Local psychiatrist Frank Anderson doesn’t usually expect anything life-changing from children’s films. But when he saw the previews for the new Disney-Pixar film “Inside Out,” Anderson recognized some very familiar principles being personified—and distributed—on the big screen.
As a trauma therapist who lives in Harvard and practices in Concord, Anderson has spent the past 11 years specializing in a relatively new treatment modality called Internal Family Systems (IFS). Originally developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in the 1980s, the IFS premise is that each of us is made up of different “parts,” which function together like an internal family. Some parts manage others, attempting to navigate trauma and protect us from emotional wounds. Unlike other psychological models, IFS views talking and interacting with these different parts of the self as normal, rather than as symptoms of pathology.
If you’ve seen “Inside Out,” this concept probably sounds familiar. For those who haven’t seen it (and without giving too much away), the film follows a young girl as her life is disrupted by a cross-country move. Riley’s emotions are the film’s main characters: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust all struggle to deal with this traumatic event. Eventually, Joy and Sadness get exiled into the deeper reaches of Riley’s mind, and they have to learn to work together as they journey back to “Headquarters” to help Riley gain back her emotional equilibrium.
A surprise to filmmakers
Surprisingly, the filmmakers did not know there was a model of psychotherapy that so closely fit the script they’d been working on since 2009. But to Anderson’s clinically trained eye, the similarities were undeniable. At last year’s annual IFS conference, Anderson showed a preview clip to the 500 mental health practitioners in attendance to see if they agreed. “Everybody went wild! It really depicted the work we do,” said Anderson. “I knew then that I wanted to get affiliated with this movie.”
Just a short time after the conference, Anderson’s hopes for affiliation were realized. Almost by happenstance—the brother of a friend knew someone in Hollywood—Anderson found himself in conversation with the film’s producer, Jonas Rivera, and director, Pete Docter.
“I said to them, ‘I really think you’re going to make an impact on the world,’” said Anderson, referring to his belief in the IFS model’s ability to help anyone achieve an inner sense of healing and peace. For their part, people at Pixar were pleased to work with Anderson, and this past June they collaborated on hosting a private prescreening of “Inside Out” for clinicians who use IFS with clients.
“We had 400 therapists at this prescreening event, and we had a discussion afterwards on the psychological implications of the movie. Dick Schwartz, the founder of IFS, was there. People brought their kids. It was a family event; it was a lot of fun,” Anderson said.
Being affiliated with media as wide-reaching and culturally relevant as a summer blockbuster film was deeply appealing to Anderson because, in addition to his clinical practice, Anderson is the chair of the Foundation for Self Leadership, a nonprofit that seeks to validate and expand the reach of IFS.
Beyond storytelling
“This film fits beautifully with our mission to bring IFS out of psychotherapy and out into the world,” he said. Part of the foundation’s mission is to train providers to apply IFS principles to everything from executive coaching and parenting to legal mediation and inmate counseling.
“This movie goes beyond storytelling, beyond entertainment. Normalizing this idea that we all have these parts and that it’s OK, for me this is the beginning of something huge,” he said.
While not every aspect of the movie accurately depicts the nuances of IFS theory, Anderson says the filmmakers still “did a beautiful job of depicting the complexity of our emotional life as we experience life’s trials and tribulations.” Anderson believes that the application of IFS principles, as shown in “Inside Out,” is beneficial for everyone; the principles can be applied to anything from trauma recovery to parenting.
“For example, parents might say, ‘Oh, don’t feel this way,’ instead of really allowing the kid to have that feeling and experience, knowing it’s just a part of them. I think it would be helpful to address that in parenting. It’s OK to feel, and [these ideas] can help parents allow space for that to happen.”
Anderson plans to continue to teach and educate children and parents about their emotions using the film’s characters, and he is excited about future collaborations with Disney-Pixar.
“They have normalized and brought emotional awareness to something that is hugely important, namely that it’s OK to have feelings, it’s OK to feel sad. I love the fact that sadness is a hero of the movie. It is a powerful lesson, certainly, from my perspective as a psychotherapist.”
