Whether I’m watching Jessica Jones or reading a Cass Neary novel I feel like I’ve taken something to temporarily ease my social anxiety. I can identify with the characters without interference from my own history of social failings. They’re not going to pass judgment on me so I end up liking them about as much as I would someone I just met. Perhaps because it’s a clean slate. I become interested in following their progress ...I feel sad when they’re hurt ...happy for their accomplishments…even shed a tear when they’re gone. Jennifer says I’ve entered a 'para-social relationship' with them. Kinda' sounds like the twilight zone. She compares it to a simulator. Even though you know they’re not real …they trigger the same feelings as someone who is. She says it’s another way the mind learns to navigate the social world without harm or fear of failure. Makes me think of the placebo effect. I know that placebos work by activating a healing narrative in the mind even when the patient knows they’re not real. And they're relatively harmless. So, perhaps there’s medicinal value in literary fiction, film and popular television shows. A way to mentally travel to distant places …populated by different people …and arrive home safely.
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