Scared

[Actress]

OK... When I was little I always used to get really scared of movies, TV programs and even my own nightmares. Then I got to grips with things and grew up. I'm 13 going on 14 now and it's happening again.

My friend was talking about this horror movie she'd seen called the human centipede and how scary it was. She said I should google it to find out what happened because she hadn't seen all of it and didn't know what happened at the end. To be honest she is a bit of a wimp so I googled it and I an advert for it and read the storyline. I felt a bid creeped out but I didn't think anything of it. When I went to bed that night I felt so scared I started to cry my eyes out. I couldn't forget the things I had seen in the advert and the horrible things in the movie. I told my mum I felt ill but I couldn't tell her the truth or she'd just send me back to bed. So I ended up staying up till about one o'clock in the morning reading books to try and take my mind off it. Then I eventually went to sleep.

I did the same thing when I was a little girl and I got scared, I told my mum I felt ill and forced myself not to sleep. I am settling back into the same pattern that I fought so hard to break.

This all happened yesterday night and I am still so scared of the movie and I know it's not real but it doesn't make it any less terrifying. What can I do to forget about this and stop being scared? Please help me!

[luvflamingos]

Hi Mary. So sorry this is happening to you. You are right. Just because its not real doesn't make it any less frightening. Why can't you talk to your mom? Talking to someone may be a really good idea. I think distractions are also good like reading, maybe homework up until bed time, maybe a game? I hope the nightmares go away for you soon. I know how terrifying they can be. Please PM me if you ever want to talk.

[Duty]

Talking to your parents about "The Human Centipede" is indeed possibly not a good move. If I remember correctly, it's an R18 movie. Some parents are not going to take it well that you were looking into an R18 film, so I can understand why you might not be too keen to talk to them about it.

In my opinion, the fear is just your conscience screwing with you. It will hopefully pass over time, but until then you might have some luck if you keep yourself busy, have fun etc etc.

- Grab some friends and go see a movie (Not The Human Centipede!!) at the cinema, or get everyone to crash on sofas at a friends place and have a movie night. Watch some teen classics. Make some noise, eat junk food, have some fun. Basically, spend time with friends and be social. Great way to put any worries to the back of your mind.

- Get some exercise in. You could go for a run, hit the gym and burn off some energy getting fit/strong. If you have a really solid workout (I am was a fan of spin classes on the bikes, but now I'm too poor for a gym membership ) it usually means you go home afterwards, eat dinner, then you're ready to fall asleep almost instantly.

- You are probably not the demographic for this, but I always used to find when I was little that if something had spooked me bad, I'd have a solid session blasting away bad guys/zombies/aliens on a computer game. Blowing massive holes in your fears with machine guns is good therapy

There's no magic cure to get it out of your head, so you pretty much either have to suck it up and wait it out (The hard option, but doable) or you can force it out with other stuff (Possibly more work than the first option, but more fun)

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Cheers,

- Duty

[JKmadu619]

I went through the "Reverse growing up" stage at 11. I found EVERYTHING scary. I found the plot for "The Scream" on wikipedia. I laughed at it, and yet at night I was always convinced he was comming to kills me. I had quite a graphic imagination.
I knew the movies were fake, but even so, any killer could smash my window and kill me before my family of heavy sleepers awoke.

Something that helped me get over my fears is first, pray. Religious or not, many non religious people still belive in angels, or kind spirits. Ask them to protect you. Another thing to do, is if you have pets, like a cat or dog, have it sleep either in your room, or better, on your bed. I have two small dogs, and one huge one. The huge on sleeps in the middle of my room, the one small one (Scruffy) sleeps on the floor but near my head. And Shaggy decided he likes to sleep near my feet. I know that if something's wrong, they would bark and warn me. I also have a pinata stick near my bed. I mean I could fight something off to give me another three seconds, right? Another good investment would be a can of mace or pepper spray. If you're really scared, keep it near you, and learn to use it. Most camping stores have these in keychain size, I used to carry around our famlies mace can when I was home alone until I felt safer. Now I rarely get scared, I was even able to watch the new Nightmare on Elm street without flinching. I laughed, because once you get over your fears, the scary movies and just movies with no plot and guys in make-up jumping out at one another.

[Actress]

Okay... Well things have got a bit better but I've stopped myself from sleeping because I don't want to think about it but I've got kind of ill and I need to get better ASAP because I've got a school trip to France next week. xxx