A Scream in the Park

 

The Serpentine
Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942)
Photo Credit:Victoria Art Gallery [CC BY-NC-ND] 

On a cold Monday afternoon in Hyde Park, London, a small group of people gather by the Huntress fountain chatting softly among themselves. Nothing about the group would seem unusual to passing dog walkers and runners - until they huddle together and one starts a countdown.

On three, a collective scream cuts through the park. It lasts only a few seconds before giving way to laughter. They were only meant to do it once, but end up screaming again - louder, the second time.

It's not just about the noise but connection and finding new ways to cope with stress. "It's important to connect with others," says Barnes, a culinary  management student who also runs a micro-bakery. "In a city like London, people are constantly stressed. It's nice to be able to release your energy together. It's not only a scream club, but also a social club."

Barnes says she started the group " to release pent-up energy" from the "stresses of work, life and being a girl,"...

For others, the scream club is an experiment in vulnerability. Ikhlas, 20, a politics student, says she came along after seeing it on TikTok. "I realised I've never screamed at a loud volume in my whole life, so I wanted to see how that would feel - is it tension-relieving?" "It helps with social anxiety," she says. "It's fun, but you also go home feeling refreshed because you've met and spoken to  new people."

Maliha Hussein, 2, a master's student, also discovered the club through social media. "I've been stressed a lot recently - my eye keeps twitching,"  she laughs. "I can't really scream at home, my parents would be confused. But here, everyone's in the same boat."

Hussein believes the trend reflects the difficulty many young people face in accessing mental health support. "It's really hard to see a therapist in the UK. NHS waiting lists are long, and private therapy is expensive," she says. "Coming here and having some sort of stress relief, even if you're not talking about your problems, works for people."

Barnes's mother, Raswella Warburton, 55, came to support her daughter but also ended up joining the group scream. "People of an older age might think screaming is quite silly," she says. "But I actually felt a kind of unburdening."...

Nye, a drama workshop leader and sex educator, says scream clubs have resonated with young people. "The state of the world, all of the horrific things that are happening - sometimes it can feel hopeless and we're conditioned to think we're not allowed to feel that."

(Sundus Abdi, The Guardian, 2025)

If screaming in a park helps you relax then carry on. No harm is being done to anyone else. What's interesting to me is what the participants say.

"It's important to connect with others"  Do you mean to get to know other people? 

"In a city like London, people are constantly stressed." Do you mean people are sometimes under a bit of pressure? Or that the pressure is constant which in that case it becomes stress?  

" to release pent-up energy" from the "stresses of work, life and being a girl,"...  The word stress certainly comes up frequently. You are stressed in your work and your life and because you are a girl? 

"It helps with social anxiety," You find it hard meeting and speaking with new people?  

 "Coming here and having some sort of stress relief,  Stress appears once more.

"I can't really scream at home, my parents would be confused.  I think you might be right there!

we're conditioned to think we're not allowed to feel that." Who's doing the conditioning? Surely you have to take some responsibility for your own thoughts and actions?