True crime stories: from insight into psychology to anxiety

The popular true crime genre, which tells stories of real crimes, can affect the mental state of its viewers and listeners. On the one hand, such stories can help people better understand human psychology. On the other, they can cause anxiety.

Signs of that anxiety can show up in everyday habits. A person may check at least ten times that the front door is locked. In the shower, they may stay on alert in case an intruder with a knife breaks into the apartment.

The Latvian portal Apollo.lv spoke about the possible side effects of this kind of content with Arta Stūrmane, a psychiatrist at the National Mental Health Centre. This account draws only on the short introduction to the interview, so the psychiatrist's specific explanations and advice are not covered here.