Cinema therapy: look at your life

Have you ever seen a film that you felt had a direct bearing on your life? The foundation of cinema therapy is that relationship. It’s the notion that watching movies can enable us to discover new viewpoints, explore our emotions, and even recover from traumatic events. Movies, whether they’re inspirational adventures or touching dramas, can help us understand ourselves better.

We can safely explore emotions through film that we might be avoiding in real life. Observing characters struggle helps us to reflect on our own struggles and sometimes makes us aware of things we weren’t previously aware of. It’s an easy yet effective method for gaining perspective and processing feelings.

This post will examine the operation of cinema therapy, the reasons behind its high efficacy, and practical applications for you. Now grab your best movie and get ready to have a fresh perspective on your life.

Sad films

My friend asks, "Why does someone watch this boring crap a hundred times?" Life’s depressing moments are enough, without having to witness them all on screen!

It’s true that sometimes you don’t want to fall into the depths of a sad movie. However, there are instances when it matters.

Movies provide a release from tension and an outlet for feelings that aren’t often expressed. Which feelings do individuals "suppress" and conceal more frequently than others? True: grief and rage (usually felt first in a relationship).

Sad movies assist us in coping with bereavement, loved one separation, divorce, and pet death. People allow themselves to live for the first time by allowing ourselves to feel sad alongside the main characters.

Since theory is never as compelling as practice, allow me to illustrate with a story (name and identifiable details have been changed).

Mufasa’s Demise

Katya has always thought of herself as a "tough nut." She lost her parents at the age of sixteen after they all succumbed to illnesses, and she eventually adapted to handling everything on her own. There just weren’t any other choices. Tears getting sharper—that’smoreabsurdity! It’s not as though she was suppressing her emotions or not letting them out. She just kept her eyes closed. whatever transpired. when her boyfriend ended their relationship. when she permanently left her hometown. when her cherished dog was buried. Not a single tear.

It is true that she didn’t cry. Katya didn’t start choking until occasionally (roughly once a month), and for no apparent reason. Her chest felt like it was being squeezed by an iron hand. It was frightful. Really. But Katya was about to call for an ambulance when, out of nowhere, everything vanished. With a shrug, the doctors said, "a healthy young woman."

After reviewing Katya’s medical history, a neurologist once recommended, "It looks like you are having panic attacks." – For psychotherapists only, please.

It’s unclear how Katya’s story would have concluded if her friend and her five-year-old son hadn’t dragged her to the movies the previous year, prior to the quarantine. An updated version of "The Lion King" was being screened.

Katya had planned to wait in the movie theater with her phone, but she found herself glued to the screen instead. Mufasa, the magnificent and powerful lion, lay dying there. The small lion cub clung to him and let out a cry, "Daddy, get up, let’s head home."

Suddenly, the lump in Katya’s chest parted, the iron grip relaxed, and Katya started crying. She wept uncontrollably until the movie’s conclusion. Katya wept bitterly over her ruined childhood, her loneliness, and the fact that she was a sixteen-year-old girl who was abandoned by her parents.

She wiped away her tears and told her friend, laughing, that she had cried for a hundred years after the movie. She then resumed her regular life. She faced all of life’s challenges like a resolute tin soldier with dry eyes, refusing to seek therapy or soften.

But once a month, she crawls under the covers, gets a pack of napkins next to her, pours herself some tea, and switches on a new cartoon. The sequel to "Frozen," which came out last time, is currently in the works. Since then, panic episodes have not resurfaced.

Be aware that there are many causes and symptoms for panic attacks, and that self-medication and self-diagnosis can be harmful to one’s health.

A distinctive approach to examine and comprehend our lives is provided by cinema therapy, which is the use of films as a tool for introspection and emotional healing. We can discover hidden feelings, obtain fresh insights into our own experiences, and find comfort in the experiences of others by interacting with characters and stories on screen. This essay will explore how, by using the lens of storytelling, movies can help us look at our lives, work through our emotions, and ultimately promote personal development.

Horror-horror-horror!

Most people outside of a teenage setting do not generally love the genre of films that includes horror, thrillers, and other nightmares on Elm Street. Horror movies can be repulsive, unpleasant, and dehumanizing.

Many parents forbid (or strongly discourage) their teenagers (and especially children) from watching these kinds of movies, and many adults steer clear of them as well.

It is true that the psychological impact of scary movies is a process that is hard to regulate and, to be honest, hasn’t been thoroughly researched. Furthermore, a treatment that helps one person might make another feel more anxious and sleep deprived.

Psychologists hardly ever advise their patients to watch scary movies. only when they are fully aware of the impact it will have in a specific situation. On the other hand, the "horror" market is growing and in high demand.

Who are all these individuals who find themselves drawn to, or occasionally watch, "horror movies"? What is the outcome for them?

1. An incentive to live

Yes, despite how absurd it may sound, horror and thriller films can occasionally give a depressed person the necessary stimulating boost when their interest in life has waned and their interests have become disoriented. Note that these are not the same as clinical depression symptoms; movies will not be helpful in this situation. Why is that the case?

The fear of death is a theme that most scary movies play with. Heroes are plagued by insane people, ghosts, bad luck, horrific mechanisms, crashes, and other deadly threats.

The heroes literally risk death every minute in an attempt to survive (or die). The spectator experiences this sense of impending death. A person’s fear of death increases his desire to live, prompts him to reflect on his life, recall the important things in it, and reminds him of the things he still wants to accomplish. This is how a healthy psyche is put together.

Therefore, the desire for the horrible may indicate a state of stagnation in life and the need to rearrange priorities so that you can begin pursuing your true passions.

2. The need for separation from parents

A separate discussion about movies in the slasher genre is warranted (e.g., slash, which means "a blow from the shoulder; to chop" in English). These are well-known adolescent horror movies, particularly from the 1980s, featuring a maniac. Halloween, "Friday the 13th," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and "Scream" are a few examples.

These movies share a very similar plot: a bunch of teens, a crazy who randomly selects his victims, and one survivor who occasionally defeats the antagonist (usually a girl).

Even though the maniac picks victims randomly and without purpose, seasoned horror movie watchers can always predict who will perish first and who will survive.

Heroes who engage in "bad behavior"—such as drinking, smoking, or having sex—become the first victims in these kinds of movies. More "good" girls tend to survive.

These movies resemble "Little Red Riding Hood" in certain ways, the children’s story that warns you could wind up in a gray wolf’s fangs if you stray from the path in a pitch-black forest.

Furthermore, a terrible maniac is linked to a punishing, authoritative parental figure. The maniac first destroys and punishes the "violators," but in the end, he is defeated (at least temporarily). The primary challenge of adolescence is separating from parents and forming your own "pack." When parental instructions and prohibitions get in the way of this process, it’s easy to see the parents as evil forces out to "destroy" all that’s most beautiful in life.

The maniacal figure is revealed to be less omnipotent in the epilogue, as it transpires that he went through a great deal of suffering before turning into a monster. Additionally, the protagonist develops strength and independence, signifying the beginning of a new life.

According to this perspective, a transient teenage obsession with slashers may be a sign of excessive parental pressure or a way for the adolescent to express his fear and aggression toward his parents.

3. Expression of strong aggression

The audience can relate to both the victim and the persecutor heroes in horror movies, which is another argument against them. Isn’t this harmful to one’s mental health? Author Stephen King, who is undoubtedly familiar with this "awful business," described it as follows:

"Anti-civilization, dangerous emotions never go away, and they, too, require periodic training.

The mythic horror film (like black humor) does this dirty work. It selectively appeals to our worst manifestations – it releases our pathologies, our most base instincts, makes our most disgusting fantasies come true… and it does this in the appropriate darkness… Personally, I prefer to watch the most aggressive of them – for example, "Dawn of the Dead" – in order to lift the door of the cage of my civilized mind and throw a basket of raw meat to the hungry alligators that swim in this underground river.

Why bother? Because it keeps them from crawling out, my friend. It keeps them down, and me up. Lennon and McCarthy said that all we need is love, and I am ready to agree with that.

As long as the alligators fed".

Consequently, a horror movie addiction may indicate intensely suppressed aggression that needs a constant release. Additionally, if this is the case for you, seeing a psychotherapist would be highly recommended because alligators can be extremely dangerous and should be tamed. among other ways, with the aid of film therapy.

Therefore, for us, the most important aspect of every movie is the effect of recognition: the audience follows the protagonist for the duration of the story, picking up new behavioral techniques or making inferences from his own reliable patterns.

A novel approach to examine our own emotions and experiences via the perspectives of fictional characters is provided by cinema therapy. We can obtain a fresh perspective and frequently find answers or a way to let go of our emotions when we recognize ourselves reflected in stories. It involves more than just watching movies; it involves spotting the similarities between fiction and reality.

Cinema can help us connect to aspects of ourselves that we might not always see clearly, whether it’s dealing with loss, understanding relationships, or personal growth. We can see our lives through new lenses when we look into the mirrors created by the stories we watch.

In the end, movie therapy helps us to step back from our daily challenges and view our lives from a new perspective. It serves as a gentle reminder that, even in the most trying times, change is always possible and that we are not alone in our feelings.

Video on the topic

Films after which you want to live#psychologyofpersonality#film therapist#filmfortheevening#psychologist#film analysis

What to watch? Films that change life – cinema as a method of self-help

Hotline with Alexey Zhidkovsky. Irina Gross. Issue 14

▶️ Pure Psychology 1 and 2 series – Melodrama | 2024 – Russian melodramas

A BOMBING LIFE-FILLING FILM! LIFE FIRST Melodramas new releases

10 FILMS HELPING TO COP WITH DEPRESSION!

Artificial tells about his life #movies #cinema