The new film directed by James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water, was released recently. The phenomenon that had seriously affected the daily life of Avatar fans twelfth years before the film Avatar was first on in 2009, Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome (PADS),  is causing mental health impacts on movie fans around the world once again. “I wanna go see the new Avatar again cause I gotta free ticket, but I also don’t want that post avatar depression to kick in right as I’m starting at my new job”;“ have post avatar depression bruh is wanna live on pandora and live how they live life’s not fair” “I legit had it for months after watching it.”;”I was also like 16 years old and struggling with gender identity so that was really just the perfect storm for the post-avatar depression.” These are tweets newly posted on Twitter not after 3 weeks.

PADS is an observable phenomenon instead of a medical condition, according to The Guadian; however, it represents valid feelings of depression and even suicidal thoughts after watching the Avatar film. People who experience these symptoms feel depressed and blue after viewing the film, since they find the vapidity and cruelty of reality and the disconnection between human and nature by comparing the real world they live in with the fictional planet  Pandora described in the film. When audiences leave the cinema, the separation between ideality and reality often shocks them and gives them a feeling of dissatisfaction and loss, which finally leads to depression. Jacob Williamson, a 25-year-old physicist living in Atlanta, Ga., forced to quit school for a whole semester because of PADS. Data could show that this phenomenon is not an exception.

The name of the symptoms, “Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome,” was picked up and labeled by the media in 2010 on fan sites after discussions about PADS had widely spread among various fan sites. According to CNN, a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible, “ The fan forum site opened in 2010, “Avatar Forums,” had received more than 1,000 posts. These posts were sent by people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them deal with mental health problems. The topic was so popular that the forum administrator had to create another thread so the discussions could continue.

People who suffer from PADS receive less respect than others. Offensive commentaries are founded below some tweets about PADS, and some commenders show their incomprehension of the emotions acerbically,  mainly due to the relevance between PADS and fan culture. Moreover, PADS has a much lower public interest and more doubts than other common types of depression.

Since Avatar: The Way of Water was released, though the movie is attractive, people who suffered from PADS before worry about whether their life will collapse again after viewing it, as well as other audiences with an understanding of this phenomenon. Their worries are indeed reasonable. At the end of 2022, the world was full of chaos. The war that started in February between Ukraine and Russia had not over; the energy crisis and severe inflation in Europe have sharply increased the cost of living of European families; shooting problems are causing more panic among US citizens since more teenagers and children are being killed by gun violence archive. These problems had expanded the gap between unpleasant reality and the idealized world in Avatar, making Movie fans more vulnerable to PADS 13 years before. The number of people suffering from PADS may deceptively increase in the future. However, the consequence is not absolute. With the experiences in 2009, people had already found ways to cure PADS and be physiologically prepared.

Two ways are suggested to cure PADS. The first is to build up a connection with nature. Ancient Forest Alliance, a Canadian non-profit dedicated to protecting old-growth forests, developed a three-step cure for PADS: “Get out and experience nature, take action to defend nature, and get others to do the same.” As one of the symptoms of PADS, the feeling of losing connection with nature can also provide evidence of a way of curation. Second, to allow oneself to be fully drawn in. it is a way that has proved to be rapid and effective. “I talked to my psychiatrist about it, and she had advice I was not expecting: Let yourself do it. Stop trying to stop yourself,” an Avatar fan says, recalling the weeks after he had exited college for a semester. “I watched ‘Avatar’ repeatedly, delved into the language community, and started learning Na’vi… After a week or so, it stopped. I have never had an incident since.” Asking for help through fan sites can also be helpful. In some communities, several members were affected by PADS, which means they are fully experienced and have enough information to get rid of PADS.