What is scream therapy and could it help you to beat stress and anxiety?

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “There is some research from the University of Derby that found that when people experience physical pain, shouting out loud can help to relieve the hurt,” says Semmens-Wheeler, although she adds there’s not enough scientific evidence on rage rooms to back up their benefits. “The idea of catharsis is very popular, and rage rooms are linked to the idea of ‘letting off steam’,” says Dr Sarita Robinson, deputy head of psychology and computer science at University of Central Lancashire. In fact, by using a ‘rage room’, you could be conditioning yourself to become aggressive the next time you feel stressed, angry or frustrated.” Semmens-Wheeler adds: “I think it’s fine as a one-off but it should be seen as a suite of practices to help manage the anger, rather than an end in itself. If you keep practicing rage, it reinforces that behaviour, and I don’t think normalising rage and aggression is necessarily a healthy thing to do.” For this reason – as well as a lack of empirical evidence – she says she wouldn’t prescribe rage rooms or scream therapy as a form of treatment.