Scream your way to happiness? Maybe not, but scream clubs promise some
relief
[March 17, 2026]
By ALBERT STUMM
With a gut-wrenching wail that rippled from her body, Amber Walcker
joined about a dozen screaming people in West Seattle who let their
frustrations float away over the Puget Sound.
It was just the start. The two group screams that followed, each one
longer and more intense, released the pain from Walcker’s recent job
loss. Her added stress from raising two young children dissolved as it
blended with the sound of lapping water, and a deep sense of calm
descended upon her.
“I had such a sense of feeling grounded. In that same moment, all your
senses are heightened,” Walcker said. “From then on out, I was hooked.”
That day in September was the first meeting of Seattle's chapter of
Scream Club, one of 17 chapters that have popped up in less than a year
around the United States, including in Austin, Texas; Chattanooga,
Tennessee; Atlanta; Detroit; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
How it all started
The first chapter, in Chicago, began as a result of a couple’s rough
patch.
Co-founders Manny Hernandez and Elena Soboleva had recently moved in
together after dating long-distance for a year and a half. They were
walking along Lake Michigan when Hernandez, a breathwork practitioner
and men’s coach, suggested they let out all their frustrations with a
scream at the end of a pier.
When they asked permission of the few people around, everyone decided to
scream together, their raw emotion echoing over the water.
“After we did it, some people were crying, including Elena,” Hernandez
said. “That’s when we looked at each other and said, ‘This is probably
something that we should start.’”
How it works
Depending on the chapter, Scream Club meetings can be weekly or monthly,
but they always take place in a park or near a body of water to minimize
disturbance. Sessions typically begin with participants writing down the
thing they want to release on biodegradable paper.
That’s followed by a series of collective deep breaths and vocal
warm-ups, such as humming while breathing in and out.
“You can really strain your throat if you just do it,” said Soboleva, a
personal brand and business mentor. “So it’s gradual, breathing from
your diaphragm and carefully starting off slow and warming up to louder
and louder.”
Everyone screams together three times, taking several deep breaths in
between, and throws their paper into the water.
“That third scream, you have to feel it in your body,” said Walcker, who
started the club’s Seattle chapter. “Get down, be in a primal stance,
whatever it feels like to you in that moment.”
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People participate in a Scream Club meeting at Piedmont Park,
Sunday, March 8, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Emilie Megnien)
 What's to gain
The Scream Club's techniques are descendant of primal scream
therapy, a theory that Los Angeles psychoanalyst Arthur Janov
devised in the 1960s. Janov believed childhood trauma created
neuroses in adults, which could be treated by tapping into the pain
and releasing it with screaming and crying under a therapist’s
supervision.
Research in the decades since, however, has not found scream therapy
to be an effective treatment for mental health conditions, said
Ashwini Nadkarni, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School.
Still, it’s a fantastic stress reliever.
Nadkarni said the scream itself engages circuits in the amygdala and
the hippocampus — “the oldest part of our brain" that is responsible
for processing stress and emotion. Screaming also activates the
sympathetic nervous system, or fight-or-flight stress response. Once
the screaming stops, the parasympathetic system kicks in, which
signals the body to rest.
“It’s the same cycle of regulation that happens when you exercise,”
she said. “Your heart’s racing, you get short of breath, and then
you relax and you feel that calm.”
Besides the physical release, the simple act of getting together to
do something with others provides benefits.
“The idea of people getting together to enhance community in ways
that help them blow off some steam is incredible,” she said.
Why people come
Hernandez said it’s not standard practice to publicly share the
reasons for coming, but many people linger afterward and talk about
their problems. Some at the Chicago chapter recently lost a loved
one, one person was battling cancer for a second time and many were
struggling with relationships.
Walcker noted that some people even come to scream for joy. Whatever
the reason, the Seattle chapter usually meets just before sunset to
watch the sun dip below the water afterward.
“It’s kind of like putting everything to rest,” she said. “And that
everyone knows that that’s the end of that, and we can all start
fresh.”
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