Are 'Rage Rooms' Good Mental Health Treatment?

 

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

After nearly a year in pandemic lockdowns, many people have experienced stress. There are many different ways to reduce stress. Some people might choose to walk in nature or do another kind of exercise. Others may try some deep breathing or spend time doing an activity that makes them happy.

But some people have found a much different way to beat stress – by breaking things into a million little pieces. Since doing this at home could be destructive and possibly dangerous, places have been set up to permit people to destroy things legally and safely.

The places are called rage rooms. Rage is a term that means strong anger. A rage room is a private business where you pay to break things.

People who have used rage rooms and therapists who approve or disapprove¹ of them recently spoke² to the Associated Press.

Business executive and father Josh Elohim recently visited a rage room. After breaking a computer printer and other items, he said the activity "felt good." It was like the kind of exercise he used to get cutting wood at his country home in New York.

Since last winter, Elohim and his wife, Michelle, have been in lockdown at home with four kids, ages 4 to 17. The two said they badly needed a way to reduce stress and let off steam.

So, they went to marriage and family therapist Yashica Budde. After the family dressed in protective clothing and picked their "destructive devices," they entered a rage room.

The family is religious. Josh, the father, explained that their belief in God keeps them grounded. But he added with a laugh, "I'm not opposed to breaking some stuff to relieve some tension."

In the United States, rage rooms became more common in late 2019. Many people used the rooms to release stress related to life events, such as going through a breakup. Others visited rage rooms with friends as simply a way to have fun.

But the rooms became more popular as most other entertainment places started shutting down last March.

As the pandemic continues, Budde sees her rooms as valuable therapy. She has been a therapist for 13 years. She suggests different kinds of therapy to the people she works with, such as yoga and meditation³. Usually these are quiet treatments. For something different, she decided⁴ to create rage rooms.

Other therapists have also been sending patients to her rooms, called Smash Rx. She hopes more will do the same.

How healthy is it?

Some therapists, however, thinks smash therapy is not a healthy form of treatment.

"I don't know of any therapist who would actually prescribe going to the rage room as a form of therapy," said Kevin Bennett. He is a psychologist and professor of psychology⁵ at Pennsylvania State University.

Bennett adds that especially if a patient has issues with violent behavior, sending them to a rage room does not seem healthy. He compared it to sending a person with a gambling⁶ problem into a casino for treatment.

The thinking behind this kind of therapy, Bennett says, goes back to Sigmund Freud's psychotherapy theories nearly a hundred years ago.

He explained that it is an "idea of catharsis." This means if you relieve your aggression⁷ and anger, you may feel better. The problem, he said, is that more recent studies beginning in the 1960s showed an unplanned result. If people learn that acting⁸ violently is okay in one situation, they may do so at other times.

Bennett said that while some supporters of Freud may still support the theory, he and most others think that rage rooms are best left as just a form of entertainment.

Tom Daly operates one of the oldest rage rooms in the U.S. His Break Bar opened in 2015 in New York City. He says his visitors tell him that smashing things makes them feel better. However, his rooms "are purely⁹ designed for fun."

Daly says that during the pandemic, his rage rooms have stayed full. Before, the rooms were not the busiest part of his business. That would be the bar and restaurant he operates next door. But those services have been closed for much of the pandemic.

"I think everyone's stressed out across the country," Daly said.

Among the destructors on a recent night were a mother and her three teenage daughters. After being stuck together in the house for months, they were all happy to break things.

The mother said her daughters have been out of school for a long time and do not know when they are going back. Her 17-year-old daughter, Piper, said she had lost her whole last year of high school.

But inside a rage room, the girls laughed and cheered as they destroyed item after item. One of the things smashed against the wall was a plate with "COVID-19" written on it.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report.

Words in This Story

stress – n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc. : something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety

therapist – n. a person who helps people deal with mental or emotional problems by talking about those problems : a person trained in methods of treating illnesses especially without the use of drugs or surgery

let off steam idiomatic¹⁰ expression

relieve – v. to reduce or remove (something, such as pain or an unpleasant feeling)

entertainment – n. amusement or pleasure that comes from watching a performer, playing a game, etc.

meditation – n. the act or process of spending time in quiet thought

prescribe – v. : to officially tell someone to use (a medicine, therapy, diet, etc.) as a remedy or treatment

gambling – n. the practice or activity of betting money : the practice of risking money in a game or bet

casino – n. a building or room that has games (such as roulette or blackjack) for gambling

catharsis – n. formal : the act or process of releasing a strong emotion (such as pity or fear) especially by expressing it in an art form

1 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

6 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

7 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

10 idiomatic   

adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的

参考例句：

• In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
• In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。