Discussion Anyone else watch emotional or tragic media. (tv shows , movies, even video games) when they are depressed. Does it help ?

[Spike Spiegel]

When I go through a prolonged depressive episode I usually feel numb and disconnected to the world around me. To feel anything I often find my self watching sad, emotional or deep media.
Examples include - Fallen angles, Chung king express, In the mood for love, cinema Paradiso, the Holdovers , dead poets society, Drive, Million dollar baby, Vampire hunter D Bloodlust, Cyber punk edge runners, Terror in resonance, cow boy bebop, death parade.

I think I do this both as an escape from reality. But also just to feel something. If I can't feel or explain my own emotions maybe feeling somebody else's is a close replacement. Weather I can relate to the actors or not is irrelevant. I just want to see others go through trial's and tribulations . I think it also makes me feel less alone. Even if the story is fake there has to be somebody out there who feels this way. My Instagram reels an twitter feed mostly old movies and tv shows. Even those 30 second reels briefly make me feel something. Another part is it makes what I'm feeling seem more important.

Let me know if anyone else does this and please drop media recommendations.

other media that fit the above mood -
Days of wine and roses
requiem for a dream
train spotting
submarine
moonrise kingdom
KIDS
Perfect Blue
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
the bicycle thief
Black lagoon
12 angry men
neon genesis evangelion
Taxi driver

 

[Forever Sleep]

I do this too. 'Requiem for a Dream' is probably my most watched disturbing film. I have to be in a very specific low spot to watch that. Like you though- maybe it is also to break out of the numbness and feel shocked/ disturbed.

I've gone through phases of having disaster documentaries on in the background too. Chernobyl, the Boeing Max crashes, engineering failures, serial killer documentaries. None of that can be healthy! But then, I suppose it's to make myself feel something intensely.

Sometimes, it's to reassure myself that my life is safer than that. Watching the numerous accounts of domestic abuse, con people, domestic homicides- it makes me grateful to be single.

One film I'm not sure I can watch again is 'The Whale' because it was just so sad. I'm not morbidly obese but I am really overweight so- I related to him.

It's interesting though- our choice of media- and how it relates to our mood. I watch a whole range of things. Even comedy sometimes. It's not like I am in a good mood often really but, I suppose there are so many nuances to our emotions and where we want to then push them.

The weirder one is when there are sad moments in a film or series that you somehow forgot about when you started watching it. Some films, I end up cutting off short if I don't feel able to cope with the ending. So- it works in reverse too. Sometimes, I don't want to sit through something sad or disturbing.