By Desire Emmanuel, with Agency Reports
A family in China sued their daughter’s school after she was diagnosed with acute and transient psychotic disorder, allegedly caused by a horror movie she watched in class, the country’s media reported.
The unusual case began two years ago, but was concluded in court. a few weeks ago.
In October of 2023, because their teacher was on temporary leave, a class of students at a school in Hangzhou, China’s Guanxi Province, watched a movie in the classroom.
Though no details about the film have been disclosed to the press, but according to the parents of one of the students, it was a horror movie that had a very serious impact on her.
Problems allegedly began on the evening following the screening, when the young girl began exhibiting unusual symptoms, including incoherence and a loss of touch with reality
Worried by her behaviour, the parents took her to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with “acute and transient psychotic disorder.”
The student’s parents filed a lawsuit against the school, seeking $42,000 in damages.
They claimed that watching horror movies directly contributed to their daughter’s mental illness and that the school failed to properly fulfill its educational supervision duties.
Medical records showed that neither the child nor other members of her family had any history of mental illness.
On the other hand, the school denied full responsibility, insisting that the student’s psychotic disorder was caused by her special constitution or potentially existing mental problems.
The institution’s lawyer told the court that it only accepted 10 per cent of the responsibility for the girl’s problems.
Before an official verdict was given by the court, a heated dispute erupted on Chinese social media, with some claiming that the school could have monitor the students and prevent them from watching such a horror movie.
Others defending it, claiming that the student’s psychotic disorder was only transient, meaning it eventually went away with treatment and medication.
In the end, the trial judge ruled that the school was negligent in over the watching of the movie and 30 per cent responsible for the student’s mental illness episode. The court therefore ordered the school to pay 9,182 yuan ($1,300) in compensation through insurance.
Acute and transient psychotic disorder can occur even in people with no prior history of mental illness, with situations where fear or anxiety is extremely heightened being the most common triggers.
