Halloween: Why Do People With Anxiety Love It?

I've seen people with an enormous love for spooky items since childhood. While I didn't know it then, I can outline their anxiety back to their childhood period. It wasn't until recently that I discovered this overlapping might look odd. Not everyone with anxiety is attracted to scary things, but many of them, even those diagnosed, share a desire for the eerie. When I step back and understand it as a mental health condition, I recognize that it may make much more sense than one may consider. Here are several reasons to help you unravel the secret of why people who run anxious still run toward spooky things.

Play

Many Americans link scary things with Halloween and the spooky autumn season. Even after COVID-19, most Americans participate and have done so for years. Outfits, creativity, and stepping out of daily norms gather the ideal potion for playfulness. Imaginative play has been connected to mental wellness and can be a self-care approach to adulthood.

Nostalgia

For those who have celebrated Halloween, it may stimulate nostalgia. It may be likely for those who have undergone anxiety in later years and those without having a childhood trauma. Even for those who choose to partake as an adult and did not as a child, this permission to play allows the inner child to explore and for the adult self to reap the benefits.

Familiarity

Halloween reminds us to consider our fears. People with anxiety don't need a day on the calendar for that thought; their minds are already there. Halloween may be seen as an unnecessary incremental addition of fear to an anxiously overloaded plate. Still, people living with anxiety are well-acquainted with fear.

Normalization

On a typical day, people who live with anxiety disorders are balancing their thoughts, striving to determine the fine line between reflection and rumination. People with anxiety tend to be isolated with their obsessive inner dialogue that sends the message that it is inappropriate to have emotions, much less to explore your deepest fears. Yet, on Halloween, all things eerie rise from the darkness, and the experience of being frightened is normalized.

Connection

Fear being normalized in spooky season, the door to connection open. People who live with anxiety may feel the invitation to address the monsters under the bed. It may be an inward exploration but it morphs into an external form. Some may lean into metaphors and archetypes to connect with themselves and others through the portals of costume, décor, television, books, and movies.

Empowerment

People who live with an anxiety disorder struggle with the unknown. To some extent, with safety in mind, Halloween provides exposure to fear. For example, when you watch a scary movie, you might be frightened. By viewing the trailer or sometimes simply hearing the title, you set your expectations of what type of alarm to anticipate, such as a ghost strolling in the background or a creep peeking into the window flush at the center of the screen. people who live with anxiety get to experience a closed cycle of anticipation, approach, startle, and comfort. The decision to spin through this may feel empowering, and that sense of accomplishment may also spill over into one's perceived abilities to manage anxiety.

I hope these examples have helped you know why people with anxiety may love Halloween. Remember, everyone's experience is unique. It doesn't mean that all who have anxiety will be drawn to horror or that it is healthy. What one may masquerade during the spooky season may be an overwhelming fear for others.