Introducing This Is How I Feel: An Essay Series Exploring the Relationship Between Media and Emotional Expression.
Have you ever been asked by your therapist, "And how did that make you feel?" and the only answer that you have available in the moment is, "I don't know?". Have you then thought, "If only I could share with them about this movie, tv show, song, book, etc that perfectly explains how I'm feeling right now?" Or maybe you are one of the lucky ones and you have been able to form a therapeutic relationship that allows you to express your feelings in ways that feel natural. Even when that involves spending 15 minutes describing the plot of your favorite comic book, so your therapist understands why this describes your feelings of isolation. The way that we express our emotions is much less important than expressing them and through my therapeutic work, I have been lucky enough to learn about and discuss my own relationship to how media has help me understand and express things about myself that I did not have the words for.
As a result of my therapeutic work with media in discussing emotions and emotional processing, I began to become interested in reviewing films with an eye on what possible emotional and mental processes different characters and stories could represent and the ways in which a language for discussing emotions could be created using media. Who best to start this understanding with than the person I understand at times the most and the least in the world, myself.
Through this essay series I will be discussing different forms of media and how they made me feel. Not just this made me mad but relate it to my own experiences and the ways in which it helped me grow in my understanding of self or confirmed feelings about myself and the world that I already had. I will also weave in some general psychoeducation, discussing topics like trauma processing, embodiment, neurodivergence, self-regulation, non-violent communication and much more. My hope is that those who read these essays will feel affirmed in the ways in which they express emotion and maybe even learn some new ways to communicate who they are to others.