How do you deal with stress? In Nigeria, it helps to throw a sledgehammer in a room of anger

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – How do you deal with stress?

In Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, people find a reset button in the “room of rage” where they pay to smash electronics and furniture with a sledgehammer as a break. the worst cost-of-life crisis in a generation.

The Shadow Rage Room, which appears to be the first of its kind in Nigeria, provides a “safe space” for people to vent their pent-up emotions, according to Dr. James Babajide Banjoko, founder and doctor. He said the idea came during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after he lost his mother and struggled at work.

For 7,500 naira ($5), customers are left alone with safety gear and a sledgehammer or bat in the room for a 30-minute session with items that will later be recycled.

Times are tough in Nigeriaa country of more than 200 million people where growing frustration among young people has led to recent protests several people were killed by security forces. The rate of inflation reached a 28-year high of 33.4%, while the naira fell to a record low against the dollar.

Mental health services remain out of reach or impossible for many people in Africa’s most populous country, where 40% of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

The West African nation has less than 400 registered psychologists, according to the Nigerian Association of Clinical Psychologists. That means one psychologist for about half a million people.

Despite treatment, stigma remains a challenge, NACP president Gboyega Emmanuel Abikoye said in an interview.

Anger rooms are not new in some parts of the world. There is no documented evidence of their mental health benefits other than the temporary relief that comes from venting, Abikoye said.

Nigerian experts instead see a growing need for long-term emotional support, especially among the youth.

In Lagos, a bustling city of about 20 million people and a magnet for job seekers, such needs are even more evident. Daily worries include traffic jams that are notorious for trapping drivers and passengers on the streets for hours in the heat and smog in one of the world’s most polluted cities.

Some Nigerians have turned to social media platforms like Tiktok as a way to cope with stress. Others find community support wherever they can, from a church or mosque to a gym.

Now there is an anger room, which is opened on weekends and is usually booked for the next two weeks, according to Banjoko, the founder.

At the end of another breakout session, Olaribigbe Akeem, a recent guest, came out sweaty but relieved and seemingly happy.

“As an ordinary Nigerian, you can handle a lot on a daily basis,” Akeem said. “The anger is increasing (and) instead of pouring it out on someone, this is the best way for me, and I feel very renewed.”

Rage room guests also include couples who want to get something off their chest.

Sometimes, people come for recreation but get something more.

“The people I love the most are the ones… who want to try it, and at the end of the day, you see them, they’re broken, they’re crying, they’re very emotional,” Banjoko said. He said he often takes them to therapy.

Dr. Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri, a Lagos-based psychiatrist, said any benefit from detoxification is usually temporary and cannot replace treatment.

There’s also the risk of such a habit making it less likely for a person to use “healthy coping strategies,” he said, and expressed concern that “repeated commitment… it can reinforce violent behavior.”

In the anger room, some clients said their problems felt lighter until they left and re-entered daily life.

But being vulnerable while you’re inside, sledgehammer in hand, is still important, said Eka Stephanie Paul, an actress and TV host.

“The problem is endless,” he said in the pidgin widely spoken across Nigeria, admitting that the anger room is not the cure. But now, I feel very light.

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Asadu reports from Abuja, Nigeria.

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