This weekend Inside Out 2 hit the theaters and I was first in line to check it out!  Our journey with Riley and her emotions continued, this time with the added influence of Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui.  Before diving into Inside Out 2 any further, let’s chat about the first film. 

Inside Out and Therapy

I could talk about this movie ALL day! And I often do. I use Inside Out as a therapy intervention and as training tool for other clinicians to teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) principles and skills like dialectics, states of mind (Emotion Mind, Reasonable Mind, and Wise Mind), the role of emotions, and the influence of invalidation and avoidance vs validation and acceptance. I am working on getting an article published detailing these practices, so if you want to learn more, keep your fingers crossed for me and stay tuned!

Caveats

When using Inside Out clinically, I always make a point of noting that it demonstrates ideal childhood development. Riley and her family are white, seemingly upper middle class, intact and well-resourced.  The most adverse events of Riley’s life, that we are aware of, is moving across the country.  This family holds many privileges that many may not relate to. 

Furthermore, Riley’s parents aren’t perfect though they are good enough.  While they initially reinforce that happiness is preferred and in doing so, don’t invite or create the space needed for Riley to freely express herself, ultimately, they are present, open, available, and validating when she needs them.  This again is something many may not relate to.  These differences can trigger feelings in viewers of sadness, shame, loneliness, anger, resentment (and more) resulting in barriers to fully benefiting from the therapeutic messaging of the movie. I find by bringing this up at the start, which is an act of validation in and of itself, softens viewers to more effectively hold whatever reactions they may have gently and focus on the key take-aways of the film and how those take-aways may apply to them.

Inside Out Summary

Inside Out is the story of Riley, an eleven-year- old cisgender girl, who moves with her family from Minnesota to San Francisco.  The true main characters of the movie however are her emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger.  Joy is the leader of the bunch, and deeply holds the belief that “Riley has to be happy.”  She holds this belief so adamantly that she strives to minimize, block, or outright avoid the other emotions from influencing Riley.  She struggles with Sadness the most, whom she does not understand and believes “there’s no place for her to go, I’ve checked.”   When the emotions all share the same goal, such as preparing Riley for a successful new day at school, Joy can see the value of her peers and invites them to contribute, except for Sadness, who she places in a “circle of Sadness,” to keep her away from Riley.

Ultimately, this tactic does not work and Riley, reflecting on a memory of Minnesota that Joy activated, becomes tearful in class.  While Sadness is valid for this situation of Riley being homesick, this sadness is perceived as dangerous.  Joy jumps in to “fix it” causing Joy and Sadness to be ejected from headquarters and leaving the others in charge.

The Role of Validation

Through their efforts to return to headquarters Joy continues to invalidate and ignore Sadness’ knowledge and insight.  It is only when Joy is unable to rouse Bing Bong, Riley’s toddlerhood imagery friend whom they meet along the way, from his grief over the loss of his rocket, and Sadness can, that she begins to see Sadness in a different light.  This crucial scene shows Joy attempting to change Big Bong’s emotional state, when what he needed first before change could occur, and what Sadness offers, is to be validated. 

Joy continues to grow when she later learns a different perspective on an old memory.  What Joy recalled as a celebratory occasion, actually started out sad.  Riley was mourning missing the winning shot in a hockey game.  Joy learns it was through Sadness that Riley’s parents and teammates understood her upset and rallied around her to help her feel better, resulting in the celebration of Joy’s recollections.  With this insight, Joy devises a plan to ensure both she and Sadness get back to headquarters. 

Meanwhile…

While all this was going on, Riley struggles with a difficult first day of school. Later, she has an upsetting video chat with her friend from home.  Her parents are preoccupied by the stress of moving and ask Riley to keep being their “happy girl.” She has the “big idea” that running away and returning to Minnesota will solve all her problems.  In doing so, the headquarters console shuts down, and her world goes gray. Fear realizes “we can’t make joy feel anything” as Riley tips into depression. 

Joy and Sadness get back just in time for Riley to connect to Sadness, and thus reconnect to herself. She is able to use her Wise Mind and recognizes running away might not be the best solution. Rather, what she really needs is support.  She gets off the bus, goes home, and shares with her parents what she has been feeling. They respond with understanding, compassion, and validation, allowing for Riley to have her first dialectical emotion experience. 

Key Take-Aways

1. Every emotion is important; even the ones that feel unpleasant, uncomfortable, or even unsafe.  When we try to push our emotions away, we may inadvertently experience more distress and be less likely to get our needs met effectively, perpetuating pain and suffering.
2. Validation is essential.  It is the opposite of avoidance and goes hand-in-hand with acceptance.  Both are required for being able to engage with reality as it is, with grace and compassion, and make informed choices about what to do next – whether that is to tolerate what is, seek support, pursue change, or a little of all three.
3. Dialectics allow us to validate and accept the nuances and complexities of being alive. It is rare (after a certain age, as shown in the movie) that one moment is just happy or just sad.  Rather we are much more likely to experience multiple emotions that may even be conflicting, all at once and each one of those emotions is present for a reason.

For Clinicians:  I hope this inspires you to think about Inside Out and emotions from a new perspective. Now go see Inside Out 2!

For Those Seeking Healing: Ditto!