Jayden Vaughn is a second-year journalism major and writes “The Community Chronicle” for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
Horror movies have been a big part of my life since childhood.
I already started working through the “Halloween” franchise when I was seven years old. By nine, I had finished almost all of the “Scream” movies. These kinds of movies played in my house nonstop while I was growing up.
I never needed the excuse of it being around Halloween to turn on a movie that should have given me nightmares. In my house, horror movies are on all year round.
I‘m sure there weren’t a whole lot of kids in my third-grade class who could tell the difference between Michael Myers and Ghostface, much less explain which movies they starred in and what their famous lines were — if they had any, that is.
Before I even reached the age of 10, I had already seen my fair share of blood and gore on my television screen. I swear I wasn’t a morbid kid — I just love a good jump scare.
These movies are still a constant in my life. And not only do I enjoy watching them, but I find watching them to be almost therapeutic. Watching them is an escape from the real world.
Anxiety is something I have dealt with my entire life, but it is something I have only recently been officially diagnosed with.
I knew that I hated the feeling in my chest that I got every time a minor inconvenience came up. I hated how I immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario. I’m no stranger to an anxious downward spiral. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve been told to “calm down” or “relax.”
It was liberating to finally be able to put a name to what I had felt for so many years after my diagnosis in 2022. It was freeing to have a doctor tell me something I already knew just so I knew that I wasn’t crazy.
Anxiety. I have anxiety.
Even with an official diagnosis, I was told I was better off without medication. Actually, I was told to just close my eyes and take deep breaths. That never seemed to help. It didn’t make sense to me then, but it makes more sense now.
I was a teenager in a world where some kids couldn’t be trusted with pills and prescriptions, and my doctor told me it would be best if I found unmedicated methods to help with my anxiety.
It has taken me a long time to find methods that would help soothe my anxiety whenever it flares up and even longer for me to realize that the methods that work for me might not work for everyone else.
Although it may not be for everyone, I have found watching horror movies to be a good way to reduce my anxiety.
Watching horror movies always gives me an excuse to stop the rampant thoughts running through my head.
Watching horror movies gives us a new focal point for all our worries. Coltan Scrivner, a researcher in the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University of Denmark, who studies the psychology of horror and morbid curiosity, discusses this idea in a 2021 article.
Scrivener wrote, “Once the horror film begins, the viewer still feels anxious, but not about something in their life that they can’t control.”
Watching these films allows my brain to stop overthinking and focus entirely on the people running for their lives on the screen. For some reason, all my problems seem to be put on hold.
I just lose myself in the mystery of trying to unmask the killer I’ve already met a thousand times before.
When we watch something scary, our fight or flight kicks in. However, once that fear subsides, we get a rush of adrenaline, endorphins and dopamine. According to Integrative Psych, the thrill of fear can be exhilarating to some people.
This adrenaline rush can serve as stress relief and temporarily alleviate tension. Horror movies allow us to experience intense emotions in a controlled setting, and the relief that follows can provide a sense of accomplishment and empowerment.
As long as we know we are in control of when the scary situation begins and ends, the satisfaction and relief that can come afterward can be worth it.
These positive feelings that can come after watching a scary movie are just another reason why horror movies are a good way to help with anxiety.
Another possible explanation for why we are drawn to horror films is because of the excitation transfer theory. This theory was popularized by Dolf Zillman, who is a professor of information sciences, communication and psychology at the University of Alabama.
According to this theory, the fear we experience while watching a scary movie will only intensify the positive emotions we feel later on.
There was a night not too long ago when I couldn’t sleep because my anxiety was spiking. It felt like my heart was about to lurch out of my chest. Looking back now, I can’t even recall the origins of my anxiety that night.
What I do remember, however, is how my heartbeat slowed as I watched the opening credits of “The Conjuring.” I remember how, after the movie ended, my anxiety was nothing more than an afterthought.
Of course, horror movies may not be for everyone, and that’s okay. There are so many other ways to help your anxiety, and as long as they work for you, that’s all that matters. Anxiety and stress are different for everybody. There isn’t a wrong or right way to deal with it.
For me, sometimes the answer to comfort lies behind a creepy soundtrack, a mask and a dastardly motive that is just waiting to be uncovered.
Contact Jayden Vaughn via email jayden.vaughn@bsu.edu.
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