the more i learn about psychology the more i discover the writing in psychonauts 2 is like actually based on leading modern psychology research
the way most of the boss battles within mental levels are representations of maladaptive coping skills or defensive instincts that developed for a reason (thats sympathetically explored) but they're hindering the person theyre trying to help and they need to be set aside, taught healthier behaviors or incorporated into the rest of the mind in a more harmonious way <33333
love psychonauts 1 to death but they take all the criticisms from the first game about the violence of "fixing" people's "mental problems" without their consent or participation and the ableist tropes that show up and they just do miles and miles better with this one without losing the unique feeling the first game had. You always have consent before entering someone's mind or in Bob's case, his psychically-attuned vines invite you in in a way thats very clearly written as a loving effort at intervention for a friend who cant accept help on his own. Everything you do in game is about re-empowering people to handle their own problems and accept love by giving them a helping hand to be brave enough to face the troublesome patterns/beliefs in their own minds. and shoot them with psychic attacks
the Cassie O'Peia level shook me down completely because I JUST finished reading about Internal Family Systems therapy and this idea of having "parts" that emerge to help you deal with different types of situations and who handle different memories and experiences and then IN CANON Cassie's different parts teach the player character that exact concept and then once you defeat the Dominant Cassie and teach her that she doesnt need to keep such a strict lock on all her different parts and be mean to them in order to keep Cassie safe anymore, they re-incorporate into the complete Cassie O'Peia and she's able to reconnect with her loved ones in the outside world. what the fuck