Anxiety when watching television/films

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Okay, so I don't know if it's just that post-traumatic stress has made my arousal levels ridiculously over-sensitive or something else (predictability?) but I find it really difficult to watch tv programmes and films.

Where I can I read the synopsis and maybe some meta-analysis so that I am not surprised and this makes it a little easier, but my wife thinks this ruins it (even when she has already seen the programme/film) and prefers me not to.

I used to have to stop every 5-15 minutes to pace and flap the whole way through, now I can (usually) watch the whole programme or film with minimal flapping or running away. I did have to hide my eyes in my sweater yesterday though and it still makes me very anxious at times.

I'm very bad at identifying what will happen and who will pair off with someone, it seems my wife and brother were able to do this before they've actually done anything just because of the way the film is set up.

The areas I find most difficult are:
- When it appears that the plot is about to do something that I can't predict the outcome of.
- When characters are flirting/PDA.
- When a character is doing something bad.
- When I know a character is lying (I find this the most distressing).

For these reasons, I find it quite difficult to watch anything other than animated films as these seem to have even more of the above.

Does anyone else have problems similar to these?

Oh wow, I'm the same way. I just figured I was really weird.

I get this really bad but not on your level.

I find when characters are flirting, when a male character is being shamed for poor social skills, PDA, I typically turn away or drown out the sound. Once it's over it passes and life goes on normally, though, I don't dwell on it. That's the only difference for me.

It's a pain in the ass to have to hide it, too. Just seeing those things makes me horribly uncomfortable.

I sort of have something like that.
Although I can watch an entire movie, I find things like misunderstandings or lies that result in someone being embarrassed difficult to watch. I usually shut my ears or skip the part.
One example is the Friends episode "The One With Rachel's Inadvertent Kiss" (season 5). I find it particularly difficult to watch without skipping some scenes.

increasingly I can't tolerate watching mean movies about mean people. I had to turn off "gran torino" because clint eastwood's character was too much of a jerk for me to tolerate.