Lisa, I know you and i have discussed this before and we never reached d�tente on it.
When I made my list of poor and better coping mechanisms (because you and Jeanne had told me breaking things was bad) I put it on my *poor* coping list.
My therapist liked my list but suggested that breaking things was actually extremely therapeutic, as long as it's within one's control. In that case, nothing you value is being harmed, whether thing, self or other.
So I moved it to my *better* coping list. And I will say the two times I tried it really helped tremendously. It adjusted my mental state almost instantly.
Is it the best method of coping? That I would have to think about further. I don't think it's different than going for a run, taking tae kwon do, or sword fighting to release emotion. Destructive energy feels good, when harnessed properly.
Building a sand castle is fun. Kicking it to smithereens is also fun.
This is something that I always found to be a sore point with me in Star Wars. Even as a child, I was hoping the solution to the trilogy was going to be finding ways to incorporate the dark and light sides - realizing they both had their value. I was surprised they did not go there at all. It would have been more Jungian.