Who Should Avoid Halloween Tricks and Treats?

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

As we consider what might be a trick or treat for Halloween, there may even be those—adults and children—who should avoid Halloween completely, since it may provide triggers for related traumas and losses. Here are some candidates for those:

• Those with significant posttraumatic symptoms that will be vulnerable to related Halloween triggers
• Those with paranoid tendencies, given that there are enough inbuilt common Halloween fears from scary aspects
• Those who are in early stages of mourning lost loved ones, given the ubiquity of death-related scenarios and skeletons
• Those subject to the harms of sexism, given the common negative feminine images of witches
• Those previously overly frighted during past Halloweens, as mastering such a fear is generally not necessary for everyday life

For most others, Halloween can be a fun day in overcoming pretend fears, and for preparing for the fears of life that come up unexpectedly. It also offers a generally acceptable place for satirizing some public figures, although I have not seen many masks of President Trump so far this year. Then there is the opportunity to playfully convey some desired personal characteristics, such as my Sorro (based on Zorro) costume of “you’ll be sorry if you do bad things” that I often embrace for my purpose in society.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.