What Inside Out 2 gets really wrong about anxiety

Once in a while I get drawn into the cultural zeitgeist — mostly by my wonderful women friends. As I was sitting in this quaint outdoor market with my very sweet friend Eli the other day, I found myself in that exact scenario.

Looking at me with restrained glee, she leaned in as if sharing a well-kept secret and said, “Have you seen Inside Out 2?

I shook my head for just a second before she gushed, “Oh my gosh, you of all people are really going to appreciate it!”

“But, why me of all people?” I teased. I knew she meant that my clinical psychology background and work with children may influence my thoughts and feelings. But I probed a bit further.

“I don’t want to ruin it for you, but let’s just say the way they show how anxiety shows up in puberty, is spot on! I got really choked up when all of these other emotions come online when the main character hits 13.”

“Hmmm, that does sounds interesting! I replied enthusiastically.

Short of pinky-swearing, I felt like I now HAD to see this movie, if only so I could go back to Eli and dish about it.

And so, friends, I saw Inside Out 2, but brace yourselves for what may be a very unpopular opinion about my experience.

Anxiety’s not separate from fear

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

One of the biggest things this film gets wrong, is that anxiety is a unique and separate experience from fear. It’s not — anxiety at its very core is fear. While fear can be considered primal and result in the flight, fight, fawn response, anxiety is based on personal experiences. Children develop anxiety because something beyond their control happens that makes them afraid. And anxious thought patterns emerge to help them avoid this pain in the future.

In the case of Riley, the protagonist in Inside Out 2, she struggles with the fear of failure and the worry of being seen as unlikable and unlovable. Her friends are going to a new school without her, she’s been penalized in a hockey…