Prophylaxis of Stress – Movie Therapy

When I have some problems in life which distress or irritate me, the first thing I usually do to solve them is to sit in front of the TV screen and watch some positive movie. Of course, this action itself is not a solution but it still it cheers me up to watch the heroes experience some personal disaster and find a way out of it eventually. In my opinion, we should watch some films with more attention and learn to use some efficient movie practices of stress-removing in real life.

If you feel dissatisfied with your personal life, and some minor yet annoying everyday troubles poison your life slow but steady, the situation may threaten you with long-lasting stress. In this case you can use the method of Amelie, the heroine of a famous French movie. Amelie finds pleasure in simple joys of life – she throws flat stones into the water, put her hand in the sack of beans to feel their rough texture…These actions may seem a bit silly, but, in fact, they are really relaxing. Everything that helps to develop your fine motor skills is said to calm you down and distract your attention from unpleasant factors so occupy your hands with some work to get rid of stress.

Or, let’s take another famous movie which has already become modern classics – “Forrest Gump”. The main hero has enough reasons to feel completely stressed out – his naïve and kind approach to life is not accepted by the cruel modern world. So, Forrest decided to run, but not from his problems – he runs just for the sake of running. It is a proven fact that physical activity helps to deal with stress or even depression due to the great amount of endorphins which are provided by sports. Besides, Forrest, not knowing it, uses another effective psychological method of getting out of depression – he changes the scenery as running brings him to completely new places. It is unlikely that you will be followed by a crowd of fans, like Forrest Gump, but, at least, you will run away from your stress for sure only to face it later with new energy and courage.

“Friends” series is nearly the best stress-removing movie in the world. It is full of difficult situations but the heroes manage to find the way out with the help of humor and friendship. Let’s take Ross, for instance. His wife appears to be a lesbian and breaks up with him to live with another woman. It is a sufficient reason to sink into deep depression, but Ross’s friends come to his rescue and help him laugh at the ridiculousness of the problem instead of crying over it. The lesson is simple – if you have problems, do not deal with them alone. There are always friends to make you feel better and help find something funny even in the darkest moments of your life.

So, it appears that finding analogue with your situation in some movie and applying the methods of therapy of its heroes is pretty efficient way to cope with stress.