Creepypasta for mentally disturbed 12yr old - where do you stand?

[Gambatte 877]

The title says it all really.

We have more than sufficient this child is severely disturbed. On top, he's fascinated obsessed with these stories and characters. Though I don't think these stories are the cause of his mental problem, more likely just an add on. I think he sees himself in them.

 

Where do you, as a parent, stand?

 

[Guest]

Which one specifically do you find disturbing? They're just scary stories? You didn't like those as a child? Morbid curiosity? Isn't that part of growing up?

[Gambatte 877]

Do you know them?

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

Do you know them?

Yes, I know what they are and have read them in the past. Here is the wiki:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creepypasta

 

Quote

 Creepypastas are horror-related legends that have been shared around the Internet.[1][2][3] Creepypasta has since become a catch-all term for any horror content posted onto the Internet.[4] These Internet entries are often brief, user-generated, paranormal stories intended to scare readers. They include gruesome tales of murder, suicide, and otherworldly occurrences. The subject matter of creepypasta varies widely and can include topics such as ghosts, murder, zombies, and haunted television shows and video games.[1] Creepypastas range in length from a single paragraph to lengthy, multi-part series that can span multiple media types.[4]

 

Here is a subreddit devoted to it: https://www.reddit.com/r/creepypasta/

 

Here is one of many websites hosting stories: https://www.creepypasta.com/
 

You haven to decide if you want your child reading this stuff or not. The same way you decide when they can watch Alien and Terminator 2. But reading it doesn't make someone disturbed. But they'll just print them out/share them on their phones. It's hard to prevent children reading/watching something.

 

It reminds me of a UK TV show I watched as a child: Strange but True

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_but_True%3F

[JN53 355]

1 hour ago, jamiegw said:

You haven to decide if you want your child reading this stuff or not. The same way you decide when they can watch Alien and Terminator 2. But reading it doesn't make someone disturbed. But they'll just print them out/share them on their phones. It's hard to prevent children reading/watching something.

 

This reminds me of the saying, garbage in, garbage out. I'm not saying creepypasta is garbage, as I have no experience with it, but just thought I'd give my two cents worth.  As for where I stand, I never watched Alien or Terminator and wouldn't want my kids watching either of those movies.

[food mom 754]

Please clarify "We have more than sufficient this child is severely disturbed."

Are you his parent? Caregiver? Teacher? Neighbor?

Sufficient ... what?

What kind of mental illness are you referring to please? I ask because I've lived in some very "Christian" areas of the world where kids going through a Goth stage have been regarded as "mentally ill". I think that this also happened right about the advent of Heavy Metal music...

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, food mom said:

 I ask because I've lived in some very "Christian" areas of the world where kids going through a Goth stage have been regarded as "mentally ill". I think that this also happened right about the advent of Heavy Metal music...

 

I also got 80's Satanic Panic vibes from this post... they even included it in the latest season of Stranger Things on Netflix. Communities worried about Heavy Metal music, Dungeons and Dragons etc.

[Gambatte 877]

8 hours ago, food mom said:

What kind of mental illness are you referring to please? I ask because I've lived in some very "Christian" areas of the world where kids going through a Goth stage have been regarded as "mentally ill". I think that this also happened right about the advent of Heavy Metal music...

This child has been suffering from depression for months, medically diagnosed, and has already attempted suicide. Made many cuts on his arms with a knife (stolen at home) in the school bathroom. After the suicide attempt spent a period in psychiatric hospital. He is fascinated by representations of violence and often makes drawings / paintings of it. Having said that, he himself is very mild, has never shown any inclination of being able to commit violence to others (though he did many times on himself).

I consider neither Goth nor Heavy Metal music a problem.

[MikeMelga 7,212]

Last night my 9 years old came with such stories he saw on Youtube (some Russian gas experiment). We simply gave him the Wikipedia article about CreepyPasta and that specific tale, he spent 10 minutes reading it and realized it was all a hoax. We also poked holes on the story, to make it look less credible. But of course this is the age they discover death and become fascinated by it.

 

I think your presented case is showing some other underlying issues. Creepypasta seems to be a symptom, not the cause.

Heavy Metal is usually a way to release some steam, it can actually have benefitial effect, depending on the sub-genre. For example Groove Metal is all about enjoying and having a good time.

[dstanners 1,484]

Sorry to hear about the child. Hope he's got someone he is able to speak with about all the stuff going through his mind.

Haven't come across Creepypasta yet, but if that's doing the pre-teen rounds it will doubtless be turning up here any day. 

 

For the kids in year 6 here, hidden camera pornography was the big thing just prior to the start of the holidays (I thought I had a few years yet), along with YouTube videos of some sort sesame street type toy with daggers for teeth that turns on the kids who own it, oh and various comments such as: "why is no-one sad about all the Russians who are being killed? Why doesn't the Ukraine just stop fighting them". 

 

Right or wrong, I've taken a similar approach to @MikeMelga so far (and so far, it seems to be working ok). You can't stop kids accessing it (the porn is on phones of older kids on the school bus for example), so if they are going to see/hear about these things, it's better to be open so they tell you about it and you can advise/discuss, rather leaving it to their mates or their own imagination. Point out the flaws, explain what is not and cannot be true or real.  

 

[wien4ever 446]

I personally am not a fan of violent horror movies and stories. I remember in middle school and high school many kids watching things like Jason / Friday the 13th, Chainsaw massacre, Freddy Kreuger, Chucky, The Exorcist, then later in college it was Seven (the seven deadly sins), etc, etc..  

 

As a kid I was always a scaredy-cat and would have nightmares from watching that stuff, so it never appealed to me. Even older now and no more nightmares, I don't get a rush from that sort of stuff that some people get from seeing excessively detailed bloody violence. To me you have to be a bit disturbed to like watching that stuff, but maybe for others it is just about the experience of being scared (like a roller coaster). The other reason I don't like them is that I feel it disrespects the real life stories of people who have been victims of horrendous, sadistic violence and torture (victims of serial killers, people held as sex slaves, etc). 

 

On the other hand I do like Terminator movies, war movies, etc and there are people being shown shot and dying and there is some blood too. And in real life there are wars where people are dying too, so I guess I am no better and can't be judgemental. I guess I have a different threshold / tolerance for the level of detail I want to be exposed to...

 

 

 

 

[Gambatte 877]

9 hours ago, wien4ever said:

To me you have to be a bit disturbed to like watching that stuff,

In general, this would have been my conclusion too. You don't want to watch that stuff unless you are disturbed already. But I know examples of sane people that do enjoy it, so this is simply not the case.

The big question is: does watching this stuff make you disturbed? I suspect the answer is not, but not yet sure...

[kiplette 8,602]

It probably depends on the individual and their susceptibility to these things.

 

With depression it is important to shift the balance of experience to the positive, but what is positive for individuals is not the same. My instinct, like yours and wiens, is that these crappypasta things are a negative, but if the kid finds them enjoyable, maybe they are on the other side of his balance. 

 

Maybe something to discuss with the therapist who may have a larger view of the topic.

 

Sorry the kid is going through this, and for the whole family. Really hard.