5 Anxiety Insights from the Inside Out 2 Emotions

5 Anxiety Insights from the Inside Out 2 Emotions

The Inside Out 2 emotions are sneaky good at holding up a mirror and helping us learn about ourselves.

Inside Out 2 has become the highest grossing film of 2024 in the U.S. and globally. This past month, I’ve been thinking about how entertaining and moving it was to me, but also how instructive it is (especially about anxiety). Here are the ideas I found most important in the film and how they can help with anxiety.

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t seen Inside Out 2, bookmark this post and read after viewing.

1) Fear and anxiety are different.

As Anxiety explains in the movie, fear is responsible for all the scary stuff Riley can see, and anxiety is responsible for all the scary stuff Riley can’t see. Anxiety plans for the future.

Fear and anxiety are used interchangeably in conversation. Therapists, including me, often do it too because fear and anxiety can often feel similar in our bodies. When we ask ourselves “what if…” and visualize possible negative futures, there is perceived danger in our systems, and our bodies react accordingly. This is the reason visualization exercises can work so well for soothing anxiety. Research shows that when we picture and immerse ourselves in a detailed nature scene, it creates a sense of perceived safety, and we start to feel more relaxed physiologically.

So why do I bring this up? Even though they can sometimes feel the same, fear and anxiety don’t always call for the same thing in response. Fear arises in reaction to an imminent threat, something that’s happening right now. You spot a venomous snake on a trail or a pedestrian suddenly walks in front of your car. Your brain registers the sensory data and readies you to adjust in order to avoid danger. You back away from the snake. You slam on the brakes in your car. Of course, these are not choices you’re making but automatic and lighting-quick reflexes.

Fear usually prompts us to take an action to keep us safe (or to freeze). But this is not always the case with anxiety, despite the urge we might feel toward action. There are many times where the most appropriate response involves caring for the feeling of anxiety and our activated nervous systems, then assessing if there’s anything we actually need to do.

The Inside Out 2 emotions provide a great walk-through of this idea. At the end of the film, Riley’s anxiety is provoked while waiting for the results of the team try-outs, and Anxiety starts running through dreaded scenarios. Joy gently interrupts and thanks her for her input. She asks “is that happening right now?” which reminds Anxiety she’s lost in future-predicting and that Riley is actually safe in the moment. Anxiety is invited to think about what Riley has control over and what she doesn’t. They see that she can’t do anything now about the outcome of the tryouts. However, she can help Riley study for her test the next day. Before jumping into study mode, Anxiety takes a break in the form of sitting in a massage chair and drinking a cup of tea.

2) Our underlying beliefs can fuel anxiety.

Anxiety can be majorly influenced by beliefs formed from past experiences: about ourselves, about others, or the way the world works. Many of them are not even in our conscious awareness until we start giving voice to anxious feelings with someone else. Say, for instance, that your parent frequently became impatient or angry when you were learning something new. Unconsciously, a belief might crystallize inside about being “stupid,” incompetent, or unworthy when you make a mistake or something like “I’ll only be loved if I get things right.”

For Riley, she’s so excited and hopeful about playing on her school’s ice hockey team. When she reads the coach’s notes about her level of readiness for the team, and it doesn’t match her own, she’s crushed. Without anyone around to witness it or help her interpret that information, she concludes “I’m not good enough.” It echoes through her mind as she races around the rink, trying to prove her skill and escape the shame of that painful belief.

Beliefs may also form about what we think has to happen in order for us to be safe in the future. When we look closer, we often find they too have connections to the past (though the movie doesn’t really explore this point).  Earlier in the story, Riley learns that her two best friends are going to a different high school. She starts to feel the sadness of starting a new chapter without these core friendships, and Anxiety comes in shortly after. Riley sees the community and camaraderie of the girls on the Fire Hawks team and thinks to herself: “If I’m a Fire Hawk, I won’t be alone.”

From there, we hear various beliefs about what Anxiety thinks it will take to become a Fire Hawk: she needs to detach herself from her old friends. She needs the team captain to like her. She needs to make 3 goals in the scrimmage to impress the coach. Anxiety channels Riley’s energy into working toward these outcomes. She’s focused on preventing the painful prospect of Riley going through high school friendless and lonely. The way this unfolds inside of Riley mirrors a real process inside many of us. We can find ourselves locating the source of our safety on the outside — fixating on achieving specific results and believing they are the only way we’ll be okay.

When you notice you’re caught up in anxiety, a good question to ask is: what am I believing right now?

3) “Don’t worry” doesn’t work.

After the core emotions get bottled up and catapulted to the back of the mind, they frantically look to Joy for what to do next. We then hear Joy’s fool-proof plan: “when we get back up there, I’ll say: don’t worry so much, Anxiety! And she’ll say, thanks Joy! I never thought of that.” I love how the film, in a comic and non-shaming way, highlights how common this is as an inner strategy for anxiety.

Many times, what we’re doing is just repeating the kind of response we’ve heard and subtly internalized from other people. In these interactions, “don’t worry” ends up relieving the listener but doesn’t really help the person experiencing anxiety. It usually leaves them feeling bad for having the emotion in the first place. If only it were as simple as just telling ourselves or others not to worry.

What if instead we were offered understanding or asked “what do you need?” We can actually do the very same thing internally with the part of ourselves that’s feeling so anxious.

4) Anxiety has a protective purpose.

Most of us, at times, experience anxiety as an obstacle or an annoyance. We might ignore it, try to mute it, or keep pushing through it by staying busy. In other words, we can treat it as an enemy inside without realizing it. The film beautifully shows that, despite the swirl of discomfort it kicks up, anxiety has a positive intent. From an evolutionary perspective, it’s actually beneficial that we experience anxiety (to try and avoid what we anticipate will bring us harm).

The trouble is, our anxiety is not always right in its predictions. In the “projections” scene, Anxiety works furiously to ensure Riley has thought of every possible worst case potential. She urges on the Imagination Land team “we need to be prepared!” (As a side note, one of my favorite moments in the movie happens when Joy gets the other emotions to throw in possible positive outcomes, and Fear enthusiastically shouts “Riley wears kneepads!”)

In the film’s climax, Anxiety works herself into a final frenzy around the console, in which Joy intervenes. Anxiety falls to the floor exhausted, dejected, and tearful. She says “I’m sorry. I was just trying to protect her.”

I got misty-eyed myself at this moment, and I think it’s because recognizing the protective intention of anxiety leads you right into the heart of compassion toward it. Maya Phillips writes about being surprised by the empathy she felt toward her own anxiety in her NYTimes review.

I’ve seen this powerful moment happen in therapy sessions, and I cannot overstate the healing effects of this shift in attitude. When we make room for, get to know, and understand anxiety at a deeper level, there is a tremendous softening toward it. The possibility of a new and better relationship with it suddenly opens up.

5) None of us are defined by our emotions.

In the last struggle against Anxiety, Joy confronts her saying “you don’t get to choose who Riley is.” Moments later, Anxiety concedes she’s right—“none of us do.” Riley is not an anxious person or a cheerful person. Anxiety and joy are not fixed identities. They are just the emotions she experiences. And the same is true of us.

We all have emotional polarities inside of us: happy and sad, anxious and confident, excited and bored. Emotions come and go. This is not to say they don’t matter. I believe they absolutely do. It’s more to highlight that there’s a you who experiences all these feelings and has the ability to relate to emotions in a conscious way. Relating consciously to your feelings takes motivation, mindful attention, and practice. But it’s absolutely possible, and it makes life so much more manageable, enjoyable, and rich. And it’s oftentimes the very crux of the work in therapy.

How would it change things to see anxiety as trying to help you? What might it be like to have a relationship with your anxiety?

If you’re ready to get support with anxiety, schedule a free consultation today.

Elizabeth Dausch is an integrative therapist in Oakland, CA offering skilled support with breakups, dating, anxiety, and relationship issues. Her approach incorporates Internal Family Systems, somatic, and mindfulness practices, and she tailors therapy to each client's unique needs. Learn more about Elizabeth.

She can also be reached at (510) 683-5858 or elizabeth.dausch@mindfulcenter.org.