Rage Therapy: What It Is and Why It Might Be Good For You

Have you ever seen people lose their temper and start throwing things around or breaking stuff? If you ever felt like this or if you have seen someone behave like this, then this article is for you and others like you.

Everyone is always told to control their temper and anger and basically hold it in. However, rage therapy is all about doing the opposite that is to let go of their rage and anger and to deal better with it.

Rage therapy is which in different types of interventions are used for releasing our anger and rage instead of suppressing it. According to experts, unexpressed emotions lead to many mental health conditions and this is why these emotions, such as rage and anger need to be acknowledged and give their due instead of bottling them up, which can result in psychological problems. These emotions need to be released in a safe and healthy manner, which gives relief and makes you feel light and happy.

Rage and anger have been under debate for a long time now as to if they are a positive or a negative emotion⁽¹⁾. Majority of the interventions about managing rage and anger are aimed at managing the physical symptoms and any irrational thoughts with CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT helps people in understanding and changing their reactions via behavior modification and counseling.

The usual assumption with regards to anger and rage is that they are negative emotions and they need to be controlled and reduced. However, recent development now says that there are some beneficial qualities to anger, that it can enable a person to better understand the world in which we live.

A theory also suggests that anger and rage are beneficial to us from an evolutionary standpoint⁽¹⁾. Some studies have also shown that anger can also have positive benefits with regards to pushing us towards achieving our goals and in self-improvement. Anger has its plus points only when it is accepted and occurs on a mild-to-moderate scale in propelling an individual ahead.

There are various rage therapy options ranging from smash rooms where you can smash stuff to vent; to online scream clubs where one can log in and scream into their mike to release their temper.

Rage rooms are those which are built for the purpose where people can destroy or smash objects to vent their rage. Rage rooms can comprise of fake living rooms with fake furniture, such as sofas, tables and televisions. Rage rooms can also consist of various random objects too. There are some rage rooms which are present at junkyards so there is lot of stuff to break or smash.

There are websites where the members of the scream club scream with others. One can hear other people screaming and others can also hear you screaming. Alternatively one can also scream into their pillow or close their room, put on some music and scream to release their anger and frustration.

Although not much research is there regarding the benefits of rage rooms and scream clubs; however, several of these benefits can be seen and felt and these are:

Feeling Empowered: Anger or rage arises from a feeling of helplessness and a feeling of no control over a situation. Any type of method where you can channel your anger in a healthy way helps in feeling that your emotion and situation is under your control which gives a feeling of empowerment and helps one to deal with their problems with a calm mind and renewed energy.

Rage and anger are considered negative emotions and expressing them is not thought to be good. Here is when rage therapy gives one a safe alternative to understand their emotions and letting them out without the fear of any judgment by the society.

Another benefit of rage therapy is you get a chance to look into your emotions in a secure and safe manner within limits. In rage rooms, there are boundaries which help in venting and letting out your anger in safe and proactive way.

Smash clubs or rage rooms are actually great for bonding with others who are also going through the same emotions. Breaking things with people who are also feeling the same way can be a fun way to release the pent up emotions and a conversation can be started as to what is the root cause of these emotions which are bothering them and which makes them understand that they are not the only one who feel this way and they are not alone.

Anger, if channeled in a proper way, can be a great motivation for making a positive change in our lives or change something which we have always wanted to make. When a person faces any problems and obstacles in life and when the needs of a person are not fulfilled, then it is when rage and anger get triggered. These so called negative emotions are thought to be the foundation of survival, as they make us take action and make the change we want to see.

Though there are many benefits of rage therapy there can be some drawbacks too. Rage is more often than not uncontrollable and can also be violent or aggressive in nature⁽²⁾. Rage therapies are helpful only when it helps you understand your emotions and the cause of why one is feeling angry. Other than this, rage therapy only helps in releasing your emotions, such as stress or anger and it does not help in preventing them⁽⁴⁾. Screaming and smashing will help in letting out all the pent up rage and it will also help in making one feel lighter; however, it does not necessarily help one tackle the underlying cause of the rage.

A study done in 1999 shows that letting off rage and anger can also lead to more aggressive feelings or behavior^{(3, 4)}.

According to experts, instead of just looking for ways to release one’s anger, one should adopt ways and strategies, which balances these negative emotions. Thought balancing is a part of the anger management. Humans are wired for repetitive negative thoughts on a loop, so one should strive to find balance by accepting and acknowledging the emotions and balancing them with experiences in life.

Scream clubs and rage rooms will help in venting and giving you temporary relief. However, for long term relief and management of your emotions, one needs to learn to accept their feelings and some of the ways which one can do that are:

• Meditation and mindfulness.
• Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
• Journaling.
• Exercising.
• Gratitude practices.
• Crafts, arts and other hobbies.

Acceptance and commitment therapy helps in acknowledging our emotions and putting the events where they belong, that is in the past.

It is a great thing that humans have the ability to change their thoughts and channel their emotions in a better way, which can be hard in the beginning, but gets easier with practice.

Like mentioned before, scream clubs and rage therapy are great for releasing your anger and also allows you to make friends who are going through something similar. For getting to the root cause of these problems, one has to go deeper than rage therapy and use and learn management strategies to prevent these issues in the first place.

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• What Is Narcissistic Rage, Know What Can Lead to Narcissistic Rage & Its Consequence?