EXCLUSIVE: Shraddha Walker Murder Case: Expert tells if 'serial killer crime shows have negative impact on viewers psyche'

The brutal incident of a 28-year-old man Aaftab Amin Poonawala, accused of murdering his live-in partner Shraddha Walker has left the nation in shock. The professional food blogger has been accused of butchering his girfriend of over 3 years in the apartment they shared in Delhi's Mehrauli. Aaftab reportedly watched many crime shows, and allegedly killed his live-in partner after a quarrel over marriage and confessed that he got the idea of chopping her body into 35 pieces after being inspired by American crime TV series 'Dexter'. Zee News Digital spoke to Counselling Psychologist, Aanchal, who elaborated on whether such dark shows have a strong impact on viewers minds:

Q. Do serial killer theme based shows have a negative impact on viewers?

A. A show cannot have a negative impact in terms of inducing a will to actually murder your partner. Serial killer theme based shows might have some adverse impact in terms of viewers feeling anxious and/or scared. Especially shows that are true-crime based as it makes people realise that killers like these exist and some truly horrible things happen in the world. However, these shows can’t mould or influence psyche of humans to the extent that they kill someone or commit any sort of crime. There has to be a psychological predisposition.

Q. Do you think it should be banned completely?

A. Banning these shows wouldn’t be beneficial in any way. In fact, humans have more curiosity about things that are banned or inaccessible. These shows should be made more ethically. The makers should have a lens of empathy towards the viewers in general and the survivors and their families if it’s true crime. There should be clear trigger warnings and disclaimers in the beginning.

Q. How to tell whether a person needs psychiatric help?

A. Individuals with complex and childhood trauma often need psychiatric help. People who have a history of child sexual abuse, parental abuse, intimate partner abuse. Behaviourally, those who
continuously have anger outbursts, don’t show any emotions or empathy and have extreme reactions to their inconveniences i.e they can’t regulate their emotions. People who have a
distorted sense of reality - hallucinations, dissociation, delusions etc would also need help.

Q. Can counselling help such extreme cases?

A. Counselling with trauma-focussed therapies could be effective in such extreme cases. Examples: Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Compassionate Inquiry. Mainstream therapies like CBT and REBT work on a surface level. They treat symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, PTSD etc but they don’t work with the core issue that causes psychological distress and leads to maladaptive coping. Trauma therapies on the other hand work with the root cause of distress. Individuals who show psychopathic traits have a lack of empathy, problems showing emotions etc. Most of them coul have a troubled childhood where they did not receive love and empathy themselves, their emotional needs were not met or they saw continuous domestic violence, they stop emoting or feeling altogether to save themselves from experiencing the pain everyday. Since they could never express emotions in a safe manner they might do so in harmful and extreme ways. Here, working with the core childhood trauma would actually help the individual regulate themselves and prevent resorting to killing or committing other crimes.