This week I will be discussing how horror movies can make us grow our willpower in everyday life!
It can be difficult to think of something that scares you to be a positive habit for you. Similar to tactics used in therapy, the more you practice something you get conditioned to it.
Related to horror movies, distress tolerance is known as developing the ability to not have a heightened fear response to a phobia by repeatedly interacting with that fear-inducing object.
The more you test your fear of horror movies you're exercising distress tolerance. This can help you exercise this with other fears in life. It can make you want to repeat it so you lose that fear.
For this reason, I want to provide a list of some horror movies that test your existential fears...
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Roman Polanski's film linger's with it use of an existential fear of not knowing anything about those who are closet to us. We can simply hold no meaning in their lives.
The recent mother to her child becomes violent in order to protect her child. It plays on the idea that not even your home and your mother is safe. This is true in real life because of the simplicity of the truth behind the fears of everyday life.
2. Alien (1979)
Ridley Scott's film offers a different view of space than movies released in the 80s'. After following a distress call, the crew gets invaded by an unknowing life force. This plays into the fear of the unknown and how there could be life forces out there that are unlike us.
3. Ring (1998)
Hideo Nakata's film about a video tape that kills you if you watch it plays on the fear of the inevitable: death. The only way to beat the seven day death sentence is making a copy of the tape and show it to someone.
It also plays on the fear that nothing goes unforgotten. The video once copied saves you, but you still can't forget the images you saw. Just like in real life, if something happens and people see it, that memory will always be there.
During the pandemic anxiety rates in people skyrocketed. People were forced to stay inside more and therefore had more time to dwell on certain anxious thoughts. During this time horror movie streaming increased. People started to rely on releasing their fears through watching horror movies.
People with anxiety have a slower flight or fight response, therefore every day life is fight or flight. Watching horror movies can be a way to release those feelings of anxiety in a healthy way that trains your brain.
After discussing how those with anxiety can potentially benefit from watching horror movies, I hope it helped change your mind about horror movies.
As always, thank you for staying with me and staying open to my ideas!
Tune in next week for my last blog post where I will be discussing why people love horror movies!
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