Twenty-four-year-old Jasmin Vertanen says thrashing junked-up household appliances is a good way for her to release anger built up over coronavirus restrictions. But not everyone agrees this is the best way to deal with pent-up emotions.
In rage rooms, patrons pay to smash away at broken household appliances.
Rage rooms have cropped up around the world over the past decade. Patrons pay to smash things to smithereens, purportedly to relieve stress.
Finland's first rage room opened in Jyväskylä in 2017 but has since closed. Today people can pay to obliterate objects in Tampere, Turku—and now—in Helsinki.
Janne Raninen,who runs the Raivoomo rage room in Helsinki's Merihaka district, said he wanted to create a place where young people can let off steam and release aggression.
"I've had a pretty wild youth. When I was carrying out my prison sentence, I had the idea that it would be good if young people had a place to relieve their rage," he said.
Raninen, who was convicted of a double murder in the capital's Vuosaari neighbourhood, spent 17 years incarcerated both in Finland and Sweden.
Female rage
According to Raninen, women aged 25 to 40 make up most of Raivoomo's clientele.
One of them is Vertanen, who said she comes to the rage room to relieve pressure brought on by Covid restrictions.
"Smashing things up gives me a good, relaxed feeling. The day gets off to a good start, and it beats a morning coffee," she explained.
Mental health professionals, however, don't necessarily see rage rooms as a form of therapy.
"Research has shown that this type of cathartic activity doesn't reduce aggressiveness," psychologist Satu Kaski told Yle.
She said some emotionally stunted and inhibited individuals may feel a moment's release from this kind of activity. Kaski, however, added that she still had reservations about these types of places.
"Anger is a feeling, just like other emotions. It occurs when people sense they've been treated unfairly," she explained.
Kaski said that instead of allowing blind rage to take over, people should explore their feelings to manage anger.
But she said she wouldn't be opposed to introducing rage rooms to one specific type of person.
"I could maybe imagine going to see a place like this with a patient who has trouble expressing or recognising their own anger," she said.