Today is Halloween. Going through betrayal changes your emotional DNA. What other people call “scary” is child’s play for a betrayed wife. Conversely, simple things like a day at the beach or a commercial can scare the wits out of us – amiright? However, some things that most people find frightening and bizarre, we might understand. Hitchcock’s classic thriller would be the perfect example. Studied for decades, this horror flick is more than a cinematic masterpiece. Hitchcock is actually spot on with some rather complex and hard-to-understand psychological themes.

Spoiler Alert: The film is about a seemingly non-threatening young man, Norman, who runs a motel with his ill mother who lives on the third floor. You hear her nagging, critical voice throughout. A beautiful woman checks in to their motel for the night. Norman voyeurs on her showering then murders her at his mother’s behest. For those of us in recovery for sex addiction or betrayal, we see so much more! For me, this movie is about mother enmeshment (or emotional incest), sexuality and shame, those things we hide in the basement (our subconscious), sublimated aggression, and internal family systems (or parts). As betrayed partners, we know too well that when our spouses were sacrificed as children to their parents’ dysfunction, sadly we pay a very high price. It takes us years to sort it all out. And to think some people watch this for entertainment!

If you’re looking for a horror flick to watch on Halloween, maybe consider Psycho. I like the short synopsis below, too! (The narrator’s analysis that Norman was attracted to his mother doesn’t seem right to me, but his other conclusions are pretty good!)