Horror in Therapy: Working Creatively with Horror and Science Fiction Films in Trauma Therapy

Do horror films traumatise audiences or do they allow viewers to face their worst fears and survive? What is the appeal of horror or science fiction for trauma survivors? Therapist and book author Jenny Hamilton noticed that some therapy clients who were experiencing post traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD) began exploring their experiences of watching horror and science fiction films during therapy sessions. Horror in Therapy explores the possibilities for therapeutic dialogue around horror and science fiction films and examines their appeal for trauma survivors as a vessel for emotional processing and a way of seeing their trauma represented in some way within wider culture. Horror in Therapy asks if horror may appeal to some trauma survivors as a safe environment to process trauma and survive, but where the threat is not real. The book considers how therapists might explore client's experiences of watching horror and science fiction in trauma therapy, as metaphor and a means of emotional processing.