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Cora Ren, with friends Kai Abanilla and Sid Larionov, arrived early to the 6:30 p.m. event that they were intrigued to learn about on a TikTok video.

Larionov鈥檚 ears were “ringing” as the group of young friends stood in the middle of the gathering. “My voice is kinda gone right now too,” Larionov said, adding that the event was a 鈥済ood way to get our rage out鈥� with others in 鈥渁 good sense of community.鈥�

“I think sometimes we all have to release some pent-up emotions and I think it’s healthy,” said Ren, adding she couldn’t remember the last time she screamed.

Event organizer, Grace Turner of the solo music project City Builders, said the idea for a group scream came from her own experience with heartbreak and the need for a cathartic release that she experienced after letting out a good scream.聽

Turner said she figured she wasn’t the only person itching to scream, but was shocked at how people reacted to the idea of screaming together in a park.聽

“I thought that maybe it’d be me and a couple friends in the park screaming,” she said. “Clearly, coming out of a Canadian winter people need a nice cathartic scream.”

Referencing the 1927 jazz tune, “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream,” ice cream treats were handed out amongst the crowd.

Then came the: “Five, four, three, two, one ... scream!” and the crowd went for it. The group primal scream lasted just under a minute, before chants of “One more scream! One more scream!” elicited another 30-second shriek.

“It was quite scary, I can imagine what the passersby were thinking 鈥� but it was nice,” Ren said, adding that it felt like noise coming from a surround-sound system.聽

“I think everyone deep inside has the urge to scream,”聽Abanilla said, who’s hopeful the event could happen every month. “It’s nice to just let it out.”

The event, a precursor to the May 6 release of Turner’s debut single “Learning to Miss You,” includes vocals recorded the day her ex broke up with her. She said she spent “the first month in bed just wanting to scream, trying to heal.”

Turner said she thinks living in a big city like 海角社区官网can be extremely isolating and a group scream is a way for people to gather together and have conversations about mental health or just be present alongside each other.

Why a big scream can feel good

The first and most natural way of expressing emotion for humans, especially babies, is not by using words but instead “movement and sound,” said, Krystina Patton, a 海角社区官网based psychotherapist and naturopathic doctor.

“Words can be amazing, but words as an expression for emotions is always a translation,” said Patton.

When we approach difficult thoughts, emotions and behaviours and release them, said U.S. psychologist. Dr. Ryan C. Warner, “we, in turn, feel that emotional release but there’s also a physiological release that we experience, as well.”

“Screaming is going to activate the sympathetic nervous system,” said Warner聽鈥� our fight or flight instinct聽鈥斅爐hat in turn engages our parasympathetic nervous system.

Then, the experience of a “psychological sense of calm afterwards,” said Warner, “which can lead to some relaxation for people once that parasympathetic nervous system kicks in.”

When screaming, some people may feel a sense of relief or catharsis, said Warner, as it can provide emotional relief to no longer be suppressing emotions, difficult thoughts or trauma.

What happens when we hold it all in?

It’s natural for people to engage in avoidance, said Warner, and while short-term avoidance of emotions, thoughts and behaviours can be helpful, “long-term avoidance is maladaptive.”

We’re taught to suppress our emotions, said Warner. In many cultures, we might be taught as children to keep things in, not to cry or to push through something we don’t want to do, said Warner.

Warner noted that while “there’s not a lot of literature or data to show that (screaming) is really effective in the long term,” it’s not been clinically shown to be an effective treatment.聽

“Similar to other behavioural strategies that are shown to be helpful, like progressive muscle relaxation, or squeezing together all your muscles and then releasing them,” Warner said screaming may also provide that sense of relief.

Screaming with others

There’s a social component to a group scream as well, said Warner.

“When we come together as groups and we release tension or trauma, that community bonding is going to be helpful,” he said.

“They’re going to to be able to lean onto those social supports for one common goal, and that’s to, you know, release built-up tension,” added Warner.