Many people cosplay as a hobby and for fun but most of them don’t know the benefits it brings to their mental health.
Cosplay comes from the words costume play. It involves dressing up as your favorite character from a movie, drama, or video game. It is a fun and creative outlet to get the creativity flowing.
Taking part in cosplay may start from a young age but it has a lot of psychological benefits for the human mind.
According to global statistics, Maintaining good mental well-being is now more challenging than before.
As stated by WHO, 1 out of every 7 individuals suffers from mental health challenges on a daily basis.
These challenges can vary from eating disorders to anxiety to behavioral disorders and other problems that can hinder a person’s daily life. However, cosplaying can be one of the effective solutions to tackle this problem.
In this blog, I will discuss the reasons why cosplay can become a way out for your mental well-being.
What are the advantages of cosplay?
Hands-on skills such as sewing, prop fabrication, and hair styling is among the many advantages of cosplay.
Cosplaying as a pastime also aids in developing problem-solving, time management, and money management abilities, all of which may be applied in various areas of life.
While it may appear to be a strange pastime, cosplay fosters several highly useful abilities. Technical abilities may be applied in a range of areas, while soft skills can help you with everything from making friends to job interviews.
There are several parts to creating a costume, including clothes, wigs, makeup, and accessories. Furthermore, the role-playing part of cosplay aids in the development of social skills. Ultimately, cosplaying is a highly beneficial activity that teaches skills that may be applied in various aspects of life.
How does cosplay help with mental health?
Other than the fact that cosplay is fun there are more reasons why more and more people love cosplaying every day.
| Influence on Mental well-being | Reasons |
| Boosting Confidence | Non-judgemental Behavior, Encouragement, and motivation from fellow community members. |
| Enhanced Creativity | Costume designing and witnessing the costumes of fellow cosplayers. |
| Improved Social Behavior | Meeting new people at conventions and online communities. |
| Punctuality | Working on costumes to finish on time for a convention. |
Impact on Behaviour
According to a study, wearing certain attire can greatly influence a person’s behavior.
Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky, cognitive psychologists at Northwestern University, have been researching the psychological and performance-related impacts of wearing particular items of clothing.
For this occurrence, they came up with the phrase enclothed cognition. Enclothed cognition refers to the process by which an article of clothing can change an individual’s psychology.
People wearing a lab coat when described to them as a Doctor’s coat had a better performance than the people who were told that they are wearing a painter’s coat.
Similarly, people who wear cosplay stuff enjoy the social connections that they make at comic conventions or cosplay conventions. They enjoy the confidence they get from their costume, props, and makeup.
The psychological makeover of dressing up as a cherished character is a strong motive, and cosplayers claim it as one of the reasons it is satisfying.
According to a study, the delight of dressing up as another person is the main motivating factor for cosplayers.
Motivates People To Set Goal For Themselves
To portray characters in their particular clothes, one needs to have the necessary materials as well as a clear set of aims.
By setting specific criteria for your cosplays, you may be able to subconsciously incorporate that style of thinking into your other activities outside of cosplay.
It is a positive thing because it will allow you to have a more efficient and effective approach as you encounter different events in your life outside of cosplay.
Being goal-oriented can help you become more organized and systematic, and deal with things in a disciplined manner while keeping a clear image of what you need to achieve in mind.
Cosplay Brings Confidence
When a cosplayer chooses a costume, they are frequently embodying a certain character or group of characters because something about that role resonates with them personally.
And since they are adopting a persona different from their own, cosplayers have reported more confidence and a better self-image in their regular life when cosplaying.
Often, it is one who is more powerful, popular, or possesses any other feature that the cosplayer admires and wishes to emulate, even if only momentarily.
Cosplaying can be a fun way to unwind from the stresses of everyday life, or it can be a tough undertaking to work on occasion.
Cosplay Gives Room For More Social Interactions
The cosplay community is by far the most coolest and non-judgemental people I’ve ever seen. They are connected with each other by a shared passion for their favorite series, genre, media, or literature.
They encourage you to do what you love and as result, you’d observe an increase in confidence among the members. They’ll be able to do things that they found difficult to do they would interact with more people.
It feels good when fans gather around to take pictures with their favorite character and make a small chat with you about the character or the show.
These small chats make room for greater social interactions. Even in high schools, you’d find people who do cosplay and talk to them about it.
In short, cosplay can be a great way to start socializing and taking part in public speaking.
Cosplaying Is A Creative Outlet
Last but not least cosplaying is a good way to keep yourself busy when you are going through a rough patch in life.
Getting those creative juices flowing relieves your stress and anxiety to some extent. And the time you’d spent overthinking you can use that to work on your costume and props.
Seeing all the brilliant works of cosplayers makes you want to improve your skill and make a better costume. This activates dopamine in the brain, giving you the drive to improve your craft and continue with your cosplays.
Is cosplay a good coping mechanism?
Cosplay is utilized by many people from all walks of life as a form of coping mechanism, a means to be comfortable in their own skin, particularly for those with mental health difficulties such as social anxiety, poor self-esteem, and introversion.
When some mental conditions prevent people from socializing, whether with the wider public or with a small group of close friends, cosplay can help alleviate fear and anxiety, allowing them to enjoy themselves more.
Cosplayers can go out and be someone or something different someone more like who they want to be for a few hours.
What’s so good about cosplay?
First Is Creativity
As someone who is into art without much formal education related to the field. Cosplay is a vast field with many self-taught artist experimenting with their looks.
They learn how to make costumes, what is the right material for them? Where to find the props and find the right patterns on the fabric matching the themes. The whole process makes it a fun learning experience.
Act Out Your Chosen Character
This requires modeling and acting!
Not just the artistry, cosplay involves acting too. Acting like your favorite character replicating their mannerism and even the way they walk.
Entertainment And Fulfillment
The entertainment that comes after the hard work.
Both kids and adults love the cosplayers playing their favorite character and would interact with you and take pictures with you but if you are playing the antagonist then you’d probably see them letting it out on you.
Which also means that you’ve been doing a good job acting out the character.
What is the psychology behind cosplay?
Costume play is a really effective tactic and any type of role play, whether with or without a costume, allows a person to express themselves with far less danger and responsibility.
This self-exploration continues unabated, and new habits are evaluated to determine whether they will be effective.
When utilized constructively, this enables self-discovery and testing of one’s surroundings and talents. It allows a person to try sharing things about themselves and see whether they are rejected, as well as to stretch their comfort zones. It enables the testing of anxieties, such as allowing a shy person to attempt outgoing behavior to determine how well it works for them.
A costume, character, or disguise, on the other hand, allows a person to hide their darkest and most detrimental actions.
Final Verdict
- People who suffer from mental health issues have found this hobby beneficial.
- It actually helps people develop a sense of community and a sense of meaning and purpose that they might not have otherwise.
- Cosplay provides them with the objective of finishing a costume on time. It also encourages some social engagement, particularly at conventions, which benefits general mental health.
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