Anger in the age of rage rooms

It was the last day of school. Sunny but still a bit cool. I was wearing fleece at the end of June. The kids were in shorts and T-shirts; screams and laughter filled the air with excitement as everyone overflowed from the school yard to a nearby park. In a rare moment of solitude, I found myself lying on a blanket relishing a few minutes to myself before I was joined by a friend and her playful dog. We chatted about summer plans, the endless amount of paperwork that’s engulfing our line of work and then we were approached by a person with a clip board asking if we would be interested in responding to a questionnaire. Having been involved with research projects that include surveys I feel an obligation or at least a reciprocal gesture to participate. The person said it would only take 10 minutes of our time. My friend seemed less inclined. Uninterrupted adult conversations are a rarity. However, we both agreed to answer the questions.The interviewer wanted to find out our opinion about rage rooms. I initially interpreted rage rooms as a form of scream room. Like the one in Fleishman is in Trouble when Rachel Fleishaman goes on a meditation yoga retreat and is allowed to scream in a room guided by a therapist. The guttural scream is intense and appears to expel trauma and emotions hidden deep inside.The first question was whether we were interested in rage rooms. I said “maybe” my friend said “honestly, no.” The questions ranged from benign to more problematic. What age should they be allowed? How often would you go? Would you attend rage room parties? How much would you pay? Rage rooms are designated rooms filled with breakable objects, furniture, electronics and glassware. Individuals pay to vent their anger and stress, wearing protective gear.I had taken my professional hat off and was mulling over the concept of being in a room and smashing things. Sometimes I have the desire to break a glass or smash a plate—but it’s fleeting. I wondered about the waste that these activities produce and was also thinking about how these rooms get cleaned afterwards. We both agreed that rage rooms might appeal to women in their forties who are working full time jobs, raising kids, navigating childcare, taking care of elderly parents: the list is endless. I asked if there was any evidence for these types of rooms. Have they been researched as a form of therapy? The interviewer could not provide an answer. I still answered the questions, but my friend had gone silent. I sensed that she was uncomfortable with the situation.The questioning changed when we began talking about the youngest age of participants. The person conducting the survey said that she knew young people might benefit from this as a form of anger management. My friend, who’s is also a doctor, at this point stepped in and made a comment that jolted me from my daze. She told the person that as physicians we advise that people attend therapy to explore the root of their anger and learn coping techniques that will help them engage in self-regulation. There are anger management strategies that focus on decreasing arousal such as deep breathing, mindfulness and meditation. In contrast to ones that increase arousal such as kickboxing, punching a bag and cycling. When compared, the arousal-decreasing activities were shown to decrease anger and aggression. Rage rooms could have the potential to reinforce aggression if they are the exclusive coping method. Anger is felt as an unpleasant and negative internal emotion but because it arouses, it can make people feel stronger and ready to attack. People might be lured into the illusion that rage rooms will expel anger through aggression, which is an external behaviour, when in fact it can make us feel angrier for longer periods of time. There are a lot of reasons for people to be angry these days, and they are looking for ways to externalize these emotions as opposed to suppressing or avoiding them, which are also not beneficial. Despite the initial catharsis of smashing an old computer to pieces, there is little scientific evidence to support this as a long-term strategy to decrease anger. People need to have options that are available in our community to support anger management therapy that use techniques which have been shown to decrease, rather than increase physiological arousal. In short, as we walked home from the park, I kept wanting to change my answers to the survey. I felt like I had been lured into the suggestion that a potentially fun activity is actually masquerading as a technique to cope with anger. That event sparked my curiosity and I have since learned that the evidence does not support rage rooms and like most things in life there are no quick fixes.Dr. Angelique Myles lives and works in St. John's, Nfld. She is a general adult psychiatrist and a clinical assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Memorial University.

Anger in the age of rage rooms

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