A creepy clown or chainsaw-wielding maniac lurking in the dark corners of a haunted house can be really scary for some people. But for thrill-seekers, scares are an essential part of Halloween fun. Whether you’re watching a spine-chilling horror movie or navigating a haunted maze, there’s nothing quite like the adrenaline rush, the hormone that stimulates excitement, alertness, and responsiveness.
How do we deal with fear?
Fear originates from the limbic system, one of the oldest parts of the brain, and causes people to overreact when faced with frightening situations. Threatening stimuli stimulate the amygdala. It alerts your hypothalamus, which sends a message to your adrenal glands, giving you an instant burst of adrenaline.
Your pupils dilate, your breathing quickens, and your heart rate and blood pressure increase. It all happens in a matter of seconds, even before you have fully processed what happened. Your body is preparing for fight or flight.
When the amygdala takes over, blood flow to other parts of the brain decreases, making them less functional. This means it becomes difficult to make good decisions and think clearly. That’s why you might scream while watching a scary movie, or raise your hand at an actor in a haunted house because you don’t realize the threat isn’t real. Immediately, the “thinking” circuits of the brain kick in, reassuring the “emotional” regions that things are actually okay. At the same time, it takes 20 to 60 minutes for the body to fully return to its pre-awakening level.
How to enjoy fear
When you feel fear, endorphins and dopamine are also released along with a rush of adrenaline. Dopamine is a hormone that is also associated with pleasure. The biochemical rush can lead to a feeling of joyful euphoria. Some people get more stimulation from this dopamine response than others. They often have lower levels of adrenaline and cortisol in their bodies, and higher levels of dopamine. This means that in a haunted house, thrill-seekers experience more pleasure and less stress.
The intense fear and adrenaline rush produces a powerful narcotic. Scientists have shown that stress alone can increase the release of dopamine in the brain’s reward pathways, causing the same brain changes seen with addictive drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine.
To truly enjoy a scary situation, you need to know that you are in a safe environment. When we experience fear at a haunted house or movie theater, our brains usually quickly assess the situation and decide there is no risk. The key is to trigger your fight-or-flight response to experience a flood of adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine in a safe space.
improved confidence
Some people enjoy pushing their limits and may derive a great sense of self-satisfaction when they are able to endure torrents of anxiety, tension, and fear. At the same time, scary experiences can help you cope with anxiety and fear outside of the movie theater. Research shows that horror fans are more resilient and experience less psychological distress than non-horror fans in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Stressful experiences can also strengthen bonds between people.
distract
Fear is a distraction and allows us to relax from the things that normally occupy our minds. In fact, Halloween-themed haunted houses first appeared during the Great Depression, when parents came up with a way to distract young people whose holiday pranks escalated into property damage, vandalism, and harassment of strangers.
Source: Northwestern Medicine. Penn Medicine; University of Chicago Press; “The Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence” by Dr. Anna Lembke. Science Direct; Psychological Science Association; American Ghost; Numbers
