Women’s Day, Everyday Health

In today’s busy, crazy, stressful world, many of us turn to television and film for distraction—but they may be more than a great escape. “Fiction is a coping mechanism that does take us away from our everyday world,” says clinical psychologist John Mayer, PhD, who is also a novelist and screenwriter. “But it helps us with other important psychological issues in our lives.” Visiting a fictional world can be inspiring, because it gives us a chance to live in different reality and try out a different identity. Viewing fiction can encourage us to fight fears, can make us want to fall in love, can enhance our brain power, and help with mastery over our real worlds, says Mayer.

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