A group of 30 Spaniards selected by psychologists for their unusually high levels of stress and anxiety were allowed to run wild throughout a Spanish hotel, smashing whatever they wanted to with sledgehammers and pickaxes.

Among the lucky winners who were selected from a pool of 200 applicants were a corporate executive, a soon-to-be-married couple and a single mother.

The hotel, which is being refurbished, will give the amateur demolition crew a free night's stay when the hotel re-opens in September. Laura Garcia, one of the psychologists working on the initiative, said that "release endorphins, reducing the tension in the organism".