Catharsis as a therapy: an overview on health and human development

Abstract

The word catharsis is derived from the Greek word which is translated as cleansing or purification. Most of the definitions emphasize two essential components of catharsis: the emotional aspect (strong emotional expression and processing) and the cognitive aspect of catharsis (insight, new realization, and the unconscious becoming consciousness) and as a result - positive change. Aristotle defined catharsis as purging of the spirit of morbid and base ideas or emotions by witnessing the playing out of such emotions or ideas on stage [1]. Breuer and Freud described catharsis as an involuntary, instinctive body process, for example crying [2]. Schultz and Schultz (2004) followed the psychodynamic tradition and defined catharsis as the process of reducing or eliminating a complex by recalling it to conscious awareness and allowing it to be expressed [3]. The American Psychological Association [4] also associates catharsis with the psychodynamic theory and defines it as the discharge of affects connected to traumatic events that had previously been repressed by bringing these events back into consciousness and reexperiencing them.