Can movies, TV shows & music make Relationship Anxiety, Retroactive Jealousy and ROCD worse?

Getting triggered by movies, TV shows and music?

If you suffer from Retroactive Jealousy, ROCD or Relationship Anxiety and you find yourself getting triggered by certain scenes in movies, TV shows or lyrics in songs, know you are not alone.

Are you getting intrusive thoughts about your partner's past or questioning and doubting the future of your relationship?

Are you having a hard time, trusting and committing to your significant other?

Whatever it is you are experiencing, mainstream media can definitely affect the way you feel. 

We asked our followers on social media how they think the mainstream media can affect Relationship Anxiety, ROCD and Retroactive Jealousy and here are some valid points that they made:

1. False idea of perfection and unrealistic beauty standards. 

This of course can lead to comparison, fuel mental movies (if you are a Retroactive Jealousy sufferer) as well as make you feel that these experiences are what your partner wants instead of you. 

It can also lead to you feeling that this is what your relationship “SHOULD” look like causing anxiety and confusion.

2. Normalising and even glamorising cheating, “side pieces” and casual sex.

Leading to people feeling afraid to trust their significant other, therefore doubting the relationship and the future of it. 

Retroactive Jealousy sufferers specifically, often compare their sexual experiences to what they see in the movies, thinking that this is what their partner's past looked like and assuming sex is meaningless or less special in their relationship today.

3. Watching movies, TV shows and listening to music that triggers you can lead you to feeling “abnormal”

Indirectly, messages have been fed to us via the media since we were extremely young. 

So, why would we question it now? It is just a movie right? No big deal. 

However, as we grow up, we become more self aware and don’t want to spend our time watching something that will make us feel anxious, insecure and doubtful. And that is okay!

You are allowed to question what you let in and how it affects you and your relationship. 

You can always take a break, work on what is being triggered within you and then re-evaluate what you want to watch or listen to. 

Because at the end of the day, it does affect you. 

Please watch the video above for more details and information on how watching/listening to certain movies, tv shows and music can affect you, especially if you suffer from Relationship Anxiety, ROCD and Retroactive Jealousy.