LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — How do you deal with stress?
In Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, people find a reset button in “rage rooms,” where they pay to smash electronics and furniture with hammers to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
The Shadow Rage Room is the first of its kind in Nigeria and offers a “safe space” for people to air out pent-up emotions, said founder and physician Dr. James Babajide Banjoko, who said the idea came to him after he lost his mother and struggled at work during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
For 7,500 naira ($5), customers are left alone in a room with protective gear and a sledgehammer or bat for 30 minutes interacting with items that will later be recycled.
Nigeria is going through tough timesGrowing discontent among young people in the country of more than 200 million has led to recent mass protests. Several people were killed by security forcesInflation hit a 28-year high of 33.4 percent and the naira fell to its lowest level ever against the dollar.
In Africa’s most populous country, where 40 percent of people live on less than $2 a day, mental health services remain unaffordable or out of reach for many.
According to the Nigerian Association of Clinical Psychologists, the West African country has fewer than 400 registered psychologists – that’s one for every 500,000 people.
NACP president Gboyega Emmanuel Abikoye said in an interview that even if treatment is available, stigma remains a challenge.
Rage rooms aren’t necessarily new in other parts of the world, and Abikoye says there’s no documented evidence that they’re good for mental health, beyond the temporary relief that venting can bring.
Instead, Nigerian experts see a growing need for longer-term psychological support, especially among young people.
The needs are even more pronounced in Lagos, a crowded city of some 20 million people seeking better opportunities. One of the world’s most polluted cities, notorious traffic jams add to daily stress, trapping drivers and passengers on the streets for hours in the heat and smog.
Some Nigerians are turning to social media platforms like TikTok as a way to cope with stress, while others are seeking support from their communities, anywhere from churches and mosques to gyms.
And now there’s a rage room that’s open on weekends and, according to founder Banjoko, is usually booked up to two weeks in advance.
At the end of the smashing session, Olaribigbe Akeem, a recent visitor, emerged sweaty but relieved and clearly happy.
“As an average Nigerian, I have to deal with a lot every day,” Akeem said. “My anger has been building up. Instead of taking it out on others, this is the best outlet for me. I feel so refreshed.”
Among the rage room visitors are a couple who just want to let something out.
Sometimes people come for recreation and find something more.
“What I love is people who just want to give it a go, and then at the end of the day I see them break down, cry, get very emotional,” said Banjoco, who said he often refers them to therapy.
Dr Maymuna Yusuf Kadiri, a Lagos-based psychiatrist, said the benefits of vandalism are usually short-lived and no substitute for therapy.
Such behaviour also risks reducing the likelihood of using “healthy coping strategies”, she said, expressing concern that “repeated engagement… may reinforce aggressive tendencies”.
Some clients said that in the rage rooms, their problems seemed less severe until they left the room and returned to their daily lives.
But being vulnerable, indoors with a sledgehammer in hand, is still worth it, said actor and TV presenter Eka Stephanie Paul.
“Either way, it doesn’t solve the problem,” she said in pidgin, a language widely spoken across Nigeria, acknowledging that the rage rooms were hardly therapeutic, “but I feel so much better now.”
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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.
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