As a society, we have a collective interest and fascination with true crime, especially with murder mysteries and criminal investigations. This fascination has only grown and grown as the years go by, but has always been a rising interest since many years ago. For example, fascination began to spark back in the 1800s when the Jack the Ripper Whitechapel murders were prevalent. It captured the attention of the media and locals back then, which soon spread across the world, and still captures attention to this day!
There is no doubt that true crime is a cultural phenomenon that is captured via various media streams. From documentaries and TV series to books and podcasts, true crime captivates everyone by offering a look into dark tales and horrific mysteries. But why are we so fascinated by these? And have you ever considered what true crime consumption could be doing to your mental health?
Explore what true crime consumption can do to your mental health in this guide and understand why true crime stories grip us and spark our interest.
Why are we fascinated with true crime?
So, what grips us when it comes to true crime, creating a fascination? Well, numerous psychological factors push us toward the gory details of true crime. Mainly, the tales of true crime appeal to our inner morbid curiosity. There’s always that urge to take a look at a car crash or want to know what’s going on when there’s a lot of police in an area. This urge dates back to our evolutionary past and acts as a survival instinct, as we want to learn about potential threats to look out for them.
However, it’s not only a fascination to satisfy our curiosity. True crime can mirror our deepest and darkest fears. It gives us the opportunity to confront them and process them in a controlled environment. True crime acts like horror films as we can experience fear and anxiety in a safe way, with the added bonus of switching the TV off or closing the book whenever we like. Having this exposure in a safe environment can give us a thrill that we love to experience.
True crime stories can offer us feelings of justice and closure that we can be lacking in our own lives. We resonate with the stories of the victims and their families, holding onto hope that justice is served. We can feel satisfaction when criminals are caught and punished for what they have done, which can be very relieving for us.
Another huge aspect to what draws us to true crime is the curiosity of how a criminal’s mind works. We’re drawn to the tales of serial killers and their psychological state because we want to understand what makes somebody do such a horrific thing. We are drawn to figures with troubled pasts and unstable mental health to try and gain an answer to why they did something terrible.
The positive impacts of true crime consumption
Before we explore the negative mental health effects that true crime consumption can bring, there are positive impacts if you have a healthy consumption. Having a moderate amount of true crime consumption can actually positively impact our mental health and social awareness.
A huge benefit we can receive is the gift of increased awareness and vigilance. When we learn about real-life crimes and the processes criminals carry out, we can become more aware of the potential dangers that lurk out there that we could face. From this, we can improve our personal safety practices and gain valuable insight into how we can protect ourselves from danger.
Immersing in true crime stories can strengthen our empathy and compassion. Hearing experiences of the victims and their families allows us to gain a better understanding of the true impact that crimes can have. This developed empathy can be transferred into our personal lives, letting us be more sensitive to the suffering of others.
True crime can also be an avenue for emotional release as we can confront our fears and anxieties with crime and violence. We can watch, read or listen to horrific stories in a safe, controlled and comfortable environment. This can equip us with useful strategies to process these emotions that we can feel in our daily lives. It can work like exposure therapy, as true crime can help to reduce our overall anxiety levels.
The dark side of immersing in true crime
Even though you can experience benefits to your mental health from true crime consumption, it has been proven that there is a dark side. Just like with many things, consuming too much true crime can negatively affect our mental health.
A very common concern with regular true crime is serious anxiety and paranoia issues. Constantly exposing ourselves to violent crimes can actually adapt our perception of the world. We can view it as very dangerous, thinking the worst of the world and seeing it worse than what it is. This can lead to us seeing everything as a threat and having a heightened threat level leads to excessive worrying, hypervigilance and panic attacks.
As well as this, an over-consumption of true crime stories can potentially desensitise us to violence and gore. Consuming lots of graphic content can risk us becoming numb to the awful situations that we’re witnessing. This could affect our empathy and emotional responses in our personal lives.
A serious mental health issue from consuming more and more gory crime stories is experiencing vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress. These conditions can begin when we are constantly exposed to traumatic events, even if we aren’t experiencing them first-hand. We can start feeling symptoms of intrusive thoughts, emotional distress and nightmares – similar to what the real victims feel.
A popular negative effect of true crime can be lack of sleep or disturbed sleep. This is due to the graphic and disturbing details we witness in these stories. These details can easily stay in our minds, which can make it extremely difficult to relax and go to sleep.
How to balance your true crime consumption
With the potential mental health issues we can face with having a fascination with true crime, it’s vital to find ways to have a balance between sparking interest with true crime and over-consumption.
If you are constantly immersing yourself in dark tales and grim details, you need to reduce your engagement with this content and have a healthier and balanced approach. But how do you do this? Use these ways below to help you enjoy true crime without negatively affecting your mental health!
- Limit exposure with boundaries: Be mindful with your consumption levels and set specific times for engagement. Avoid binge-watching or consuming before bed.
- Balance true crime with uplifting content: Check that the media you consume isn’t all dark. Try to consume some positive content such as comedies or positive dramas.
- Practice self-care: Once you consume true crime, take moments to decompress and process your emotions. You could meditate, talk to a friend about how you’re feeling, journal or read.
- Use a professional if needed: If you are in a very negative mindset and constantly experiencing serious mental health issues, go to see a mental health professional.
It is essential for us to consume true crime stories in a cautious way, keeping the negative effects of true crime at the forefront of our minds. While true crime can give us valuable looks into human nature and society, it can be a huge danger to our mental health. Have a healthy balance of consumption with this type of content and try to avoid overconsumption to keep you happy and healthy!
