Are you a crime buff? One psychologist says it’s a (blood) red flag.
“If your idea of relaxing before you go to sleep is watching three episodes of ‘Law & Order,’ I would encourage you to think about, ‘Why is trauma relaxing to me?'” Dr. Thema Bryant said on a recent episode of The Mel Robbins podcast.
When asked why some people might enjoy crime shows and podcasts before bed, Bryant said many of her patients say it’s because they feel “normal and familiar.”
“Some of us grew up in high stress, so people mistake peace for boring,” she explained.
“And it’s like, to come home to yourself, you have to lean into the discomfort because it’s gonna feel unfamiliar.”
Therefore, Bryant believes many crime aficionados have unresolved trauma and find watching stressful and sinister shows more relaxing than properly working through their issues.
True crime fans shared their shock realizations in the comments section of Mel Robbins’ TikTok video, which featured the snippet from her podcast episode with Bryant.
“This was a wow for me!” one viewer commented.
“Ans this was the moment I realized . . . I haven’t watched SVU since I went to therapy and started healing [sic],” another person wrote.
“Dammmm and I watch a lot of that daily wow what’s wrong with me!!!!?????” a surprised viewer said.
However, other disputed the theory that their love of crime content was because trauma was normal and familiar to them.
“Some of us just like the soothing voice of the narrator,” one argued.
“The trauma isn’t relaxing to me- it’s the justice the characters/real people often get that I never did in my own life,” another agreed.
Experts have previously claimed that true crime has a “learning component.” Researcher Coltan Scrivner recently declared that true crime viewers say they’d “feel a little more prepared” if they found themselves in a sinister situation.
Obsession with crime entertainment has soared in recent years — coinciding with the fascination in scam artists — and has given way to a rise of “citizen sleuths,” who have been memorialized in pop culture in the fiction series like Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”
However, the sometimes well-intentioned amateurs are committed to solving crimes themselves, they have often found themselves at the center of defamation lawsuits for supposedly wrongful accusations. More often than not, experts claim it’s more harmful than helpful.
“Many of these people gravitate to high-profile cases to either monetize the tragedy or advocate for one side. Often they do both,” attorney Joe McCullough previously said. “It can become very narcissistic.”