The claim that watching horror movies actually has mental health benefits is extremely enticing. After reading the article linked, I think that the claim is true but to a certain extent.
The majority of the article goes into the three positives or pros of horror movies on your mental health. The first one is that watching a horror movie will supposedly give you a feel good rush. The article uses evidence from Alissa Jerud who has a PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a clinical assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Supposedly when you see a "blood curling" scene your body is flooded with the hormone adrenaline. Jerud says that this rush can be pretty exhilarating for some. I think its key that they included the "some" part in the article. I am thinking that this is definitely not the case for a good majority of people. The second thing the article mentions is that it can help you cope with fear. It cites a study from 2021, Personality and Individual Differences. The study found that those who watched the typical horror movies, compared to zombie ones or alien invasions were actually more resilient and better prepared during Covid-19. I think this is a drastic comparison. I also think it is too specific and that zombie and alien invasion movies should be included in the mix with horror movies of becoming more prepared for a pandemic.
To counter this MSU Denver RED released an article that talked about horror movie fans are coping better with Covid-19. It included people who watch zombie, and alien movies though. So I think generalizing it as a whole and saying those who watch horror movies were more likely to cope and handle/deal with the pandemic is a better claim/statement.
https://red.msudenver.edu/2020/horror-movie-fans-are-better-at-coping-with-covid-19/#:~:text=And%20a%20fascinating%20new%20study,psychologically%20resilient%20to%20the%20pandemic.
The third and final pro the article lists is that watching a horror movie will teach you something about yourself. To summarize, the article says that if you are able to get through a scary movie like that, thats basically a sign of adversity, and that shows that you can overcome your fears. Again, I can see how this claim is true but I think it definitely depends on the person. The very end of the article asks if there are any negatives to watching horror movies, which is a point that contradicts their main point. They talk about how there are no long-term effects. This immediately caught my attention because I can easily see someone watching a horror movie and having trauma, being scared or paranoid for a long-period of time. So I think the claim that they make when they say mention there are only short term effects could be changed because again that doesn't apply to everyone.
https://edinazephyrus.com/psychological-effects-of-horror-movies/
Overall, the claim can be factual, but I think the main component of this claim is that it is not universal and shouldn't be applied to everyone.
