Horror Movie Trauma

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Horror movies today are a part of our culture, and different cultures around the world. This genre of movie may be a hit or miss with people, but it sure does have some devoted fans. People crave adrenaline; and scary movies can be very satisfying. The only problem is, some argue that seeing so many terrifying images can harm your psychological state and your health. In some cases this is true, but in many other cases people tend to handle fear quite well and learn to overcome it.

Neuroscientists have long been doing research on how fear and strongly emotional experiences tend to make a longer impression on one's memory. An article in the online journal Molecular Psychiatry, Daniela Kaufer and colleagues at UC Berkeley found out a new way that someone's emotions affect their ability to remember. They state that, "The brain's emotional center, the amygdala, induces the hippocampus, a relay hub for memory, to generate new neurons" (ScienceDaily 1). When these neurons are made, it is basically a blank palate to engrave the new memory in. There is research conducted by Joseph LeDoux, director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety in New York, implying that the things we associate with fear; different shadows in the dark or a slight sound, triggers the amygdala and "It triggers a body-wide reaction in milliseconds, pumping out stress hormones that prime the body for action" (Wall Street Journal 2). Other parts of your body are triggered when you become anxious as well. When this happens, our muscles need more oxygen and glucose, so our heart speeds up. A hormone called Cortisol is released in this process, but the bad thing is that if your body produces it for a long period of time it can hurt your heart, your immun...

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... their house and possibly hurt or kill you.

Trauma is a huge problem for people’s psychological and physical health. Some trauma we cannot prevent, but when it comes to scary movies, viewer discretion is advised. Make sure that you are able to withstand that kind of impact on your mind, or be ready to face the consequences of being scared or paranoid. There are constant arguments about how fear affects people, and the fact is that everybody is different. Embrace the fear and conquer it, or be destined to use a nightlight forever.

Works Cited

http://ur.umich.edu/9899/Mar29_99/9.htm

http://search.proquest.com/docview/750410736/fulltext?accountid=5683

Moroz, Kathleen J. "The Effects of Psychological Trauma on Children and Adolescents."

Mental Health (2005): 3-40. Print.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/212578759/abstract?accountid=5683>.

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