Whether you’re watching a scary movie or tiptoeing through a haunted house, Halloween can stir up spooky feelings.
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Halloween → watch → feelings
A gory scene may force you to cover your eyes or jump out of your seat.
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scene → force → seat
What drives these reactions is fear, a powerful core emotion.
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drives → drive → reactions
Being afraid can feel like getting stuck in your own horror show—your heart pounds, your pupils dilate, and you may gasp or scream.
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you → feel → show
These reactions are not under conscious control; they’re rooted in biology.
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they → root → biology
Like all emotions, fear plays an important role.
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fear → play → role
It helps you survive and bolt for safety.
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you → help → safety
Halloween gives you a chance to experiment with fear.
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Halloween → give → fear
It’s a time when the fright is real, but the threat is not.
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threat → ’ → ?
As psychotherapists who specialize in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), we know that being able to name and work with fear is good for health.
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being → specialize → health
Acknowledging your emotions makes you less likely to suppress or avoid them, drink too much, or become numb to what you’re feeling.
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you → acknowledge → what
While these behaviors take the edge off temporarily, research shows that stuffing down your emotions can lead to mental-health concerns, such as depression and anxiety, which have become more common among U.S. children and adults in recent years.
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which → take → years
If you’d like to safely explore your relationship with fear this Halloween season, here are five exercises we recommend.
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we → like → fear
Recognize fear in your body
Have you ever tried to outsmart fear?
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you → recognize → fear
Perhaps you scolded yourself for being a scaredy-cat or tried to stop the feeling with logic.
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you → scold → logic
Messages from society and our families often promote a mind-over-matter approach, reinforcing the belief that we can think our way out of an emotion.
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we → promote → emotion
A healthier approach is to get out of your head and tune into your body.
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approach → get → body
These physical sensations are important messengers that clue you into what core emotions you’re experiencing.
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you → clue → emotions
Once you identify and name them, their intensity will likely diminish.
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intensity → identify → them
It may sound like a small act, but research shows that putting language on your emotions can help regulate and tame distress.
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putting → sound → distress
Watch fear come and go
Gripping, painful emotions can seem permanent.
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emotions → watch → ?
But watching them come and go can remind your brain that even the most frightening experiences are temporary.
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experiences → watch → brain
During a spooky scene, you may want to cover your face or turn away.
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you → want → face
Observe how fear builds, peaks, and eventually subsides.
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fear → observe → ?
When fright takes hold, breathing techniques like 4-7-8 breathing or box breathing can soothe your nervous system.
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techniques → take → system
Taking long breaths instead of shallow ones sends oxygen to your muscles, which can help relieve tension.
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which → take → tension
You can also practice what eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapists call “dual attention.”
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desensitization → practice → what
Keep your eyes glued to the frightening scene and stay with the sensations in your body as you take deep belly breaths.
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you → keep → breaths
Research shows that belly breathing increases parasympathetic regulation of the heart through vagal pathways, helping the body settle into a calmer state.
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body → show → state
Discover how fear makes you want to move
When a ghoul jumps out or a frightening sound catches you off guard, pay attention to what your body wants to do.
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body → discover → what
Do you feel an urge to flee, freeze, duck, or reach for someone’s hand?
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you → feel → hand
All core emotions, including fear, have impulses—energy in the body that makes us want to take action.
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us → include → action
When someone responds to our emotions with shame instead of empathy, we learn to block these impulses, creating a pressure-cooker effect.
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we → respond → effect
This can lead to symptoms like insomnia, muscular tension, and rumination that can hurt your health.
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that → lead → health
Noticing fear’s impulses expands your emotional awareness and sets the stage for you to work through other core emotions with greater wisdom.
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you → notice → wisdom
Notice how connection changes fear
Sharing a scary moment with another person can make it easier to tolerate.
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it → notice → person
That’s because having someone by your side doesn’t just provide reassurance; it calms the amygdala, the brain’s emotional center, and helps you heal past wounds and traumas.
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you → ’ → wounds
We recommend this experiment: Watch a horror movie alone, and then with someone you trust.
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you → recommend → someone
Notice what happens when you share the experience.
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you → notice → experience
A little emotions education goes a long way towards nurturing your well-being.
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education → go → being
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
