Proven: watching movies is particularly good for your mental health
I prefer to watch a movie every day. Just completely escape into another world, wonderful! Most of the time I watch simply because I enjoy it, but you can get much more out of it. Movies can actually be good for your mental health.
A movie actually contains different elements that are also used by psychologists. Music, metaphors, and stories. They can all evoke emotions in us and help express your feelings. The storylines also provide a sense of recognition. You see characters experiencing things that you might also struggle with, and you feel less alone. To really get something out of it, it is important to engage with it more consciously than you might be used to. Not just lounging on the couch, but actively watching and thinking about what you see.
Before you choose a movie, it's good to take a moment to reflect on how you feel and which genre fits that. Watching a sad drama when you're feeling down can be nice to release your emotions, but it can also just worsen your feelings. It's important to assess which way it will go, after all, you know yourself best. Once you've found something that makes you feel good, be aware of your emotions while watching. What does the story do to you? Which characters can you relate to? Do you feel more relaxed, or not?
It can be nice to write down all these feelings after watching. Then you can take a bit of distance from them and come back to them later. Seeing how characters deal with their problems and how they find their solutions helps to gain new insights yourself. Giving advice to others is often easier than figuring out how to deal with your own dilemmas. The characters are actually doing that for you. They show what they would do, and you can take exactly what is valuable for you from that. No matter how imaginative a story seems, if you pay attention, there is always a lesson hidden behind it.
You really don't have to dive so deep into a movie all the time. Relaxed watching is sometimes just nice. Still, it's good to know that movies can offer you so much. See it as a tool that you always have at hand and can use whenever you want. Good job, you slacker.
Source: The Conversation
