If there’s anything this pandemic has highlighted besides the obvious, it is the importance of mental health, especially since we’ve been forced to change our lifestyle over the various lockdowns.
Along with the changes to our lifestyle, the pandemic has also brought along a sense of constant fear and worry which has pushed many towards a state of unhealthy mental health.
But, there might just be a way to help you reduce distress and cope with the pandemic in a much better way, especially for horror movie buffs!
A study conducted by the Research Program for Media, Communication, and Society and the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University, Denmark, in April 2020 after Covid-19 had been officially declared a global pandemic, has revealed that horror movies have been helping people cope better with the ongoing pandemic, reported The Independent.
The study which was published on 15 September 2020 in the ‘Personality and Individual Differences’ journal said that apart from the fact that most people watch scary movies for entertainment, scary stories also presented ample learning opportunities.
“Fiction allows audiences to explore an imagined version of the world at very little cost. Through fiction, people can learn how to escape dangerous predators, navigate novel social situations, and practice their mind-reading and emotion regulation skills.”
According to the study which comprised 310 participants, those that indicated a preference for horror said that they had suffered less psychological distress over the past few weeks.
“Experiencing negative emotions in a safe setting, such as during a horror film, might help individuals hone strategies for dealing with fear and more calmly deal with fear-eliciting situations in real life,” it added.
Restricted to fans of horror
The research consequently warned non-horror fans to not seek out the scariest films in the hopes to improve their coping mechanism as “it may simply make it worse.”
Moreover, it explained that if you wanted to improve your skills on emotion regulation as well as help you deal better with the pandemic, it would be best to watch movies that are particularly scary to you, instead of movies that are considered to be the scariest in general.
Now we have a reason to watch horror movies!
Also read: Moved Back Home & Now You Can’t Stand It? It Could Be Family Fatigue
