31 Tell Your Family to Invest in Earplugs

November 10, 1980

TELL YOUR FAMILY TO INVEST IN EARPLUGS By: Sarah Vandermolen Editor-in-Chief

I am a firm believer in scream therapy, also known as Primal Scream Therapy. As someone that has a lot to scream about, I find it very relaxing to do just that. It’s rare that we get the chance to just let it all out in the most natural way. Psychologist Arthur Janov, popularized the concept in the 1970s and published his findings in “The Primal Scream.” According to www.independent.co.uk, “Dr. Janov believed screaming is a primal urge that takes us back to our childhood state, where we might be holding onto repressed trauma.” He believed that through Primal Scream Therapy, we could release our repressed feelings that we’ve held onto for years. Some celebrities that have used Primal Scream Therapy include: Kanye West, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Although some people swear by scream therapy, many scientists are skeptical. “In the early 1980s, two German legal proceedings sought to determine if primal therapy was ‘recognized as a scientific therapeutic process,’” according to www. inverse.com. In their findings, they concluded, “...there are no ongoing reports of primal therapy’s therapeutic results, no statistical studies and no follow-up studies.” I first heard about scream therapy a couple years ago. I remember seeing a video somewhere about how it helped someone relieve their stress, and at the time, I had enough stress to go around. When I was younger, my mom used to tell me that if it ever got to be too much, I could just scream into a pillow for as long as I needed to. I had used this technique more than most in my life, but I had never let it out completely unrestricted. I was home with my mom at the time, and I warned her that I was going to try something out. She gave me an odd look and a weary nod, but I don’t think she was fully prepared for what was about to happen.

TELL YOUR FAMILY TO INVEST IN EARPLUGS I screamed as loud and as hard as I could. It seemed to last forever, and I could faintly hear my mom yelling for me to stop, but I just couldn’t. I had so much anger and stress built up, and it felt so freeing to just scream. Since then, I’ve used scream therapy quite regularly. Whenever it gets to be too much, I just scream until I can’t scream anymore. I have resorted to only screaming when I’m alone; I don’t want to be too much of a nuisance. My favorite place to scream is in my car, with the windows just barely cracked and absolutely no music playing. I’ve found that it works best in a confined place. That way, your scream reverberates off the walls and deafens you for a bit. Although it may seem unlikely, there are some health benefits that come from screaming. According to Dr. Bryan Bruno in an article for www.humnutrition.com, “As you scream, your body becomes more alert, and you release tension in the muscles caused by bottled-up emotions.” Screaming can also help you express your emotions. Dr. Bruno notes, “When an emotion is screaming through your throat or echoing off the walls, it seems much more real.” According to www.humnutrition.com, “That makes it harder to deny and dismiss, helping you start to process your emotional pain.” University of St. Francis senior, Elizabeth Ponce, shares her opinion on scream therapy, stating, "I'm not sure if I would ever try scream therapy, but I do agree that it may be beneficial in helping solidify your feelings." If you’re someone that is skeptical about scream therapy, I suggest giving it a try. Take a week to scream any and all of your problems away, and see if you notice a difference. Try not to get too many noise complaints.