'Inside Out 2' adds ennui to its cast of emotions: How the feeling affects Gen Z workers, from a psychologist who worked on the film

Last weekend, "Inside Out 2" scored the second biggest box office release for any animated movie. In it, Riley Anderson, a 13-year-old girl, grapples with the discomfort of becoming a teenager.

Along with the five emotions featured in the first installment of the Pixar movie — joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust — creators added four new feelings that are meant to represent the adolescent experience.

Three of them you've probably heard of: anxiety, envy, embarrassment. The fourth, called ennui, is perhaps a little less familiar. Animated as a moody, purple being with bangs, it is the feeling of being both tired and bored.

Lisa Damour, a psychologist who worked on "Inside Out 2," says ennui is a coping mechanism for teens.

"It is true that one of the ways that teenagers manage the unrelenting intensity of the emotional experience of being a teenager is they find ways to disengage totally, to decide things are too 'basic' to be worthy of their consideration," Damour says.

While this emotion is more consuming as a teenager, it can play a role in the lives of young adults who are transitioning from school into the workforce.

Viral TikToks of twenty-somethings upset they have to work everyday have been met with both judgment and empathy. The feeling of being disappointed by your first job, though, isn't new.

"It's long been the case that one's first job, especially if one is very limited in one's options, can feel like a bit of a letdown," Damour says.

Some might feel like their school work was more challenging or rewarding than their internship.

"A lot of young people's early career days can feel quite tedious and they can feel trapped in a job," she says. "I have definitely seen young adults struggle with the transition from a more