(Spoilers everywhere!)

Like any good therapy practice, we had an employee outing to go see Inside Out 2 on its premiere night, and it did not disappoint! Oh, the level of psychological nerding out that happened in that movie theater could never be adequately described. Next to Bluey (so good!), Pixar’s level of emotional depth wrapped in a simple and entertaining package aimed at kids is mind boggling. The recently released “Inside Out 2” dives deep into the complexity of our emotions, particularly focusing on anxiety and its impact on our lives. Here are some key takeaways from the movie that I believe offer valuable insights into understanding and managing anxiety and embracing our whole selves:

“Inside Out 2” emphasizes that every emotion plays a crucial role in our lives. Anger drives motivation/fairness, disgust keeps us safe from toxic experiences, joy brings love and enthusiasm, sadness helps us process loss, and fear alerts us to potential threats. Each emotion, including anxiety, is essential to our well-being and survival

“Inside Out 2” emphasizes that every emotion plays a crucial role in our lives. Anger drives motivation/fairness, disgust keeps us safe from toxic experiences, joy brings love and enthusiasm, sadness helps us process loss, and fear alerts us to potential threats. Each emotion, including anxiety, is essential to our well-being and survival

In a poignant scene, on their way down to the Belief System, Joy holds Sadness’ hand and declares, “where I go, you go.” This moment highlights that Joy and Sadness are interconnected. Our ability to love and attach is matched by our capacity to feel loss. This duality is fundamental to our human experience. Our sense of joy is magnified by our understanding of impermanence and the bittersweet nature of life. This also mirrors the Buddhist concept of impermanence, which teaches that all experiences, both joyful and sorrowful, are transient. Recognizing this impermanence can deepen our appreciation of joyful moments while also helping us accept sadness as a natural part of life.

The movie illustrates how core memories shape our beliefs and sense of self. Riley’s early experiences feed beliefs about herself and what is Good/Bad, Right/Wrong, and Safe/Unsafe. These experiences influence how we define the world around us and what our place in it might be. These experiences and beliefs contributed to her Self Concept and guided her actions, highlighting the importance of addressing and understanding our underlying beliefs. Addressing these underlying beliefs, experiences, definitions, and re-writing them is at the heart of what much of therapy is!

I loved the introduction of new emotions like Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui. Anxiety keeps us focused, future-oriented, and aware of threat/consequences. Embarrassment serves to correct actions or redirect when we’ve transgressed our own values or the values of the group to which we’d like to belong. Envy is actually pretty aspirational, reminding us of what we want, what we wish we could have, what we might strive for; and Ennui allows us to let it go and not give a s*#t sometimes. I might argue that these feelings are subsets of the primary emotions (i.e. Anxiety could be considered to be driven by Fear and Joy, Embarrassment by Sadness and Fear, Envy by Joy and Anger, and Ennui by Anger and Disgust), but that’s splitting hairs at this point. Each emotion serves a purpose, guiding our behaviors and helping us navigate safety, growth, goals, and complex social dynamics.

Anxiety was our main misguided character in this movie, and she is very accurately portrayed as never being satisfied. Anxiety is so important to our capacity to care about consequences, to plan and prepare for a successful future, and to imagine all the terrible horrible things that could go wrong so that we can avoid them! However, Anxiety constantly pushes for more safety, control, and worth, leading to a perpetual state of striving. This relentless pursuit can be exhausting and counterproductive, especially when the variables we usually *actually* have control over are almost nill. The movie suggests that accepting our inherent fallibility and the uncertainty of life can free us from the unrealistic demands of perfection. When Anxiety quite literally “let go” of the need for perfection/control, then Riley was able to function and actually move toward the things that mattered to her.

The film also offers practical strategies for managing anxiety. As Joy begrudgingly finds out (“I don’t know how to stop Anxiety! Maybe we can’t.”), we cannot simply get rid of Anxiety, or simply flip a switch to “not worry” about things. But, we can acknowledge anxiety and self-soothe. In the end, Anxiety was an important part of the team, but when she started getting too worked up they didn’t kick her out. Instead, they comforted and soothed her with a nice comfy chair, some relaxing tea (Anxi-TEA, I love you Pixar!), and tried to focus on what they actually had control over.

The ultimate message of “Inside Out 2” (similar to the first) is that compassion and acceptance of *all* emotions (and experiences) is key to regulation, connection, and growth. Inside Out taught us all emotions are valid (which Joy really really tried to remind herself of multiple times in Inside Out 2), but she still got caught up in her ways by tossing out any bad/uncomfortable experiences. We need those too! Riley was incomplete without her sense of her discomfort, failures, and disappointments.

Joy and Anxiety both wreaked havoc out of very good intentions (“I was only trying to protect her!”). When our parts operate as silos, without information from other parts or the whole, it is ineffective and incomplete. Both Inside Out movies demonstrate how each of them went astray and how all feelings/experiences are important parts of our full selves, warts and all. By the end the fuller sense of self is one that includes both our pride and insecurity, both our aspirations and fears, both our selflessness and selfishness, and everything in between.

Joy thought she was protecting Riley by throwing out any remotely uncomfortable memories (“keep the best, toss the rest!”), but she was really implying that anything uncomfortable/bad is unacceptable, making us inherently unacceptable because we are inherently fallible human beings who *will* experience the unwanted and unexpected. Anxiety thought she was protecting Riley by preparing and planning for things to go “perfectly”. “Perfect”, again, doesn’t allow for our inherent fallibility and the lack of control that we actually have over 99.999999% of the things around us.

By validating our feelings, being curious about what they are communicating, and understanding their roles (without putting them in charge!), we can integrate them into a cohesive sense of self and benefit from the information they relay. The movie beautifully illustrates this through the characters’ journey towards accepting and loving Riley as she is, with all her emotions and experiences as a fully integrated person. Emotions are important in motivating us, informing us, and informing others, but no single part should be running the whole show.

“Inside Out 2” provides a profound exploration of anxiety and its role in our emotional landscape. By embracing all parts of ourselves, addressing underlying beliefs, and practicing compassion, we can navigate our anxiety (and other emotions!) more effectively. The movie’s portrayal of these concepts serves as a reminder that every emotion, even/especially the uncomfortable ones, is an integral part of our path towards a fuller, more balanced and authentic self.