catharsis
/kə'θɑ:sis/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- Psychological purification or release: In psychology and drama, "catharsis" refers to the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
- Purgation, cleansing: In a more general or medical sense, it can refer to the purification or cleansing of something, often the body or emotions.
Usage and Examples
- Noun:
- Watching that tragic play provided a powerful catharsis for the audience. (The experience allowed the audience to release their own pent-up emotions.)
- For him, writing in his journal served as a form of catharsis. (The act of writing helped him process and relieve emotional tension.)
- The concept of catharsis is central to Aristotle's theory of tragedy. (Aristotle believed tragedy could purge the audience's feelings of pity and fear.)
Advanced Usage and Concepts
- "to experience catharsis": to undergo a process of emotional release.
- After the intense therapy session, she felt she had finally experienced a true catharsis.
- "cathartic effect": the relieving result of a cathartic process.
- The film had a cathartic effect on many viewers who had experienced similar loss.
Variants and Related Words
- Cathartic (adj): providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions; causing catharsis.
- She found the conversation to be a cathartic experience.
- Cathartic (n): a purgative drug; something that provides catharsis.
- The medicine acted as a powerful cathartic.
Synonyms
- Purification: the act of making something clean or pure.
- Purgation: the process of purifying or cleansing, especially of emotions.
- Release: the action of setting free from confinement or emotional restraint.
- Abreaction: (in psychoanalysis) the expression and consequent release of a previously repressed emotion.
Related Phrases and Idioms
- "a moment of catharsis": a specific point at which emotional release occurs.
- The final apology led to a moment of catharsis for both of them.
- "seek catharsis": to look for an outlet for emotional release.
- He went for a long run to seek catharsis after the stressful argument.
Noun
- purging the body by the use of a cathartic to stimulate evacuation of the bowels
- (psychoanalysis) purging of emotional tensions