Although often used interchangeably, an
emotion differs from a feeling.
The movie Inside Out inspired
me to explore that distinction as well as the heroic emotion, sadness.
Pixar’s Inside Out, is an imaginary foray into the workings
of the brain. Inspired by his pre-teen daughter, writer and director Pete
Docter made the animated film to help us understand our emotional lives. He
consulted with psychologist, Paul Ekman and University
of Berkeley Professor Dacher Keltner,
whose studies reveal that there are six core emotions: anger, fear, sadness,
disgust, joy and surprise. Docter, however, found surprise and fear far too similar so he omitted the latter.
The protagonist in the film is 11-year-old
Riley, who has been blessed with attentive, loving parents and a smooth
existence until her family decides to move from Minnesota to San Francisco.
Leaving the familiarity of her home, school, and friends throws her emotions
into turmoil.
Each
of the previously mentioned emotions are depicted as brightly colored
characters: Joy, a cheerful,
petite yellow lady; Sadness, a morose blue blob; Anger, a short, red
rectangular figure with a masculine voice; Fear, a thin, tallish purple figure;
and Disgust, a green slithery female character. All of the emotions live in
Headquarters—Rileys’ mind— and work together to control her thoughts, memories
and behavior.
As
the movie progresses, Joy and Sadness get sucked into a tube (lost in the recesses of the mind) and lose touch
with the other emotions. A triangle of emotions (Anger, Fear and Disgust)
remains at the helm, but is inadequate to keep Riley functioning smoothly. In
the absence of Joy and Sadness, Anger takes over, motivating Riley to steal her
mother’s credit card and board a bus back to Minnesota.
The
tortuous journey is interspersed with moments of exhilation as Joy and Sadness
attempt to take charge again. Joy constantly undermines Sadness, as if Sadness
is a negative, damaging emotion. Finally, Joy realizes the importance of
Sadness, the natural emotion in the face of loss and the one that helps Riley
appreciate loving bonds and return to her family.
The journey is exhausting, interspersed
with moments of exhilaration. This viewer is left with the impression that our
emotions maintain a tenuous balance, easily disrupted by external events. Sadness is the heroic emotion in Riley’s as well as everyone’s life.
Now back to emotions versus feelings. The
distinction is important.
Through early life experiences, emotions
are laid down like railroad tracks; they form our personality structure.
Emotions are internal and specific to who we are and need to be acknowledged.
If they are not taken into account, they can make us sick, causing a range of symptoms
from migraine headaches to psychogenic seizures. By contrast, feelings are reactions to external events and
may need to be filtered before they are expressed in daily life.
A patient in my practice, Ms. M.
repressed her emotional response toward her roommate, an ex-lover who demeaned
her constantly. Over the years, the relationship became increasingly toxic,
causing her to have migraine headaches and suicidal thoughts. She began therapy
and connected the stimulus (the toxic relationship) with her response (suicidal
thoughts). She had repressed her emotional need for a loving relationship,
turning her anger against herself. Acknowledging her sadness allowed her to
move on to a more gratifying and intimate relationship.
By contrast, Mr. Q. exemplifies the need
to restrain feelings. A highly intelligent person, he had to learn to curtail
his frustration and anger at work when others failed to meet his expectations
to perform at his level.
Conclusion: Acknowledging sadness as a
key emotion allows us to process life changes. Distinguishing between emotions
and feelings is a guide to maintaining the balance of social adjustment and
physical and mental health.
Dear Reader, I welcome your thoughts.
jsimon145@gmail.com
