Let’s talk about They Live (1988) and its portrayal of mental health themes of oppression, manifestation vs. reality, and the attention economy and ADHD.

They Live focuses on an ordinary man who discovers an alien race has been controlling the human population through subliminal messaging that promotes vapid consumerism. Is this a documentary? Maybe.

Mental Health is Horrifying is hosted by Candis Green, owner of Many Moons Therapy.

..............................................................

Show Notes:

As a special gift for my hallowed listeners, for a limited time use promo code HORRIFYING20 for 20% off The Horror Concierge: A Mental Health and Horror Tarot Readings + Film Reco. Order yours HERE.

Trickle-Down Behavior Analysis by Mark R. Dixon

American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition. Arlington, VA., American Psychiatric Association, 2013.

Association of Digital Media Use With Subsequent Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Adolescents. by Ra CK, Cho J, Stone MD, De La Cerda J, Goldenson NI, Moroney E, Tung I, Lee SS, Leventhal AM.

They Live Fight Scene: Secret Behind Cinema’s Greatest Brawl by Tim Buckler

Consumer Price Index: Annual review, 2022

What Does Barbie’s Box Office Bonanza Mean for Mattel Stock? by Jaime Katz

Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy by Jonathan Taplin

What Was the Subprime Meltdown? What Happened and Consequences by Will Kenton

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

The Work of Byron Katie by Byron Katie

Paying Attention: The Attention Economy by BER Staff

It’s summertime, ghouls! It’s hot, it’s humid, and wouldn’t you non-vampire people just love a day on the beach? Or are you afraid to go in the water? On today’s episode, I’m going to be talking about the OG summer blockbuster that made everyone afraid to go in the water, Jaws (1975).

Let’s talk about Jaws as a metaphor for emotional avoidance, its portrayal of existential themes of meaning vs meaninglessness, and believe it or not — pet and animal grief!

Mental Health is Horrifying is hosted by Candis Green, owner of Many Moons Therapy.

..............................................................

Sources:

‘Jaws’: The Groundbreaking Summer Blockbuster that Changed Hollywood, and Our Summer Vacations, Forever by Sven Mikulec

The Real-Life Drama That Almost Prevented Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' From Being Made by Lloyd Farley

Attachment and Loss by John Bowlby

The Strange Situation by Mary Ainsworth

Staring at the sun: Overcoming the terror of death by Irvin Yalom

The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche

What Song Quint Keeps Singing In Jaws by Kevin Maclean

Repressing Emotions by Angelica Attard Ph.D.

Veterinarians group fighting 'staggering' statistics on death by suicide in profession by Kevin Yarr

Not One More Vet

Replacing animal agriculture and shifting to a plant-based diet could drastically curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to new model by Ker Than

On the Endless Symbolism of the Best Summer Movie Ever Made: Jaws by Olivia Rutigliano

Steven Spielberg Regrets How ‘Jaws’ Impacted Real-World Sharks by Jacquelyne Germain

Support local bunnies!

Rabbit Rescue

Tiny Paws Rabbit Rescue

Let’s talk about the apocalyptic— today’s forecast is misty with a chance of monsters — low key 2007 creature feature, The Mist.

I had seen this movie a handful of times over the years and upon a rewatch for this episode, I really wanted this movie to just be about climate change. It’s easy to see it that way pure and simple — there’s literally monsters in the mist outside that prevent people from going out lest they get eaten. But on closer inspection, there is so much much more going on here and begs the question — is climate change really just environmental terrorism? And who exactly is the real monster here?

This episode explores the film’s portrayal of climate anxiety, a psychological concept called sense-making, in and out groups, spiritual bypassing, and hopelessness. Good times!

Mental Health is Horrifying is hosted by Candis Green, owner of Many Moons Therapy.

..............................................................

Sources:

The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle: Final Girls and a New Hollywood Formula by Alexandra West https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-1990s-teen-horror-cycle/ 

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9827912-incognito 

Canada wildfires: US East Coast sees worst air quality in years https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65828469 

The Social Psychology of Organizing by Karl E. Weick https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/134489

Deep Diversity: Overcoming Us Vs. Them by Shakil Choudhury https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/26781095 

Toward a Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Psychotherapy, and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation by John Welwood https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14457.Toward_a_Psychology_of_Awakening 

‘The Mist’ Is Still Relevant for Unfortunate Reasons by Kristen Lopez
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/mist-is-still-relevant-unfortunate-reasons-1060573/  

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91953.Leviathan 

..............................................................

Mental Health Resources:

Assaulted Women’s Help Line
awhl.org
416-863-0511

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
camh.net
416-535-8501

Distress Centres of Toronto
dcogt.com
416-408-4357

Gerstein Crisis Centre
gersteincentre.org
416-929-5200

Toronto Rape Crisis Centre / Multicultural Women Against Rape
trccmwar.ca
416-597-8808

Victim Services Toronto
victimservicestoronto.com
416-808-7066

Let's talk about 2023 AI dystopian murderous doll from the bowels of tech hell masterpiece — M3GAN.

It is my belief that horror movies reflect not only the zeitgeist of the time in which they are made, but also our inner most fears and anxieties. While this movie is a lot of fun and M3GAN herself is a riot, it also carries an incredibly powerful message about the potential impacts of AI on human attachment.

This episode explores M3GAN’s portrayal of our society’s overall garbage relationship to grief and conversations about death, existential themes of loneliness and isolation, and the intersection of technology, mental health care, and attachment theory.

Mental Health is Horrifying is hosted by Candis Green, owner of Many Moons Therapy.

...................................................................

Sources:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-01-05/m3gan-movie-malignant-akela-cooper-james-wan-horror

https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/resources/fear-of-death/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2062034.Staring_at_the_Sun

https://www.eterneva.com/resources/death-rituals

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fhumd.2021.684137/full

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13409-0

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/can-ai-treat-mental-illness

https://vos.health/

https://replika.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1295472.Attachment?ref=nav_sb_ss_4_6

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjvk97/eating-disorder-helpline-disables-chatbot-for-harmful-responses-after-firing-human-staff

Special Thanks To:

Danielle Matar at Geist

Kait Fowlie

Cover art by evil genius Chloe Hurst

Let's talk about the blood-soaked, prom queen of our dreams who — spoiler alert! — burns the whole ass gymnasium down cinematic masterpiece from 1976, Carrie.

One of my favourite things about the origin story of this movie is that after Stephen King scoured the deepest, darkest, recesses of his mind to conjure up the most horrific scenario that he could —a teenage girl has her period for the first time in a public school shower, leading all of her classmates to laugh at her and pelt her with tampons! Horrors!

This episode explores the film’s portrayal of interconnected themes of religious trauma and abuse, shame, and the monstrous feminine.

Mental Health is Horrifying is hosted by Candis Green, owner of Many Moons Therapy.

..............................................................

Sources:

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2566855/adapting-stephen-king-carrie-queen-of-prom-brian-de-palma-sissy-spacek 

A Night at the Movies: The Horrors of Stephen King https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2076787/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk 

Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame: A Relational/Neurobiological Approach by Patricia A. DeYoung https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22776119-understanding-and-treating-chronic-shame 

https://mashable.com/video/stephen-king-role-of-horror-dark-times 

Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers by Sady Doyle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43802026-dead-blondes-and-bad-mothers 

The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis by Barbara Creed https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/395435.The_Monstrous_Feminine 

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/10/17/449176709/horrible-things-happen-to-nepali-girls-when-they-menstruate-15girls 

Are you someone who watches horror movies and thinks — that nasty old well that Samara climbs out of in The Ring is really a metaphor for her grief? Or that like…Ghostface at his core is a spectre of intergenerational trauma?

I’m your host of darkness — Candis Green and I’d like to welcome you ghouls to Mental Health is Horrifying — the podcast where we journey through the depths and examine how mental health themes are portrayed in the world of horror. I’m a Psychotherapist who also happens to be terminally spooky. As the darkness-seeking bat that I am, I spent my childhood summers locked away in the public library scouring the aisles for books about Halloween, witches, and all things haunted. And surprisingly, my parents were not too concerned. So as a mental health professional and lifelong horror fan, I really can’t help but see the world through the lens of the macabre.

This is a podcast for horror fans who know that when it comes to what we fear, there is much more than what meets the eye.

From Carrie, to Michael Meyers, to Hill House and everywhere in between — join me each month as we discuss how horror is really a mirror into ourselves.

Listen on the free iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.