Several local middle schools have recently opened catharsis rooms for students who want to vent their emotions or simply want to bang away at a punching bag during the day.

When the newly set up room at Shanghai Shidong Middle School is open, there are always a couple of students kicking punching bags hung from the ceiling or punching inflatable plastic bars.

Toy bears in the room were already seriously twisted by students only 10 days after the room was opened last month.

"Students like the catharsis room very much," said Chen Yuan, psychology counselor at the Shidong. "They always keep asking me to increase its opening hours."

Currently, the catharsis room covering about 10 square meters opens from 12pm to 1:30pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

But students want it open during every class interval, teachers said.

The majority of students who frequently visit the room are seniors who have to sit the crucial college entrance exam next year. An intensive schedule and their parents' high expectations have put them under great pressure.

"As many students are unwilling to talk to others, it is more effective for them to vent their depression or discontent through their own action," Chen said.

Besides, many room visitors were young students who have no psychological problems at all.

"I only saw the punching bags on TV but never tried them myself before. It was really very cool and exciting to kick it like kungfu stars," said student Fan Yi.

These students regard the catharsis room as another sports facilities to release their overabundant energy, said Wu Zengqiang, chairman of the Shanghai Association of School Counseling.

"But the catharsis room could only function as a supplement to school's psychological guidance. For those who really have psychological problems, face-to-face communication is still the most effective and necessary way," said the counseling expert.

(Shanghai Daily December 7, 2004)