Throwing Ice In Bathtub Therapy Trend — Three-panel image of women throwing ice into bathtubs with text about a TikTok therapy trend

Throwing Ice In Bathtub Therapy Trend

2023viral videoresurgent

Published August 23, 2026

Throwing Ice In Bathtub Therapy Trend is a TikTok format where women, mostly new mothers, hurl ice cubes into an empty bathtub or shower to release rage. It started with a December 2023 clip from TikToker healmewellness and blew up in May 2024 through Mama Jen's viral post, before another wave hit X in August 2026 during the Lindsay Clancy trial.

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Overview

Throwing Ice In Bathtub Therapy Trend is a TikTok format where women, mostly new mothers, film themselves hurling handfuls of ice cubes into an empty tub or shower as a way to blow off steam1. The clips are usually short, with the smack of shattering ice standing in for a scream, and captions framing the act as therapist-approved rage release or a coping tool for postpartum anger2.

Also called Moms Breaking Ice Cubes In Tub Trend, the format is instantly recognizable: a bowl of cubes, a bare bathtub, one heaved throw after another, sometimes with tears or muttered venting3. The trend sits at the crossover of parenting content, mental health TikTok, and rage bait, and each new wave brings fresh debate over whether it looks cathartic or unhinged2.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok (viral spread), X / Twitter (later resurgence)
Creator
TikToker @healmewellness
Date
2023

The earliest known clip came from TikTok user @healmewellness, who posted a video on December 12th, 2023 of themselves shattering ice cubes in a shower as a self-directed healing exercise4. That original post pulled roughly 66,100 views, 1,420 likes and 40 comments over the next three years, sitting quietly while other creators slowly picked up the format3.

It stayed niche for months before the therapy-in-the-tub framing broke through in spring 2024, when the ice-throwing began circulating as an anger-release tip attributed to real therapists5.

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TikTok

How It Spread

The first mainstream wave hit on April 28th, 2024, when TikToker @shea_happy posted a video claiming her therapist told her to chuck ice into an empty bathtub as a "great way to release anger," pulling around 8.2 million views and 827,400 likes5. Days later, on May 3rd, 2024, TikToker @livingthrulove (Mama Jen) posted a clip captioned "My new therapy" and "My biggest struggle as a new mom is my anger," which racked up more than 48.2 million views and 3.6 million likes1.

Mama Jen's video kicked off a full-blown argument. On May 7th, 2024, X user @kirawontmiss called the clip staged rage-for-attention, and the reply pulled 5.5 million views and 78,000 likes6. Mama Jen answered the pile-on with a follow-up video on November 14th, 2024, defending the practice to her audience7. Copycats kept coming through 2024 and 2025, including a widely shared postpartum rage clip from @mama_vu_ on December 14th, 20243.

The trend went viral again in mid-August 2026 during the Lindsay Clancy trial, when users on X started sharing old ice-throwing clips as either a warning or a defense of the practice3. On August 19th, 2026, X user @LukaLev's repost of Mama Jen's TikTok pulled roughly 9.2 million views and 8,700 likes, while user @oliveegger's quote-tweet reading "We're gonna have our rights taken away aren't we" gathered 4.3 million views and 76,000 likes in a day8.

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TikTok

How to Use This Meme

Videos in the trend typically follow the same beat: a person sits or stands in an empty bathtub with a bowl of ice cubes, throws them one by one against the porcelain, and lets the smash sound carry the vent. Captions often name the specific stressor, most commonly new motherhood or postpartum rage, and credit a therapist for the tip1.

Frequently Asked Questions