In the modern world, stress tends to accumulate at an incredible rate. To solve this problem, some experts recommend drinking more green tea, others - spending more time outdoors and listening to music more often. On the Internet every now and then there are experts who offer to overcome everyday stress a little differently - "shout out". This therapy does exist, and John Lennon and Mick Jagger have experienced it themselves.
New York City teacher Chris Gollmar launched the English-language site Just Shout. On the site, they post numbers that anyone can call and shout into the phone. If you're having a tough time, this is a good reason to call. The screaming recording is saved on the answering machine and will be available on the page.
The advertising site of the Icelandic Ministry of Tourism offers to record the cry, as well as play the recording through speakers in nature. This is the ideal way to get rid of the accumulated stress, especially during a pandemic - and the isolation will still be respected and the stress can be relieved.
The famous description of the cry in Russian literature belongs to Ilf and Petrov:
“His cry, furious, passionate and wild, - the cry of a she-wolf who was shot right through, - flew into the middle of the square, darted under the bridge and, repelled from everywhere by the sounds of the awakening big city, began to deafen and withered away in a minute
". The novel "Twelve Chairs" ends with Vorobyaninov screaming in pain and despair.
The philosophers of ancient Greece called the state of spiritual purification through torment catharsis. Aristotle believed that readers are attracted to the state of catharsis due to the ability to empathize with the heroes and experience strong emotions. According to Jacob Bernays, such reflections of Aristotle were prompted by the religious teachings and medicine of the past.
The theory of catharsis began to be applied in psychoanalysis. Joseph Breuer treated his patients by making them return to forgotten trauma through hypnosis. Recalling everything, the patient reacted strongly to the recollection, and after the session the symptoms improved.
The same method was used by Freud. He believed that a person periodically experiences two states: tension and unloading. If emotions do not go anywhere and continue to accumulate inside, this can lead to sad consequences, for example, self-flagellation and obsessive thoughts or actions.
Artur Yanov went even further. One day a client came to him and told him about a play where one actor on stage shouted “Mom!” And the audience had to repeat the word after him. The doctor decided to do a similar experiment and described it in the book "Primary Scream". When the patient shouted the right word, he got upset, then fell to the floor and began to wriggle. His breathing quickened, and he continued to shout: "Mom!", "Dad!". It seemed that the patient was not himself. Then he walked away and was relieved that he could feel again.
Yanov believed that he had dug up the source of the unconscious in the human psyche. He saw the cause of mental illness in the events of childhood. To eradicate such problems, very radical methods were used. The patient was put in an empty room, deprived of drugs and any means of interacting with the environment. Then the person was questioned for several hours about painful moments from childhood. This continued until the experts heard the same "primary cry."
Artur Yanov's book gained popularity. More than 200,000 copies sold out in the first two years. Celebrities such as John Lennon and Mick Jagger have also adopted Primary Scream therapy and made it even more popular.
However, other doctors accused Yanov of not being competent enough and not understanding the complexities of the psyche. Therefore, in 2006, the American Psychological Association, finding no evidence of the effectiveness of the method, discredited it.
In 1992, the "Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology" published research results that show that inner anger increases the chances of getting eating disorders. And in 2003, a study of 23,000 men showed that the risk of getting a heart attack is still high. However, yelling and hitting objects may not help.
"Forced expression of anger and aggressive behavior in psychotherapy often does not relieve stress, but, on the contrary, increases the likelihood of its recurrence",
- says the head of the laboratory of counseling psychology and psychotherapy of the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education Natalya Kiselnikova. Psychologists Brad Bushman and Roy Baumeister conducted a series of experiments in 1999. As a result, it turned out that the removal of anger on neutral objects only feeds negative emotions.
Critics of explosive release techniques argue that dealing with the causes, not the consequences, is necessary to release anger. A person may have many negative attitudes in his head that will not go away with discharge.
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