Boost mood If you live with an anxiety disorder or depression, or you're simply anxious and stressed about work and family commitments, taking time to watch a movie could help improve your mood.
Movies bring us a sense of relief, even if they stress us out at first. Watching something suspenseful, like a thrilling Hitchcock classic, releases cortisol (the stress hormone) in the brain, followed by dopamine, which produces feelings of pleasure.
This can be described as a tripling down effect. The strengths that are portrayed in the film help the viewer to recognize such strengths inside themselves, so that they put the strengths to good use for their own lives, and so they feel better and more connected to people and the world.
It's also shown to reduce anxiety and make therapy more appealing. Film therapy was also shown to be particularly beneficial to certain groups of people. For example, research showed film therapy can help young autistic people identify their positive strengths and build resilience.
Your attention is captured and emotions elicited by the movie's story. Oxytocin is then associated with heightened feelings of empathy and compassion, further intensifying feelings of social connectedness and you pay even further attention to the social cues of the characters in the movie.
But why do these films make us happy? At the most basic level, of course, seeing a film's protagonist achieve happiness can trigger feelings of happiness in the viewer for the simple reason that humans are so wonderfully tuned to each other's feelings that even a one-dimensional image can trigger empathic connection.
Secondary research suggests that two unique elements of the cinema experience drove the findings: the focused activity and the shared social focus. These elements have proven long-term benefits on our overall brain function, memory, focus and productivity.
Movies can also help you release your emotions and act as a catharsis, sometimes helping you express some emotions you've been having a hard time expressing,” she says. And—depending on the movie—it can amplify positive emotions, Schiff says. “Movies can motivate you to change or improve things in your life.”
As previously said, watching movies can have a positive emotional impact. Movies can calm us down and soothe us. We reduce the stress within us by lowering worry, and even watching a movie may turn all negative thoughts into the better, as long as it is enjoyable.
Tyrannosaur, Breaking the Waves and Schindler's List might make you reach for the tissues, but psychologists say they have found a reason why traumatic films are so appealing.
Movies can have a truly powerful effect on your emotions. For example, they can cause you to think about people's struggles and how they overcame them. An example is Rocky (1978), which teaches life lessons like: Finish your work.
Consuming depressing content can actually make you feel good [because] of [increased] endorphins. Watching sad shows when you're feeling depressed in hopes that it will make you feel better sounds counterintuitive, but according to Lysn psychologist Nancy Sokarno, it's anything but.
Watching movies makes you more empathetic and strengthen relationships: Have you ever felt a character in a film was exactly like you or very similar to you? Maybe it is something about their personality or the portrayal of a character. However, this association also impacts individuals on an emotional level.
Films have the ability to change our lives. With stories that open up other experiences to us, and characters who navigate the forces that we also face in our own lives, the right film at the right time can be transformative.
Cognitive neuroscience research demonstrates that some movies can exert considerable control over brain activity and eye movements. Studying the neuroscience of film is based on the hypothesis that some films, or film segments, lead viewers through a similar sequence of perceptual, emotional and cognitive states.
There are films with strong moral, social or psychological messages that can have an effect on people if it causes them to assess how they act in the world. However no film can make anyone do anything. It's purely individual and a matter of what one chooses to do with what they see and learn, bad or good.
According to psychologists, watching movies and seeing positive traits in action can help inspire us toward self-improvement. When you queue up a movie at the end of the day, you may feel a twinge of guilt: You really should be reading another bedtime story to your child, or catching up on work emails.
If you live with an anxiety disorder or depression, or you're simply anxious and stressed about work and family commitments, taking time to watch a movie could help improve your mood.
Cinema therapy or movie therapy is a form of expressive therapy – like art, music and dance therapy – for medical and mental health issues. It is also used as a form of self-help.
Dramas or tragedies. Even dramatic or tragic movies could spark an emotional response. Similar to laughter, crying could activate the release of endorphins, according to a 2016 study. Dramatic movies could increase feelings of gratitude and reduce feelings of isolation.
From sad movies to sad novels, tragic tales often connect us with our emotions and allow us to feel gratitude for the good things we have in our lives. Experts also suggest that these sad stories help us appreciate the things that make our lives meaningful.
Movies associated with nostalgic feelings are inherently tied with a longing for the past, which is what makes them so attractive to individuals who are not satisfied with their current situation. Rewatching a comfort movie also provides a sense of familiarity that often manifests itself as a coping mechanism.
It may be that movies offer you the perfect environment to express those kind of emotions. Maybe it's the intimacy that you have when you watch movies or it's the lack of predictability of what can happen, compared with everyday life you may explore every event through logic and control.
Watching a movie is much more easily consumable way rather than reading a book. A motion picture is more visual and easier to remember, compare with written works like books. Reading can push your imagination cause you'll be a part of the story, yet a movie helps you visualize the situation easily.
