room, the icon showing the nightmares talking won't show the faces of the nightmares, but instead depict the burning children.

I think an interesting thing to point out is that there aren't any mental cobwebs in or near the nursery or the nightmare prison. This is a place she visits at least fairly regularly. She hasn't abandoned these memories even though she tries to hide them.

Personally i think at first the cheerfulness was a mask, but over the years it kinda seeped into her psyche and she genuinely became that person. She isn't acting anymore. Her loss still haunts her in vulnerable moments, but she knows that there is more to life. It makes her bubbly personality more complex, like adding salt to chocolate to make it taste sweeter.

My grandpa was a firefighter. He struggled to sleep every night and never slept well. Every time he tried, he was haunted by the screams of victims of burning buildings he wasn't able to save. It was with him until the day he died. I never knew until members of the family talked about it after his death. He was always cheerful around me. This one hits hard.

Something I really appreciate about Milla and Sasha's minds as the only two "healthy" minds we explore is how diametrically opposed they are, much like their waking personalities. Sasha is a pragmatist, his personal journey involves ordering and making sense of both the external and internal world, he creates a perfect cube that acts as a sort of filing cabinet, he can easily retrieve whatever he likes. Milla is an idealist, she is much more focused on the emotional or spiritual aspects of psychology. Where Sasha taught Raz how to control his emotions, Milla shows him how to go with the flow as she does. The whole party is long and winding, and it requires this mindset to traverse. You have to move with the pinball plunger to get the required height for a jump, you have to roll back and forth in a bowl to gain the speed to get height elsewhere. Both of them have trauma, and hints that they didn't always deal with it in the healthy way they do now. But for both of them that trauma is compartmentalized, Milla's nightmares don't define her mental landscape the way boyd's paranoia for instance shapes his. Sasha's level hints this but it becomes much more clear in Milla's that healing does not mean "removing the hurt", you will never be Untraumatized. It means finding a way to cope with what happened, to put those thoughts down when you need to

I think the reason Milla's nightmares are so hidden is specifically because her dance party is a psychic construct she created as a classroom for her students. Like Oleander, her mindscape is one she specially prepared, knowing that people were going to enter her mind. The reason she tries to keep Raz out is probably because, as an adult, she knows it would be irresponsible to let her young students be exposed to her trauma. Like Sasha, I think her life between her traumatic past and the present day has allowed her to grow and heal from her past wounds. It's possible that, if another psychonaut who wasn't a child was to enter her mind, the nursery aspect would be more readily accessible, like Milla being more willing to share her trauma with a therapist than with her children. I think this shows that Milla, while having a troubled past, is one of the most mentally healthy characters in the game.

A fun detail about the way Milla's obstracle course is designed: In most other minds or even during normal platforming sections of the game you can fall from ledges and spots you're supposed to levitate into, and your ball can easily get out of control and throw you off the ledge. This is significantly more difficult in Milla's party, where railings are almost ever-present and you need to miss your mark by a lot or outright try to get your levitation ball out of the railing on these 'flower' platforms. Furthermore Milla sets up a series of checkpoints through her course to lessen the sting of frustration at not getting a sequence of jumps right, you don't have to start over after you reach certain theresholds. Unlike Oleander, whose obstracle course sets everyone up for failure, Milla's training sets everyone to succeed at their own pace. This shows she's a good teacher, encouraging success rather than punishing failure and makes for a relatively relaxing entry into one of the most ubiquitous powers in Psychonauts. This also shows that she cares for her students dearly. Also, she doesn't punish you at all if you reach her painful memory vault - her measured reaction is also a mark of emotional maturity and the fact she doesn't strictly repress her nightmares, but rather controls them rather than lets them control her. Most other people would probably react much more negatively to you finding their worst memory. The cage has a door in it, but it's closed and impervious to all damage - this also might symbolize that it would take more than one meddling kid to turn Milla's mind on it's head. Compare it to Sasha's or Hollis's minds - they're generally also seen as sane but it's much easier to make their minds blow up into mess that needs to be taken care of, and while Hollis might've been stressed by the Psychonauts' dire financial straits and in a more vurneable state of mind, Sasha was literally in his element - so it shows his peace of mind is more fragile than Milla's.

I feel like Milla's level like Oleander's is fake, but she's not trying to hide anything malicious. Both of them share a similarity in that they're both obstacle courses with theming based on their personalities. And given her background she would knows what are good ways to teach kids so she made this area for them to practice levitation. And while she does have her nightmares connecting to it she isn't trying to cover them up, but only slightly dissuading people from going to them, like how you wouldn't want somebody finding out about something about yourself.

If you notice, you're the one in the cage and not the nightmares themselves.

I think the diagnosis of Smiling Depression is more accurate then even the video creator realizes. Take another good listen to the soundtrack in Milla's Dance Party. Sounds like fun with the bouncy music, and there's even a voice laughing along with the song, right? Wrong. Listen closer and you'll realize that background sound accompanying the music in Milla's mind isn't laughter, *it's the sound of someone crying*. Milla's using the party in her head to drown out the sadness she still feels deep down.

Milla reminds me of Nancy from Doctor Who. Nancy lost her son to a kind of extraterrestrial virus, and she starts spending her life protecting and caring for orphans/homeless children during the London Blitz. And the Doctor, seeing this behavior, immediately asks who she has lost, without knowing anything else about her.

I must admit, I understood some of the psychology of the minds, but these videos really help to give better psychological insight. In a way it kinda helps with a bit of self reflection as well. Thank you for making these. ^^

One really interesting detail is that if you look at the cage in the nightmare room, there's a door on it, you can't open it, but it suggests that there's something on the other side Milla wants to access. My interpretation is that what we see is an area set up for students to learn levitation in, but working with children again does nudge memories of the orphanage to the surface and instead of trying to repress this, she sections it off, which reflects that instead of being paralyzed by flashbacks to the trauma of the fire, she's channeled those feelings into ensuring that these new children are kept safe, and the door leads to her true mental world beyond the trauma. If you revisit her mind she says that she'll be elsewhere, having a party with some old memories, which could be that she's dealt with her grief in a way that she's able to remember the happier times at the orphanage, and that's where she is when you revisit. Granted those old memories could be from some of her missions after, or even her own childhood before, but the orphanage memories would be the most relevant to her job at that moment and the most likely to be brought to the surface.

How we have some memories we do not want others to see. Repression is evident and reflects that she looks to be free and open, a figment of her former child raising side, to teach others of joy and freedom.

I’ve been wanting psychonauts analysis videos so much thank you for this excellent content. A little behind the scenes: in the leaked psychonauts backstory doc, it was revealed that the fire was a catalyst for her psychic powers. It’s a horrible and traumatic first experience, but she eventually turns it into something positive after she got help from the Psychonauts. I love Milla a lot and I hope we learn even more about her in the sequel :*)

I always liked to view Mias mind as a healthy way variation of dealing with trauma. She wants Raz to leave because he’s a child. He’s 10, this kind of thing isn’t something he should be confronted with at such a young age. Mia doesn’t have a cobweb over the nursery. She has those horrible thoughts controlled, and understands it wasn’t her fault, but she still never forget the orphans who died, which is why she works at Whispering Rock when given the chance. She has a deep motherly desire to protect the children, and she is genuinely a upbeat person, because she’s accepted the fire was not something she could have prevented. Im sure she still grieves for them, because she they were her everything at that time, but she has already accepted the loss, and grown as a woman who provides motherly support to others around her.

I kinda have this idea for a possible third instalment, where existing powers need to be used in new ways; one such way is for pyrokinesis to be used to *put out* existing fires. Relevant in the event that Raz may need to go back into Milla's mind and help her deal with her trauma in a more direct way.

On my second playthrough I noticed a strange outcrop in the wall and wondered what it was. Man, that was heavy. At least she's happy with Sasha.

Their are actually unused voice lines for Milla that are eluding to what happened. “The orphanage! It’s on fire!”, “What’s that smoke over hill?” And many others.

great video, one thing I wish you mentioned was how Raz's fear of water is so strong that water harms him even tho Milla explained how when levitating you should be immune to water

According to the devs, Milla's mind is an example of how a healthy mind is supposed to be. The better example of smiling depression comes from Clem and Crystal, which maybe you'll cover later when covering the campers. Only just discovered this series recently.

That explains so much. I thought I was just being strong by smiling and being okay, but wow I didn't think it was a bad thing.

Interesting side note: there are mental cobwebs everywhere around the party area, but the nursery and the nightmare room don't have any mental cobwebs within them. I find this interesting as it implies that Milla's cheerful attitude is more of a facade, she never moved on, she's always thinking about that fateful night, every, waking, moment.

Poor lady. I delt with a fire in our small town a while ago and spent some time near someone with sever burns head to toe , and the smell and the way my lips got sticky from the air around her still haunts me .

Also. To add onto the nighmare thing. There are unused lines that get worse and worse with her being like "SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE THE CHILDREN!" And twards the last lines its almost sounds like shes crying and suffering

Funny little fact, if you use Clairvoyance on the nightmares in Milla's Dance Party, they just see you as a normal partygoer.

I just realized how bizarrd it is someone being able to enter your mind and discovering your biggest secrets

I got the game not that long ago and found this on accident. The reel didnt really get me but when i got into the box it was intense. Rarely does a game catch me so off guard.

So happy to finally see you return to Psychonauts analysis! I always felt it seemed abandoned immediately after your playthrough, you didn't even want to upload the rest of the clips in a timely matter and we barely got any more analysis videos. please, see this idea through and do more!

As a newly-accredited certified peer specialist, these videos are very interesting to me. My job deals with helping trauma survivors and/or mental health patients recover from trauma and/or illness, using my own recovery from those two things to prove that it's possible and encourage them to keep going. Learning more about different kinds of conditions is very helpful, I think, in getting me to understand the way some people work, or at least finally put words to it.

i always wondered if the milkman actually was the one who burned down the orphanage

This was great! The other videos in this series were too and I really look forward to seeing you cover the rest of the game

Those things in the cages are the same things that attack you in Boyd's mind It's their Nightmares And it's interesting to see how they were handled differently Milla had hers under control and caged away but still there and she acknowledges that Boyd on the other hand has no control over his nightmares they roam free and attack at random Milla dealt with her nightmares in a healthy manner keeping them caged away while still acknowledging that they are there and are a part of her she's moved on but not forgotten Boyd isn't even trying as said before his nightmares roam freely and attack at random, he's had nightmares so much that he just stopped caring to him they are little more than an inconvenience. At least that's what I think I would also very much like to hear what you think

Completely different game, but 'smiling depression' explains Sayori from DDLC perfectly. I always knew it was a thing, but I never knew there was a name for it. I wonder if there's also other identifiable conditions for other characters. I'd wager Monika's feeling of constant isolation and subsequent obsession probably can be related to something.

I really enjoyed this video! Thank you for your take!

I swear, everyone of these videos get to me. It’s like I’m being taken apart piece by piece, like a surgeon taking out my kidneys and showing them to me before putting them back.

Perfect editing actual great example of coping with trauma without ignoring it

Smiling Depression: Apparently more common that one thinks. The biggest warning are people who laugh too much. Such people are broken inside, and somewhere in the back of their minds a final thread is about to snap, so be careful not to cut it... As one who works in customer service (IT) you'd be surprised at how many people - mostly women - that I talk to who have this trait.

Me and my buddy are doing a play through of this, it's coming out next year and we're going through mind my mind for each episode so I am so happy these videos exist to refresh myself because this is the one we're doing tomorrow

Nice! Great job on this video! It was very analytical and educational! :D!

This is more in depth and better than I thought it was going to be

Wow! I just found your channel yesterday through the couple other videos you did on psychonauts, so this is really good timing.

This one and the Milkman left and Impression on me and while it took years to realize that Milkman was more than just lolrandom the room with Milla's secret was very direct and fascinating.

My headcanon is Milla WANTS her students to see the "forbidden room". The room it's kept in is easily accessible, has a memory bank that is required for completion, and the toy chest is wide open. Milla telling Raz not to go in there is a test to see if he'll disobey her and see what she's trying to hide. When raz goes in, she doesn't yell or scold him. She just tells him not to lollygag in there and leave quickly. When raz does leave its never mentioned again. Milla wants to show her students what trauma can do and what healthy coping is like. That trauma can't be forgotten, but it can be (literally in this case) locked away and you can move on

I remember if you come back to the level later she asks raz to help find her

Great job!

Did you know that they cut a line of dialogue of her pleading and crying to the children?

Man, I love her music so much

10:16 yea... my room and the bath room are my safe havens my room because its comforting and the smell Repels others when I need space. And the bath room because of the lock so I feel safe because of it.

Omg am I actually the first person to comment. Awesome. Great video. Wish I had more to say about this one. I really need to play this one.

When you use the mind's vision power on Milla, she sees Raz as a literal baby. I laughed the shit out of myself when I first realised that.

That scene in the bus was EVIL EVIL, they wanted her to relive a trauma so bad, it would felt awful for her

Excellent content

Today i learned that i have more in common if Milla than i thought

I like your new way of speaking relax and natural ;)

I was hoping you would be doing this video

I've noticed something about the nightmares; specifically, their heads - They appear to be wearing gas masks. Like the sort of masks you might see a _firefighter_ wear. And if you look closer, there seem to be spines growing from their snouts. Since the nightmares were specifically created with Milla in mind, my theory is that the developers originally intended for Milla to have a grudge against firefighters, over their "failure" to save the orphans. The fact that have pronounced pairs of *demonic horns* instead of firefighters' helmets would've implied that Milla has literally *demonized* them over the years. This is further supported if you turn on subtitles in the nightmare room; the pictures accompanying the dialogue attributes the whispers to the dead children, _not_ the nightmares, which would imply that Milla has convinced herself that the firefighters are just there to mock her and her lost orphans. Edit: Fixed several typos in "nightmares".

i just started this game and when i was on this level and i found the room with the vault and secret area i was traumatized 💀💀💀

Milla reminds me of Yandere characters we see in anime who seem nice at first but actually tend to have twisted/damaged personalities.

My first time playing the game, i misunderstood the nightmares appearing later on. I thought they were a random encounter that only happened if you did see millias trauma; IE seeing her memory in turn traumatized raz, who'd now also be haunted by them at random intervals.

I think Psychonauts 2 strengthens the idea of Her and Nine (Nein?) being a couple of sorts. Because when you talk with her does she tell her that she and Sasha are often communicate with each other telepathically, including right now when Raz talks with her ("Sasha says hi"). And as much of a cheerful character she may be, I doubt she would do telepathic communication with anyone. (Also, after completing the story are they both in the bowling area further suggestion a at the very least close friendship)

I mean, all things considered, I don't know by Psychonauts terms what the "correct" way to deal with that trauma would be. From the sounds of things, she has accepted the traumatic event that happened and placed it neatly away from her every day life without repressing it. It comes at a single point of access with a gentle deterrent to keep minds, presumably herself included, away from it. Her nightmares are where they can be seen and addressed, but where they can't hurt anyone. I think that's about as correct a way to deal with this trauma as one can.

My first impression of Milla was that she's a bit too cheerful and not grounded at all. But she's just much more subtle when expressing negative emotion as the stakes in the story increase, and I picked up on that much better in the sequel. It's not her own emotion she has to control: She chooses to be the calming presence in every room she's in, and that might actually be the reason (almost) her entire mind is a welcoming dance party. It makes her a natural caretaker and mentor figure, and a very interesting contrast to Sasha. Come to think of it, perhaps her gift for levitation is some sort of reference to this being a more enlightened state of mind.

I hate that I own rhombus of ruin but no vr

I never knew about Smiling Depression until now.

I don't quite understand. If Milla's response is a healthy one, like using the trauma she sustained to strengthen her in her path forward. And if she is not in denial about it, given how there are no mental cobwebs and she demonstrably has her nightmares under control, then why is it called a Smiling Depression? That does sound like she has demons that do need fixing, that do plague her and that the joyfulness of her dance party is all fake and a facade. Sooo, is her approach of being aware of her trauma but drowning it out in joy a healthy one or not? Does she still need help?

I’m not the only one who wants Sasha and Milla to get married and the end of Psychonauts 3(if there ever will be a Psychonauts 3), am I?

I wonder if there will be a third game where he fixes the psychonauts’ traumas in general, like maybe raz would take out the nightmares milla has, or maybe make Sasha a bit more outgoing instead of being in a box for 20 years

Neat

Well this is how I find out I have smiling depression

God I think I beat that level without going to the nightmare room 😤

Something to note about the personal demons that you need to use to kill the nightmares: they look like children, and cry like babies.

One of the best Brazilian representations ever

Interesting. I was just thinking about you yesterday.

Sayori in Doki Doki, the best example of smiling depression

What if the effort to use one's nightmares to fuel one's purpose is rejected by others?

Who is your favorite characters in the Psychonauts series?

Spoiler Safety | | \/ If you return to Milla's mind after a certain point, the Nightmares are no longer there, despite the idea of them escaping having been taken out. Probably just an oversight, but a good indicator that it was very real at one point.

will you be doing the psychology of Psychonauts 2?

Milla best mom

It’s a nonstop party with a dark side. Are we inside Baz Luhrmann’s head?

I don’t super love the imagery of caging the nightmares. It seems to go against principles of mindfulness and the sort of thing that would lead to the issues scrapped from the WIP version. Seeing them in a more sedate and comfortable setting (perhaps a coffeehouse or all night diner to reference Allison Lonsdale’s song “Invite Them In”) would likely have been a more effective demonstration of how she came to terms with her personal demons rather than repressing them.

She just likes to dance

You could just put anything in games back in the early 2000s

Does anyone know the music in the outro? I get the feeling that the song is from a Final Fantasy or Wild Arms game, but I can't pin it down

The hippie chick

I personally don't think this was an intentional detail in the game, but throughout the second game Milla's screaming is very unenthusiastic and unnatural, like to the point of hilarity. I know she screams once in Loboto's first construct in the second game, but if I remember correctly she does again later in the game. It definitely sounds like she's faking the screaming, which struck me with the idea she might have smiling depression. She is putting effort in putting up a mask of coming off as fine / normal, but the apathy and exhaustion really shows through when she's in a situation that would cause other people fear, while she is too weighed down, or apathetic, or numb to provide a natural reaction, or even feeling.

Milla it’s not the same as Mia, come on ma dude you got this😅

Well... shit. Smiling Depression, huh?

where the heck do i donate PM me pl0x

Why is your voice like that?

By the way, the figures saying they were abandoned Is because Milla worked at an orphanage that burned down, and she wasn't able to save them.