Horror Books and Mental Illness: The Link
Writing/Reading out the pain
Horror books and mental illness go hand in hand. Aubrey in Something (Wisteria 1), my debut book is a testament of that. I wrote her character for my own therapy at the time, and, believe it or not, my actual love interest at the time name was Nathan. He knows this and hasn’t yet reported me to the authorities for being the ultimate creepy psycho chick (thanks Nathan). Now when it comes to reading, it’s safe to say my genre selection goes by my mood.
Oh, and did I say the C word?
Truly, I say it with a grain of salt. I don’t think anyone is crazy anyway, I think we are all just confused and in pain, some more than others.
WE NEED SOMETHING TO RELATE TO!!!!!!! (AGAIN NO PUN INTENDED)Relatability
This is another reason why horror books and mental illness go hand in had. When it comes to books it is hard to imagine reading anything “light” and “lovey-dovey” when you are going through a dark period. That’s why I think even though we should stay positive, there is no harm in dark fantasy and horror books. Being able to relate to a character can literally save lives. I’m sure in the past my Elizabeth Wurtzel obsession saved my life. Her book Prozac Nation got me.
The Psychology Behind It
It is safe to say that I can speak a bit on this as I once went to university for psyhology and love to study the area. But don’t just take my word for it.
An assumption was always that people will typically choose pleasure over pain. Dark fantasy and horror books then cause confusion. Why do people want to be scared and isn’t “positive vibes only” a better option? Avid romance and clean Christian or clean YA romance readers may be among the variety that views things in this way.
Depression and Horror Movies/Books
Researchers have found a few theories to explain why people gravitate to horror books and movies. Let’s just say horror in general, be it documentaries like Deadly Women and Fatal Vows. The first is that certain people are excited by adrenaline and stimulation. People with ADHD for example, might find the adrenaline rush from being frightened (albeit in a safe way) enthralling. Another theory is that people who suffer from depression find it comforting to see characters make it through a hard situation.
Oftentimes people in a helpless situation, or who is suffering from depression might find comfort in comparing their life with the lives of the characters they read about. This goes for horror movies as well. It is not that these people like to see people suffer/lack empathy (though that also could be the case) but it is that euphoria of knowing that you can make it through even during the most frightening of situations.
A study by Eduardo Andrade (University of California, Berkeley) and Joel B. Cohen (University of Florida) argues:
“The assumption of people’s inability to experience positive and negative affect at the same time is incorrect.”
Happy to Be Unhappy
In theory, the authors argue that horror addicts are happy to be unhappy. This is, in my opinion, a cool radical acceptance approach to life. A skill that I learned in my dialectical behavior therapy to treat my borderline personality disorder. Because to live is to suffer, you can’t escape it and the whole “positive vibes only” might just coddle people into a fake sense of reality. But hey, that is their prerogative. I find a healthy balance of both is needed. Which is why in some ways I love having borderline personality disorder. Sure it can cause intense emotions but it opens my eyes to a broader range of tastes in things that I find most people don’t consider.
I still love my horror-addicts and clean romance addicts the same. But just want them to know that it is possible for people to experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously.
There Is Hope
There is light even #Withinthedarkness. Aubrey will recover as I am from my own borderline personality disorder and I hope my fiction writing can help anyone else out there dealing with their own inner demons and mental health struggles. I know it isn’t really standard to make your fiction fantasy books slightly autobiographical, but hey I am not conventional. Literally writing Something saved my life. It was therapy for me and I hope it can be for anyone else out there. And as I get better and more understanding about what BPD is I promise that book three in #thewisteriaseries will be a book of healing. This is a passion project. I intend to write as best as I can, growing up on literary fiction, but also try to make the book easily readable/relatable to other victims of trauma. #aubreywillheal #hopeforall.
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