July 12, 2022

"They gather on Telegram to let out howls of grief and short, sharp shrieks of pain. 'Eeeeeeee!' yowls a young woman. 'Waahahahah,' roars a man in a deep baritone."

"A third person wails like a baby. These are victims of the cryptocurrency bloodbath, 3,315 of whom have assembled in a 'Bear Market Screaming Therapy Group' group to vent their anguish. 'I had a few people lamenting and crying,' says the group’s founder, a 30-year-old cryptocurrency investor who gives only his first name, Giulio. 'I decided not to ban them. I felt bad. They weren’t even able to scream any more. They were just sobbing.'"

You don't hear about scream therapy much anymore. It was a 1970s thing. There was a book by Arthur Janov called "The Primal Scream." John Lennon and Yoko Ono talked about it. Here's the Wikipedia article "Primal Therapy":
Janov states that neurosis is the result of suppressed pain, which is the result of trauma, usually trauma of childhood origin. 
Not so much about losing money in the financial markets.
According to Janov, the only way to reverse neurosis is for the neurotic to recall their trauma in a therapeutic setting.... 
In 1973 a "birth simulator" was in use at the Primal Institute. The simulator was a 10-foot-long adjustable pressure vinyl tube. The patient was covered with a slick substance to simulate birth. Reports were made of bruises from obstetricians' fingers appearing on the skin of patients reliving their births.... 

The things that used to be presented as science. Today, they've devolved into social media like Bear Market Screaming Therapy Group.

54 comments:

tim in vermont said...

I have a friend who bought a horse farm with Bitcoin money, he's driving a truck to pay the bills again though, but he does have the farm now.

tim maguire said...

Tears for Fears got a Platinum album out of scream therapy.

As for the crypto crash, this exact thing happened about 10 years ago. The only losers were the people who sold. There's no guarantee that it will play out the same this time, but it probably will.

gilbar said...

a '70's thing? i thought it was a 2020 thing?
lady screaming over Trump

wendybar said...

I thought they were all about screaming. Screaming when Trump beat Hillary, Shouting their abortion...ect..ect...ect...All they DO is screech and scream. They need to grow up.

Quayle said...

Sadly, they were uninformed about markets, volatility, the risk curve, and diversification. Somehow they thought that "Wall Street" is just giving money away. It is a bitter pill to have to swallow. They were certainly given a prospectus, which they didn't read, or they didn't understand, or they didn't fully factor into their decisions. I feel for them. It is probably very devastating and demoralizing.

Having said that- having admitted that probably the company that sold them bitcoin gave them a prospective stating the risk - let me also add the following: THESE kinds of outcomes - these circumstances wherein the (relatively) poor lose again - if increased in occurrence and spread across too many people - THIS is how you get the Bastille stormed - how you get the chateaus of the land pillaged. The wealthy better be very careful. Hiding behind a prospectus only provides a certain kind of defense to a very narrow kind of confrontation.

Butkus51 said...

Rule number 1 of investing is knowing what youre investing in. I bet 80% of the people who invested in Crypto have no idea what it is, or how it works. I just know it consumes HUGE amounts of electricity. No mercy at all.

Bob_R said...

My first crash was Black Monday 1987. I was living in Madison. A bank or brokerage had an electric sign that would give the changes in the Dow - but it only had two digits. Not enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIYtKR24LQs

Howard said...

You could see this coming for years, but the last straw was all the Superbowl advertising with the best celebs drawing in the masses of sheep.

Kai Akker said...

---According to Janov, the only way to reverse neurosis is for the neurotic to recall their trauma in a therapeutic setting.... And pay him inordinate amounts for the privilege.

More pop-psych silliness from the gullible '60s era. How people with money will find ways to give it away.

Laslo Spatula said...

" 'Eeeeeeee!' yowls a young woman."

"Eeeeeee" doesn't strike me as a yowling sound. Too clenched, pinched, not gutteral.

I'm not sure where the word 'yowl' originated, but it seems like one of those words that kinda sounds like what it describes.

So: too many 'e's, not enough 'o's.

I am Laslo.

Beta Rube said...

I heard the song “Shout” by Tears for Fears referenced primal scream therapy. I think the timing works.

Temujin said...

A short story. Once upon a time in my life, in college, I moved into a house with a friend to rent one bedroom. The rest of the house was inhabited by 4 women. My friend- a male friend- and I shared a large bedroom upstairs. This was not a normal group of people. Some time in the first week, I was upstairs sleeping and I was startled awake by gut-wrenching screams of a young woman coming from downstairs. I bolted up and raced out of my bedroom, flew down the stairs- halfway- at which point I grabbed the rail and just stopped, At the foot of the stairs, in the doorway of her downstairs bedroom, was ****, who was standing there screaming at the top of her lungs. And right behind me came another woman- one of our other housemates- who told me to not be worried. It's just that **** is a practitioner of Primal Scream Therapy. She doesn't do this every day, but every once in awhile she has a need to have some 'sessions'.

Between *** screaming, and the other 3 women, two of who were lesbians and had a clear dislike- hate might be a better word- for men, my friend and I managed to stay there one term before moving on.

I don't think I lived with a woman again for many years to come.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are not currencies. They're put speculation, greater fool investments. People buy them, hoping some greater fool will also buy, boosting the price. Just like the Dutch tulip mania in the late 1600s. When the market runs out of fools, the price collapses. Bitcoins don't have any intrinsic value, they have no revenue stream, they can't be used to manufacture anything.

Iman said...

Crypto… I needed you
But you didn’t need me
I needed you
You didn’t need me

Kai Akker said...

What are the current analogues to Primal Scream therapy and Rolfing and est and Transcendental Meditation and other mostly or complete scams?

I would nominate BLM, the Green Nude Eel, EVs-as-energy-savers, and all the variants of Inclusion and Diversity. The faddish crowd may have lost money in overdone cryptocurrencies, but those have a future and some vital potential uses, I think.

We have legalized pot and now we are back to taking psychedelics seriously again. (Bad idea!). That part's the same or worse.

My nominees all have a strong political component, though, which was not AS true in the '60s-'70s. Democratic politics were preferred then because the alternative was mostly Dick Nixon, but was the "counter-culture" as hardcore Stalinist as these fads of today? I don't think so, it had just enough more of a Fun element to it all. Love, at least in lip service, whereas today is all grimness and Hate.

Joe Smith said...

'I'm not sure where the word 'yowl' originated, but it seems like one of those words that kinda sounds like what it describes.'

Wordle smiles...

HoodlumDoodlum said...

These are the things I can do without.

Wince said...

'Eeeeeeee!' yowls a young woman.

"No, hold your head like this and then go, 'Waah!'"

'Waahahahah,' roars a man in a deep baritone.

"Better, better, but 'Waah!, Waah!'"

Being hit on the head lessons.

Yancey Ward said...

Appropriate thread music

Yancey Ward said...

So, no one is going to be buying a Lear jet or a football team.

Randomizer said...

I've been getting the "Ok Boomer" treatment for a few years when talking to younger friends and associates about their investments in cryptocurrency. They seemed to think that the rules had changed, and that I was too stubborn to accept that free money is available to the bold Bitcoin investor.

I have no problem with a highly speculative investment if one knows it's a gamble. With cryptocurrency, the price was obviously going to go up and down wildly, but it wasn't clear that the investor could sell when the numbers were going down.

One lesson the amateur investors should learn is that bragging about the wins or bitching about the losses just makes the investor look like an amateur.

gilbar said...

Laslo Spatula said...
yowls a young woman.

i'd like to read about a girl with a ponytail, on a treadmill yowling

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

I still do not know what crypto currency is?

Sounds like an arcade game.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Iman said...
Crypto… I needed you
But you didn’t need me
I needed you
You didn’t need me


Nicely done! And if the reader gets it one can almost hear the primal scream in the drawn out "Mother!" Or "Crypto!" in your version. Cool.

Quaestor said...

I have always suspected the real villains behind the ransomware attacks were the Bitcoin brokers. They were the only people involved who ended up with real money.

Lurker21 said...

Tears for Fears wasn't bad. I wonder why they didn't make it bigger. Too high standards, or just not good enough, or just that not everybody does?

Yancey Ward said...

If you believe Wiki (and there are reasons to doubt Wiki) transactions using Bitcoin have flatlined since 2017. If Bitcoin really were the future, I don't think you would have seen a 5 year plateau in such data.

cassandra lite said...

John Lennon's Primal Scream therapist was a friend of mine for many years. Fascinating guy. Lennon asked him to go everywhere with him, like Brian Wilson's constant shrink companion. Leslie said no, he was having too much fun in L.A.

He drove a Rolls Silver Cloud and lived in Laurel Canyon on the famous Wonderland Ave. He used to pick up women (and he picked up a lot of them, including gorgeous actresses) by asking if they wanted to ride a Silver Cloud up to Wonderland.

Kai Akker said...

Don't tell me there's no future for the blockchain!

Don't TELL me that!

Two-eyed Jack said...

I had a roommate who was working on an MBA. He was pretend-investing for a class and had convinced himself that he was a genius for going heavy on gold until a crash wiped him out. It was an important lesson for him and useful for me, as well.

These episodes are all the same, but always come as a surprise to the geniuses among us.

Jeff Gee said...

When I lived in the East Village during the late seventies and early eighties, my upstairs neighbor(directly above me) had a padded box that he would climb inside when he was stressed out. Then he would scream. I don't remember his name. Everybody just called him 'Box Boy.' The padding muffled the screams a bit, although he insisted it was "sound proof." "Then how do you account for me banging on the ceiling whenever you start screaming?" He accounted for it by me being a soulless monster. Stuart, my next door neighbor, who also got to enjoy the noises from the box (and was also a soulless monster), said I would probably find the screaming less annoying if I provoked it. I bet he was right.

gilbar said...

serious question: Is there ANY use, for Bitcoin; Besides laundering drug money?
I mean? Are there any Bitcoin ATM's in NON high drug use areas?

Howard said...

I remember when...

The Mike Douglas Show
Episode #13.93
Episode aired Jan 9, 1974
Dyan Cannon is co-host. Guests are singer-songwriter Don McLean, comedian Larry Storch, and Dr. Arthur Janov, the creator of primal therapy and author of "The Primal Scream."

Iman said...

Thanks, Mike @9:12!

Iman said...

Crypto don’t go!
Dollah come home!

Fred Drinkwater said...

Drinkwater's first rule of investing: never complain about taking a profit.

Drinkwater's zeroth rule of investing: never invest money you aren't willing lose 100%

Fred Drinkwater said...

Jeff Gee: thanks for the morning laugh!

MadisonMan said...

Buy Low, Sell High.
Did these people not do that?

Pianoman said...

"It's the same thing over and over again. We just can't help ourselves."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAqAl292ozs&t=258s

Original Mike said...

"They gather on Telegram to let out howls of grief and short, sharp shrieks of pain. 'Eeeeeeee!' yowls a young woman. 'Waahahahah,' roars a man in a deep baritone."

The young don't have anything to worry about.

Actually, they have a lot to worry about (I'd put destruction of energy production at the top of the list), but investment losses are not on that list.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Bob_R said..."My first crash was Black Monday 1987. I was living in Madison. A bank or brokerage had an electric sign that would give the changes in the Dow - but it only had two digits. Not enough."

There was one at the corner of University and Midvale. I remember looking at that sign then. I had started investing just a few years before. Was not concerned. I was young.

Original Mike said...

"serious question: Is there ANY use, for Bitcoin; Besides laundering drug money?"

Decoupling from government's fiat currency. But I don't understand crypto, so I don't invest in it.

William said...

I don't have any money in crypto, but I have lost a tidy sum in the current sell off. I take comfort in knowing that I have lost money with sane, respectable investment choices. Some of my bond funds are down less than ten percent. I'm not as broke as those crypto speculators. I lose my money in a slow, respectable way.....I don't think there's any real cure for broken childhood. You pick up whatever pieces are available and muddle through. I suppose the idea that there is a cure or a therapy or a sacrament that will leave you cleansed and healed gives hope to some. Faith healers have a better track record than psychoanalysts, but whatever works. Perhaps an overlay of scientific jargon helps the godless in their struggle for relief....Some people got rich with tulip bulbs and some people found relief with primal screams, but, in the end, everybody loses.

Michael said...

I got into bitcoin early and have done crazily well as a result. As usual I didn’t get enough. I plunged to better understand blockchain and the potential it holds for record keeping of all sorts. The value of this commodity swings wildly and always has. Unlike the,US dollar there is not an infinite amount of bitcoin even if it can be mined/printed by anyone with a computer and a shitload of power. Not for everyone. Nor is gold.

Captain Ned said...

College, 1981-1985. Finals weeks. Every night at midnight. Primal Scream.

Yancey Ward said...

There was some guy in England I think it was that had his Bitcoin on a computer hard-drive that he trashed and threw away when it wasn't worth very much. Was worth something like 100 million dollars years later. He was trying to mine the landfill to recover the hard-drive.

Achilles said...

Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker said...
I still do not know what crypto currency is?

Sounds like an arcade game.


Crypto currency’s are like fiat currency’s in most fundamental ways. They are a store of value that relies on the confidence of the people that hold it and the people who are willing to accept it in exchange for goods and services.

The primary difference between a cryptographic currency and a fiat currency is who controls it.

The US dollar is controlled by the US government/fed. The dollars you have represent a store of value dependent on what other people value it at. The fact that our government is operating with a no limit credit card and has increased the money supply 8 fold in the last decade reduces the value of the dollars you are holding.

Crypto currency’s are generally cryptographic key generators and they are limited in total numbers by math.

The other big thing in crypto space are the stable coins. These are analogs for 1 dollar. They are backed usually by some sort of collateral and they have some sort of redemption function.

Right now while the market is going down I am holding about 50% of my portfolio in stable coins. These lose no value when the market is going down.

Most crypto currency’s are run off the Etherium Engine. They are fast and cheap. But they are all centrally controlled for the most part. In order to exchange them you have to go through a central exchange that maintains the ledgers.

Bitcoin is essentially used like gold. It is a reserve currency. They have they lightning network but it has limitations. Being proof of work is the biggest issue.

There are other chains like Cardano, XRP, polka dot that have their own quirks and designs. These are gen 3 cryptos and are going to be the future.

Cardano in particular within a year or so will have infinite scaling and the foundation it is built on makes it extremely secure. The government cannot track your money. Your money is not connected to a person or address. It is also proof of stake and you can run a node on a raspberry pie.

Achilles said...

Mike of Snoqualmie said...
Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are not currencies. They're put speculation, greater fool investments. People buy them, hoping some greater fool will also buy, boosting the price. Just like the Dutch tulip mania in the late 1600s. When the market runs out of fools, the price collapses. Bitcoins don't have any intrinsic value, they have no revenue stream, they can't be used to manufacture anything.

So You mean they are just like dollars.

R C Belaire said...

Been disappointed in Ric Edelman of late. Too much harping on crypto.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Captain Ned,
At my Berkeley residence hall c. 1975, the scream of choice was "OONAA! OOONNAAA!"

Because there was a new RA named Oona. She got mad (natch) and the admin made the screamers stop.

A few nights later someone lit a paper airplane on fire, and it circled back into a lower floor window and ignited the curtains.

Marc in Eugene said...

Middle English ȝoȝele , ȝoule , ȝuhele , ȝule . Compare Middle English ȝaule , yawl* v.1 and gowl** v.1 (Old Norse gaula).

*Parallel to yowl v., with alternation of vowel designed to express a variety of the sound echoed. Compare Low German jaueln (of cats).

**< Old Norse gaula, perhaps an extended form, with -l- suffix, of the root *gau- , Old Norse gøyja ( < *gaujan ) to bark. But compare yowl v.


Cats and dogs are the ultimate source of yowl. What sort of sound do opossums make?

Dave64 said...

Give me $45,000.00 and I'll send you this bag of instant water! (directions: just add water)

Mary Beth said...

So, no one is going to be buying a Lear jet or a football team.

New car, caviar, four star, daydream

walter said...

cassandra lite said... John Lennon's Primal Scream therapist was a friend of mine
<
He used to pick up women (and he picked up a lot of them, including gorgeous actresses
__
Screamers