People use rage rooms to cope with grief and difficult emotions

Visitors are using rage rooms as a way to process intense emotions, including Ceri Crannis, who began booking sessions for her family following the stillbirth of her daughter. She explained that this experience offered a form of release that she had been unable to locate through other methods.

"You don't get that release in therapy when you're talking," Ceri Crannis said. "There are some things that are just so deeply hidden that it comes out here, where loud music, smashing, breaking really does just hit the spot where nothing else has managed to do that before." She added that these rooms provide women with a unique chance to express feelings that are typically suppressed because "Social norms are geared up that women are well behaved, they don't swear, you don't break anything."

Another visitor, Sarah Bear, stated that the rooms provide a controlled environment to manage anger. "You can't shout and scream at the people in the world because actually those people have done nothing wrong, but you can take it out on stuff here that isn't going to hurt anyone," she said. "So it's a really safe, controlled way to do it. And yeah, there might be some tears at the end of it, as, like, the relief washes over us, but it's worth it."

Dr Nilu Ahmed, an associate professor of psychology and inclusion at the University of Bristol, noted that rage rooms can provide immediate relief. "It's hugely helpful in that moment," she said. "You've got a set amount of time so you know what you can do. You know that it's going to come to an end. So you're not going to go on a rampage and riot out in the streets. You know that it's going to be contained."

However, Dr Ahmed warned that such activities are not a substitute for long-term therapy. She explained that for deep-rooted issues, feelings will likely return, and the core concern is where those emotions are being discussed. She stated: "And if they are being taken into a rage room, what that is telling the individual or telling me as a professional, is that individual hasn't got a safe space to go and talk about that."

For an individual named Ellie, destroying her brother Ryan's belongings did not remove the pain of his death. Nevertheless, she noted that it provided an hour to focus on her grief, remember her brother, and depart feeling lighter.