Rage rooms: can smashing stuff up really help to relieve anger and stress? | Mental health

IIf you’re having trouble counting to 10 when you get angry, a new trend offers a more hands-on approach. Rage rooms are popping up all over the UK, allowing punters to smash seven bells from old televisions, plates and furniture.

Such pay-to-destroy initiatives are thought to have originated in Japan in 2008, but have since gone global. In the UK alone, venues that encourage destruction as a stress-relieving experience can be found in places from Birmingham to Brighton.

Accordingly Smash It Rage Rooms In south-east London, where a 30-minute solo session costs £50, “each success is a cathartic relief, a burst of pure, primitive joy”.

“We’re at capacity; we were looking for another location because we can’t keep up with demand,” said Amelia Smewing, who started the business with her husband after researching ways to help their son cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Rob Clark, operations director Urban Xtreme LtdHe said Rage Room’s popularity has grown year by year, with customers ranging from teenagers looking for a unique experience to women’s groups celebrating breakups to people using the space as a “healthy outlet” for stress or mental health issues.

Many clients are dealing with difficult personal challenges, Clark said. “The feedback we have received has been consistently good – the Anger Room offers them a safe, constructive way to release pent-up anger and frustration, and makes a real difference to their mental health,” he said, adding that several youth care homes regularly bring in their young people, while a handful of therapists actively refer clients when traditional talk therapy isn’t enough.

Founder of Lucy Bee Anger Rooms Leamington Spa He said that the venue also hosts visits from schools and children’s homes. But people also come to have fun. “This is so contrary to the way we have been conditioned to behave,” he said. “Very naughty.”

Like other venues, the typical “angry” is a woman, Bee said. “We’re talking early 40s, female, a few kids, good job,” he said.

Bee added that after training as a holistic therapist, she found that many women experienced guilt and shame for feeling angry.

“So many women are at their breaking point, constantly floundering and living in survival mode. And this gives them a way to release that,” Bee said. He added that for some people who are struggling, this experience can serve as a gateway to seeking more help.

Although I have a happy home life, I am frustrated by the repairs at home, the terrible train service and the state of the country. So I put on a protective suit, lowered my visor, and entered one of Bee’s rage rooms.

In a matter of seconds, I turn wine bottles into explosions of glass and laugh in amazement at myself. But I don’t like noise, and I think of confusion more than an experience of release.

Experts also have reservations.

Last year Dr. Sophie Kjærvik is currently based at the Norwegian Center for the Study of Violence and Traumatic Stress in Oslo. co-author of a review Focus on what activities fuel or deflate anger. He said the evidence showed that “venting” was actually counterproductive.

“You’re activating your body in a way that your brain can interpret as you getting more angry,” he said. “We found that meditation, mindfulness, and doing muscle relaxation activities are much more productive ways to deal with anger.” Cognitive behavioral therapy is also very effective, Kjærvik said.

Dr. is dean of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the author of many books on anger. People who rely on catharsis stay angry longer and are more likely to lash out aggressively after the incident, Ryan Martin said. “I think the problem is, it feels good, so people assume it’s good for them,” he said. “But at the same time, things that we know may feel good when we’re emotional, like drinking or overeating, may not be good for us either.”

Prof Brad Bushman of Ohio State University, who co-wrote the review with Kjærvik, also expressed concern. “When people feed their anger in these anger rooms, they just learn how to act more aggressively,” he said.

Smewing emphasized that anger rooms are a conditioned environment. “Just because they smashed the air fryer in their room doesn’t mean they’re going to go home and smash the air fryer in their kitchen,” he said.

Suzy Reading, a chartered fellow of the British Psychological Society and author of How to Be Selfish, said it wasn’t that anger should not be expressed, but that there were many ways to do so, including writing and breathing exercises. Reading also said anger rooms can offer an outlet for stress, but they are costly and do not provide insight into the causes of such emotions.

“If there’s no understanding of what’s causing this, then we go back to our home lives, our work lives, our communities, and nothing changes,” he said. “And for many women [the cause is] “There will be unmet needs.”

Reading said it can be important to work through some feelings of anger in order to have effective conversations. “We want to regulate our nervous system so that we can express it well,” he said.