Disney Mental Health Series: “Inside Out” and Trauma Healing

“I don’t want to get too technical, but these are called core memories. Each one came from a super important time in Riley’s life. Like when she first scored a goal. It was so amazing.”

- Joy

Few Disney movies have managed to touch my heart and mind as profoundly as Pixar's Inside Out. Beyond its tear jerking story, endless laughs, and colorful characters, this movie makes simple the often confusing and elusive terrain of trauma. In this post, we'll explore five ways in which Inside Out helps us better understand trauma and its healing process.

Memory Formation

The movie's portrayal of Riley's memory formation is a brilliant and simplistic illustration of how we develop emotional memory and its importance in our lives. In the movie, Riley has a life experience and a memory ball is created containing that memory and colored with whatever emotion she was experiencing at the time. It is then filed in short-term memory before moving to long-term memory, unless it is considered a “core memory.” Sometimes, the memories and associated feelings get projected onto her present experience and impact the way she experiences the present moment.

In real life, we experience something similar. When we develop a memory, it indeed does get colored with emotions as well as beliefs about ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us. When a memory is processed, it leads to adaptive learning in which we develop a sense of safety, empowerment, and self-worth.

Islands of Personality

Inside Out introduces us to Riley's “Islands of Personality,” each powered by a core memory. Riley’s personality islands include “Goofball Island,” “Friendship Island,” and “Honesty Island,” among others. These aspects of personality form around a felt sense of safety and security in those domains of life. For example, she learns that it’s fun to be a goofball, comforting to have friends, and safe to be honest.

When we experience trauma, our traumatic memory cannot link up to the security that powers those islands, and that aspect of our personality cannot be accessed. However, rather than thinking of it as crashing for good, I think of it more as frozen. In trauma healing, we activate both the memories that powered that island of personality and the memory that is not processed so that they can link up and share their information.

Inner Parts

Just like Riley has different parts that operate in her head, we do, too! These parts are indeed protective and work to best keep us safe. However, it’s important to note that intent does not always match effect. While our parts might be working to help us, the effect they are having on us might be unhelpful. It’s also important to note the distinction between our emotions and our parts. Actually, our parts can experience feelings themselves, and it’s important to acknowledge and respect those feelings.

Another significant difference to note in the film from trauma healing is the relationship between Riley and her parts. In the movie, Riley’s parts are aware of her and see her, but Riley is not aware of them. Healing from trauma often requires becoming aware of our parts, cultivating a loving relationship with them, and working with them to craft a meaningful life.

Interdependence of Joy and Sadness

Notice how Joy and Sadness are frequently together, despite Joy’s best efforts to get away from Sadness. This relationship between Joy and Sadness teaches us a profound lesson about the interdependence of emotions. Mindfulness guru Thich Nhat Hanh describes the relationship between certain emotions as being “inter-are,” comparing their dependence on one another to the left and the right. One doesn’t exist without the other.

When we restrict our ability to feel sadness, we inadvertently restrict our ability to feel joy. In trauma healing, we must open to our emotional experiences by recognizing safety in the present moment to feel in a way that was not possible during the time of the trauma. By recognizing safety and allowing ourselves to feel the emotions associated with that memory, we gain a new emotional understanding of that situation and allow it to process to adaptive learning. Upon processing trauma with clients, I will frequently see people both cry and laugh as their emotional range widens.

Re-coloring Emotional Memories

Inside Out shows healing when the once solid-color memories are touched by other emotions and become modified into a more accurate and well-rounded understanding. This beautiful illustration of re-coloring memories in the movie mirrors the actual trauma healing process.

In real life, trauma occurs when our external stressors overpower the internal resources we have to cope with them. The healing process then begins with developing the resources needed to cope with the emotions and understanding encoded in the memory. We then retrieve memories from long-term memory and use the present-day resources to modify and re-color them. The newly developed lens of safety and empowerment helps these memories integrate into our understanding, fostering a sense of acceptance and healing.

Inside Out invites us to explore our own inner world, including our emotions, thoughts, memories, and parts of our personality that help us navigate life’s challenges. The impact of how our past experiences may be coloring our perception of our present moment frequently lies below our conscious awareness. Taking time to get to know our own inner characters can help us understand what experiences from the past might need further care and ultimately help us find joy in the present moment.