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Full Description
Horror movies can reveal much more than we realize about psychological disorders—and clinical psychology has a lot to teach us about horror.
Our fears—mortality, failure, loneliness—can be just as motivating as our wishes or desires. Horror movie characters uniquely reveal all of these to a wide audience. If explored in an honest and serious manner, our fears have the potential to teach us a great deal about ourselves, our culture, and certainly other people.
From psychologist, researcher, and horror film enthusiast Brian A. Sharpless comes Monsters on the Couch, an exploration into the real-life psychological disorders behind famous horror movies. Accounts of clinical syndromes every bit as dramatic as those on the silver screen are juxtaposed with fascinating forays into the science and folklore behind our favorite movie monsters.
Horror fans may be obsessed with vampires, werewolves, zombies, and the human replacements from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but even many medical professions may not know about the corresponding conditions of Renfield's syndrome, clinical lycanthropy, Cotard's syndrome, and the misidentification delusions.
Some of these disorders are surprisingly common in the general population. For instance, a number of people experience isolated sleep paralysis, a disorder implicated in ghost and alien abduction beliefs.
As these tales unfold, readers not only learn state-of-the-art psychological science but also gain a better understanding of history, folklore, and how Hollywood often—but not always—gets it wrong when tackling these complex topics.
Contents
Introduction
Part I: Movie Monsters from the Early Days of Cinema
1. Clinical Lycanthropy: The Werewolves and Were-Gerbils Among Us
2. You Suck, or, A (Diagnostic) Interview with the Vampire: Vampire Movies and Renfield's Syndrome
3. I Am the Walking Dead, or, The Whiter Shade of Pale: Cotards Syndrome and Zombie Movies
Part II: Modern Day Movie Marvels
4. One Two the Dab Tsob's Coming for You . . . : The Real-Life Mystery Behind A Nightmare on Elm Street
5. This Is Not My Beautiful House, This Is Not My Beautiful Wife: Horror Movies Related to the Misidentification Syndromes
6. Demons, Aliens, and Shadow People: The New Horror Subgenre of Sleep Paralysis
Part III: Monstrous Behaviors
7. Are You Gonna Eat That? Cannibal Movies and Vorarephilia
8. Shuddersome Sex in the Movies: Attracted to the Big Sleep/Stillness of Death: Necrophilia and Somnophilia
Conclusion: Better Living Through Horror
Notes
Index
