HOUSTON — Fear is an incredibly important human emotion - often it can be what keeps us alive.
But as any scary movie enthusiast can tell you, fear can also be fun. According to the Cleveland Clinic, there is a good reason some people spend all October binging on horror - it lets us enjoy the physical rush of being afraid while still knowing we are safe.
Fear triggers a chemical reaction in the body, releasing adrenaline, endorphins and dopamine. We can experience the euphoria from the rush of all those chemicals without the stress of say trying to outrun a tiger. That is also why children often don’t like scary content - they are less likely to know it’s not real.
According to psychologists, it can also be a form of catharsis. We have all been in social situations that can trigger a fear or stress response but we are not allowed to show it. Say you get in trouble at work, your body may be telling you to cry or scream but socially it would be unacceptable. Meanwhile, in a haunted house or riding a rollercoaster, those responses are expected, allowing us a socially acceptable chance to release those emotions.
Scary stories also let us explore stressful situations in a safe space. The Cleveland Clinic uses the example of COVID-19. In the early days of the pandemic, one of the most popular movies on Netflix was Outbreak - a story of a deadly virus spreading in a small community. By the end of the movie the virus is stopped, the bad guys are punished and the good guys win.
It allowed us to deal with the stress of current events while reassuring us that everything would eventually be okay.