From jump scares to gore-soaked scenes, horror rarely sounds like comfort viewing. Yet emerging research suggests that fear, when consumed safely, can become an unlikely ally—training anxious minds to cope, and rehearse danger.
When eight-year-old Mitali Nath lost her mother to a severe asthma attack, she developed a penchant for reading thrillers and watching the goriest of horror content. Yet, it wasn’t till her 20s that she became aware that her proclivity to consume horror was a peculiar way of dealing with the trauma. “I still love watching horror stories—before going to bed. It makes me feel calm,” she shares.
As odd as it sounds, Nath’s statement is nothing out of the ordinary. While jump scares and gore may not seem like the most soothing watch, research shows that healthy doses of horror can be a reliable therapy during anxious times. “Horror movies in such cases may act as a training ground for the mind, where the mind can learn to cope with difficult emotions like anxiety, fear and sadness and prepare an action plan,” explains clinical psychologist Kanika Jindal.
Jindal points to the work of Dr Lauri Nummenmaa on the Psychology and Neurobiology of horror movies. Three factors are identified as being responsible for this appeal of horror—the universal human curiosity towards morbid and threatening subjects, the lure of feeling the emotions of fear and excitement, and the ability of this genre to teach one about dangerous situations within a safe context.
Another seminal study by psychologist Coltan Scrivner, showed that during the pandemic, people who consumed horror content regularly had better psychological resilience, and those who loved “prepper” genres displayed both greater resilience and better preparedness.
Though, horror for anxiety seems attractive, it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Clinical psychologist Shubh Gulati explains: Consuming too much horror can also be problematic, especially if one isn’t aware of one’s own capacity for horror.
Horror, then, is neither cure nor curse. It’s a mirror some choose to look into—to rehearse fear, and return to life steadier than before.