Posted on 03/14/2023 1:30:23 PM PDT by nickcarraway
From Australia to the US, Sweden and India, scream therapy seems to be gaining ground with women. But the concept first advanced in 1970 by American psychologist Arthur Janov has left experts unimpressed
A new therapeutic practice seems to be gaining popularity among women – ritual raging.
Also known as scream therapy or primal therapy, everyone from students in Sweden to celebrities such as Kim Kardashian have given it a go.
But what is it? And how does it work?
Let’s take a closer look:
Origin of concept, gaining popularity with women
As per Inverse.com, the concept was first advanced by American psychologist Arthur Janov in his 1970 book The Primal Scream: Primal Therapy, The Cure for Neurosis.
Janov, who contended that “80 per cent of all ailments would be cured by primal therapy,” argued that neurosis is the result of repressed childhood trauma and that the best way to rid oneself of the trauma is by recalling and re-enacting the experience and taking out that repressed anger or frustration “through spontaneous and unrestrained screams, hysteria, or violence.”
The Times of India quoted Janov in a video entitled ‘what is primal therapy’ as further stating, “This basically means that we are all born with needs. When these basic needs are not met, we are hurt. When that hurt is big enough, imprinted in our system, our pain is being held in storage. Through scream therapy, this pain is released. This hurt that we are feeling finds its exist from the brain.”
Janov’s book sold more than one million copies.
He counted among his followers celebrities such as John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and James Earl Jones, as per the website.
From Australia to the United States and India, scream therapy groups have popped up across the world over the past few years, as per The Guardian.
When Gretchen Miller, a 54-year-old from Sydney, asked if anyone else feels like screaming, the responses flooded in – more than 100 messages in the first hour.
“I want to scream because of climate change and economic inequality,” one responded.
“Because of real estate agents and landlords,” another added. “My fiancé decided he didn’t love me anymore,” someone else chimed in.
That resulted in the Shout Sisters group being formed and the women meeting up shortly thereafter at a park to hoot and holler.
Meanwhile, in the US, women gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic to howl their frustrations and protests at a football field.
In New Delhi, a scream group has nearly 150 members with women gathering across the National Capital.
Anger Management Is screaming therapeutic for women Representational image. Reuters
Says 27-year-old Deepika, “There is a theme in India of keeping women silent. This is my small way of saying ‘no, we are here, we have something to say and you’re going to hear it’.”
“Why is anger seen as such a dangerous emotion in women?” she asks. “We have things to be angry about but if we express it we’re seen as crazy or hysterical or out of control.”
What do experts say?
Some are for it, while others are more agnostic.
The Times of India quoted psychotherapist Gin Love Thompson, PhD, as saying, “For the inner-child that was silenced by being repeatedly intimidated, the domestic abuse survivor that couldn’t scream back when attacked, anyone who has suffered severe bullying, anyone dealing with grief or common psychological issues such as depression and anxiety, ‘scream therapy,’ or ‘primal release has the potential to be therapeutically beneficial.”
But grief-recovery specialist Iman Gatti told Business Insider there is no ‘right way’ to grieve.
Gatti, author of the book Cracked Open — Never Broken said there are, apart from the loss of a loved one, at least 44 different types of losses including “health, finances, freedom, routines, and hopes and dreams.”
“The frustration and constant loop of words unspoken and missed opportunities will have us replaying situations over and again in our minds,” Gatti told the outlet. “Screaming is a very powerful and accessible way to let that energy out without hurting anyone.”
Even more are openly sceptical.
Perhaps none more than a 1971 Boca Raton newspaper article which noted that Janov’s attempts to get into professional and medical journals were repeatedly turned down.
The newspaper noted that Janov delivering a lecture on one paper entitled ‘Revolution in Psychotherapy” to a group of psychologists saw 15 of them depart.
Professor Sascha Frühholz of the department of psychology at the University of Zurich told The Guardian, “In my opinion, there is no scientific evidence that primal scream therapy has any positive effects in the treatment of mental and psychological disorders. Given that modern psychotherapy is an evidence-based treatment approach, no serious psychotherapy school uses any elements of primal scream therapy today.”
Frühholz, who has researched cognitive and neural mechanisms of voice production and emotional processing, added “PST also rests on the, partly wrong, assumption that traumatic early life events are stored as mental and bodily complexes – like a prison – that can only be resolved by ‘busting out’ during screaming,” Frühholz added. “There is no scientific evidence for this.”
Dr Rebecca Semmens-Wheeler, senior lecturer in psychology at Birmingham City University, further told the newspaper, “I’m quite sceptical about potential benefits, especially in the long term. [But] if you want to do it for a laugh, why not?”
“Maybe you’ll feel good for a few minutes. But I don’t think it’s got any potential as a lasting and ongoing treatment. I think it’s more of a novelty.”
I thought that’s why women get married, so they have a husband to scream at.
If scream therapy worked then my ex-wife and her mother would be the most mentally fit people on the planet.
women are flipping crazy. the biggest child in the room and she’s got the loaded gun. this is just a piece to legitimize more bad behavior. modern women are already the most insufferable to be around. never been more independent and competent and don’t need no man, yet never been more unhappy, clinically depressed and can’t get the man she wants to commit to her.
It must be, married ones do so much of it. :P -ducks-
I foresee a rise in beating, er, bourbon, yeah that’s what I meant, bourbon therapy for men, yeah...
Just recently I noticed how many TV commercials and shows feature a woman screaming. Sometimes sitting alone in their car, sometimes in public, sometimes at home. It’s a theme I suddenly noticed popping up everywhere.
I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability...
“PST also rests on the, partly wrong, assumption that traumatic early life events are stored as mental and bodily complexes – like a prison...”
Shades of Scientology “engram” pseudoscience, except L Ron Hubbard went even further, combining this with the idea of reincarnation, so that people could be traumatized even by events from their past lives!
When being a lunatic doesn’t suffice, the only option is to become a raging lunatic.
Also, Darth Vader, I mean James Earl Jones, extoled it's virtues.
Janov has never been taken seriously by qualified psychologists. While it might feel satisfying to someone to scream out loud, it doesn’t resolve anything and the feeling soon evaporates. The renewal of
“scream therapy” is a testament to the fact that scantily educated therapists go around reinventing the wheel about every 30 years or so, and think they’ve found “the answer,” even if the wheel is flat.
ask a karen...
the bottom line is modern women are not built for the lifestyle they are trying to live, they are failing spectacularly and are trying to blame everyone and everything else for it
25% are on prescribed psych meds, and another 25% need to be on meds but aren’t
they don’t make good men, because they aren’t designed to be and they can’t take the stress
they all want the world to give them special treatment and exceptions but have zero empathy for men who’ve been operating in world that doesn’t care about them since the dawn of time
they are falling apart individually and collectively
if the future is female then the future is xanax and lithium
It must not work or they would give it a rest
Women are irrational feelings driven creatures. Screaming is their pressure release. Sorry women FReepers, I know there are exceptions but on the whole it’s true.
and also boxed wine, forgot that one
Lennon quit after a little while (just like every fad he glommed onto except for Yoko), even though Janov wanted him to continue. I think he would just pick up on stuff, mine it for ideas to use in his music, and then move on to the next thing.
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