Catharsis

Catharsis (from Greek κάθαρσις, katharsis,

meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or
"clarification") refers to the purification and
purgation of emotions—particularly pity
and fear—through art[1] or any extreme
change in emotion that results in renewal
and restoration.[2][3] It is a metaphor
originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics,
comparing the effects of tragedy on the
mind of a spectator to the effect of
catharsis on the body.[4][5]

Dramatic uses
Catharsis is a term in dramatic art that
describes the effect of tragedy (or comedy
and quite possibly other artistic forms)[6]
principally on the audience (although
some have speculated on characters in
the drama as well). Nowhere does
Aristotle explain the meaning of
"catharsis" as he is using that term in the
definition of tragedy in the Poetics
(1449b21-28). G. F. Else argues that
traditional, widely held interpretations of
catharsis as "purification" or "purgation"
have no basis in the text of the Poetics, but
are derived from the use of catharsis in
other Aristotelian and non-Aristotelian
contexts.[7] For this reason, a number of
diverse interpretations of the meaning of
this term have arisen. The term is often
discussed along with Aristotle's concept of
anagnorisis.

D. W. Lucas, in an authoritative edition of

the Poetics, comprehensively covers the
various nuances inherent in the meaning
of the term in an Appendix devoted to
"Pity, Fear, and Katharsis".[8] Lucas
recognizes the possibility of catharsis
bearing some aspect of the meaning of
"purification, purgation, and 'intellectual
clarification,'" although his approach to
these terms differs in some ways from
that of other influential scholars. In
particular, Lucas's interpretation is based
on "the Greek doctrine of Humours," which
has not received wide subsequent
acceptance. The conception of catharsis
in terms of purgation and purification
remains in wide use today, as it has for
centuries.[9] However, since the twentieth
century, the interpretation of catharsis as
"intellectual clarification" has gained
recognition in describing the effect of
catharsis on members of the audience.

Purgation and purification …

In his works prior to the Poetics, Aristotle

had used the term catharsis purely in its
literal medical sense (usually referring to
the evacuation of the katamenia—the
menstrual fluid or other reproductive
material).[10] The Poetics, however,
employs catharsis as a medical metaphor.

F. L. Lucas opposes, therefore, the use of

words like purification and cleansing to
translate catharsis; he proposes that it
should rather be rendered as purgation. "It
is the human soul that is purged of its
excessive passions."[11] Gerald F. Else
made the following argument against the
"purgation" theory:

It presupposes that we come to

the tragic drama (unconsciously,
if you will) as patients to be
cured, relieved, restored to
psychic health. But there is not a
word to support this in the
"Poetics", not a hint that the end
of drama is to cure or alleviate
pathological states. On the
contrary it is evident in every
line of the work that Aristotle is
presupposing "normal" auditors,
normal states of mind and
feeling, normal emotional and
aesthetic experience.[12]
Lessing (1729–1781) sidesteps the
medical attribution. He interprets catharsis
as a purification (German: Reinigung),[13]
an experience that brings pity and fear into
their proper balance: "In real life", he
explained, "men are sometimes too much
addicted to pity or fear, sometimes too
little; tragedy brings them back to a
virtuous and happy mean."[14] Tragedy is
then a corrective; through watching
tragedy, the audience learns how to feel
these emotions at proper levels.
Intellectual clarification …

In the twentieth century a paradigm shift

took place in the interpretation of
catharsis with a number of scholars
contributing to the argument in support of
the intellectual clarification concept.[15]
The clarification theory of catharsis would
be fully consistent, as other interpretations
are not, with Aristotle's argument in
chapter 4 of the Poetics (1448b4-17) that
the essential pleasure of mimesis is the
intellectual pleasure of "learning and
inference".
It is generally understood that Aristotle's
theory of mimesis and catharsis are
responses to Plato's negative view of
artistic mimesis on an audience. Plato
argued that the most common forms of
artistic mimesis were designed to evoke
from an audience powerful emotions such
as pity, fear, and ridicule which override the
rational control that defines the highest
level of our humanity and lead us to
wallow unacceptably in the overindulgence
of emotion and passion. Aristotle's
concept of catharsis, in all of the major
senses attributed to it, contradicts Plato's
view by providing a mechanism that
generates the rational control of irrational
emotions. All of the commonly held
interpretations of catharsis, purgation,
purification, and clarification are
considered by most scholars to represent
a homeopathic process in which pity and
fear accomplish the catharsis of emotions
like themselves. For an alternate view of
catharsis as an allopathic process in
which pity and fear produce a catharsis of
emotions unlike pity and fear, see E.
Belfiore, Tragic Pleasures: Aristotle on Plot
and Emotion. Princeton, 1992, 260 ff.
Literary analysis of catharsis …

The following analysis by E. R. Dodds,

directed at the character of Oedipus in the
paradigmatic Aristotelian tragedy, Oedipus
Rex, incorporates all three of the
aforementioned interpretations of
catharsis: purgation, purification,
intellectual clarification:

...what fascinates us is the

spectacle of a man freely
choosing, from the highest
motives a series of actions
which lead to his own ruin.
Oedipus might have left the
plague to take its course; but
pity for the sufferings of his
people compelled him to consult
Delphi. When Apollo's word
came back, he might still have
left the murder of Laius
uninvestigated; but piety and
justice required him to act. He
need not have forced the truth
from the reluctant Theban
herdsman; but because he
cannot rest content with a lie, he
must tear away the last veil
from the illusion in which he has
lived so long. Teiresias, Jocasta,
the herdsman, each in turn tries
to stop him, but in vain; he must
read the last riddle, the riddle of
his own life. The immediate
cause of Oedipus' ruin is not
"fate or "the gods"—no oracle
said that he must discover the
truth—and still less does it lie in
his own weakness; what causes
 his ruin is his own strength and
courage, his loyalty to Thebes,
and his loyalty to the truth.[16]

Attempts to subvert catharsis …

There have been, for political or aesthetic

reasons, deliberate attempts made to
subvert the effect of catharsis in theatre.
For example, Bertolt Brecht viewed
catharsis as a pap (pabulum) for the
bourgeois theatre audience, and designed
dramas which left significant emotions
unresolved, intending to force social
action upon the audience. Brecht then
identified the concept of catharsis with the
notion of identification of the spectator,
meaning a complete adhesion of the
viewer to the dramatic actions and
characters. Brecht reasoned that the
absence of a cathartic resolution would
require the audience to take political
action in the real world, in order to fill the
emotional gap they had experienced
vicariously. This technique can be seen as
early as his agit-prop play The Measures
Taken, and is mostly the source of his
invention of an epic theatre, based on a
distancing effect (Verfremdungseffekt)
between the viewer and the representation
or portrayal of characters.[17]

"Catharsis" before tragedy

Catharsis before the 6th century BCE rise
of tragedy is, for the Western World,
essentially a historical footnote to the
Aristotelian conception. The practice of
purification had not yet appeared in
Homer, as later Greek commentators
noted:[18] the Aithiopis, an epic set in the
Trojan War cycle, narrates the purification
of Achilles after his murder of Thersites.
Catharsis describes the result of
measures taken to cleanse away blood-
guilt—"blood is purified through blood",[19]
a process in the development of
Hellenistic culture in which the oracle of
Delphi took a prominent role. The classic
example—Orestes—belongs to tragedy, but
the procedure given by Aeschylus is
ancient: the blood of a sacrificed piglet is
allowed to wash over the blood-polluted
man, and running water washes away the
blood.[20] The identical ritual is
represented, Burkert informs us, on a
krater found at Canicattini, wherein it is
shown being employed to cure the
daughters of Proetus from their madness,
caused by some ritual transgression.[21] To
the question of whether the ritual obtains
atonement for the subject, or just healing,
Burkert answers: "To raise the question is
to see the irrelevance of this
distinction".[21]

Catharsis in Platonism
In Platonism, catharsis is part of the soul’s
progressive ascent to knowledge. It is a
means to go beyond the senses and
embrace the pure world of the
intelligible.[22] Specifically for the
Neoplatonists Plotinus and Porphyry,
catharsis is the elimination of passions.
This leads to a clear distinction in the
virtues. In the second tractate of the first
Ennead, Plotinus lays out the difference
between the civic virtues and the cathartic
virtues and explains that the civic, or
political, virtues are inferior. They are a
principle of order and beauty and concern
material existence. (Enneads, I,2,2)
Although they maintain a trace of the
Absolute Good, they do not lead to the
unification of the soul with the divinity. As
Porphyry makes clear, their function is to
moderate individual passions and allow
for peaceful coexistence with others.
(Sentences, XXXIX) The purificatory, or
cathartic, virtues are a condition for
assimilation to the divinity. They separate
the soul from the sensible, from everything
that is not its true self, enabling it to
contemplate the Mind (Nous).[23]

Therapeutic uses
In psychology, the term was first employed
by Sigmund Freud's colleague Josef
Breuer (1842–1925), who developed a
cathartic method of treatment using
hypnosis for persons suffering from
intensive hysteria. While under hypnosis,
Breuer's patients were able to recall
traumatic experiences, and through the
process of expressing the original
emotions that had been repressed and
forgotten, they were relieved of their
hysteric symptoms. Catharsis was also
central to Freud's concept of
psychoanalysis, but he replaced hypnosis
with free association.[24]
The term catharsis has also been adopted
by modern psychotherapy, particularly
Freudian psychoanalysis, to describe the
act of expressing, or more accurately,
experiencing the deep emotions often
associated with events in the individual's
past which had originally been repressed
or ignored, and had never been adequately
addressed or experienced.

There has been much debate about the

use of catharsis in the reduction of anger.
Some scholars believe that "blowing off
steam" may reduce physiological stress in
the short term, but this reduction may act
as a reward mechanism, reinforcing the
behavior and promoting future
outbursts.[25][26][27][28] However, other
studies have suggested that using violent
media may decrease hostility under
periods of stress.[29] Legal scholars have
linked "catharsis" to "closure"[30] (an
individual's desire for a firm answer to a
question and an aversion toward
ambiguity) and "satisfaction" which can be
applied to affective strategies as diverse
as retribution, on one hand, and
forgiveness on the other.[31] There's no
"one size fits all" definition of "catharsis",
therefore this does not allow a clear
definition of its use in therapeutic
terms.[32]

Social catharsis
Emotional situations can elicit
physiological, behavioral, cognitive,
expressive, and subjective changes in
individuals. Affected individuals often use
social sharing as a cathartic release of
emotions. Bernard Rimé studies the
patterns of social sharing after emotional
experiences. His works suggest that
individuals seek social outlets in an
attempt to modify the situation and
restore personal homeostatic balance.

Rimé found that 80–95% of emotional

episodes are shared. The affected
individuals talk about the emotional
experience recurrently to people around
them throughout the following hours, days,
or weeks. These results indicate that this
response is irrespective of emotional
valence, gender, education, and culture.
His studies also found that social sharing
of emotion increases as the intensity of
the emotion increases.[33]

Stages …

Émile Durkheim[34] proposed emotional

stages of social sharing:

1. Directly after emotional effects, the

emotions are shared. Through
sharing, there is a reciprocal
stimulation of emotions and
emotional communion.
 2. This leads to social effects like social
integration and strengthening of
beliefs.
3. Finally, individuals experience a
renewed trust in life, strength, and
self-confidence.

Motives …

Affect scientists have found differences in

motives for social sharing of positive and
negative emotions.

(1) Positive emotion

A study by Langston[35] found that
individuals share positive events to
capitalize on the positive emotions they
elicit. Reminiscing the positive experience
augments positive affects like temporary
mood and longer-term well-being. A study
by Gable et al.[36] confirmed Langston's
"capitalization" theory by demonstrating
that relationship quality is enhanced when
partners are responsive to positive
recollections. The responsiveness
increased levels of intimacy and
satisfaction within the relationship. In
general, the motives behind social sharing
of positive events are to recall the positive
emotions, inform others, and gain
attention from others. All three motives
are representatives of capitalization.

(2) Negative emotion

Rimé studies suggest that the motives

behind social sharing of negative
emotions are to vent, understand, bond,
and gain social support. Negatively
affected individuals often seek life
meaning and emotional support to combat
feelings of loneliness after a tragic
event.[33]
The grapevine effect …

If emotions are shared socially and elicits

emotion in the listener then the listener
will likely share what they heard with other
people. Rimé calls this process "secondary
social sharing". If this repeats, it is then
called "tertiary social sharing".[33]

Collective catharsis …

Collective emotional events share similar

responses. When communities are
affected by an emotional event, members
repetitively share emotional experiences.
After the 2001 New York and the 2004
Madrid terrorist attacks, more than 80% of
respondents shared their emotional
experience with others.[37] According to
Rimé, every sharing round elicits
emotional reactivation in the sender and
the receiver. This then reactivates the need
to share in both. Social sharing throughout
the community leads to high amounts of
emotional recollection and "emotional
overheating".
Pennebaker and Harber[38] defined three
stages of collective responses to
emotional events.

In the first stage, a state of "emergency"

takes place in the first month after the
emotional event. In this stage, there is an
abundance of thoughts, talks, media
coverage, and social integration based on
the event.

In the second stage, the "plateau" occurs

in the second month. Abundant thoughts
remain, but the amount of talks, media
coverage, and social integration
decreases.

In the third stage, the "extinction" occurs

after the second month. There is a return
to normalcy.

Effect on emotional recovery …

This cathartic release of emotions is often

believed to be therapeutic for affected
individuals. Many therapeutic mechanisms
have been seen to aid in emotional
recovery. One example is "interpersonal
emotion regulation", in which listeners help
to modify the affected individual's
affective state by using certain
strategies.[39] Expressive writing is another
common mechanism for catharsis.
Joanne Frattaroli[40] published a meta-
analysis suggesting that written disclosure
of information, thoughts, and feelings
enhances mental health.

However, other studies question the

benefits of social catharsis. Finkenauer
and colleagues[41] found that non-shared
memories were no more emotionally
triggering than shared ones. Other studies
have also failed to prove that social
catharsis leads to any degree of emotional
recovery. Zech and Rimé[42] asked
participants to recall and share a negative
experience with an experimenter. When
compared with the control group that only
discussed unemotional topics, there was
no correlation between emotional sharing
and emotional recovery.

Some studies even found adverse effects

of social catharsis. Contrary to the
Frattaroli study, Sbarra and colleagues[43]
found expressive writing to greatly impede
emotional recovery following a marital
separation. Similar findings have been
published regarding trauma recovery. A
group intervention technique is often used
on disaster victims to prevent trauma-
related disorders. However, meta-analysis
showed negative effects of this cathartic
"therapy".[44]

See also
Abreaction
Closure (psychology)
Kenosis
 Kairosis
Sublimation (psychology)

Notes
1. "catharsis" . Merriam-Webster's
Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-
Webster. 1995. p. 217.
ISBN 9780877790426.
2. Berndtson, Arthur (1975). Art,
Expression, and Beauty . Krieger.
p. 235. ISBN 9780882752174. "The
theory of catharsis has a disarming
affinity with the expressional theory,
since it emphasizes emotion, asserts
 a change in emotion as a result of
aesthetic operations, and concludes
on a note of freedom in relation to the
emotion"
3. Levin, Richard (2003). Looking for an
Argument: Critical Encounters with the
New Approaches to the Criticism of
Shakespeare and His
Contemporaries . p. 42.
ISBN 9780838639641. "Catharsis in
Shakespearean tragedy involves ...
some kind of restoration of order and
a renewal or enhancement of our
positive feelings for the hero."
4. Aristotle, Poetics, 1449b
5. "catharsis (criticism)" . Encyclopædia
Britannica.
. Scheff, Thomas J. (1979). Catharsis in
Healing, Ritual, and Drama . University
of California Press. ISBN 978-0-595-
15237-7.
7. Golden, Leon (1962). "Catharsis".
Transactions and Proceedings of the
American Philological Association. 93:
51–60. doi:10.2307/283751 .
JSTOR 283751 .
 . Lucas, D. W. (1977). Aristotle: Poetics.
Oxford University Press. pp. 276–79.
ISBN 978-0198140245.
9. Nichols, Michael P.; Zax, Melvin (1977).
Catharsis in Psychotherapy. John
Wiley & Sons Inc, New York. ISBN 978-
0470990643.
10. Belifiore, Elizabeth S. (1992). Tragic
Pleasures: Aristotle on Plot and
Emotion. Princeton University Press.
p. 300.
11. Lucas, F. L. (1927) Tragedy in Relation
to Aristotle's Poetics, p. 24
12. Else, Gerald F. Aristotle's Poetics: The
Argument, p. 440. Cambridge,
Massachusetts (1957)
13. Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim (1769).
Hamburgische Dramaturgie [Hamburg
Dramaturgy]. Deutsches Textarchiv (in
German). 2. Hamburg. pp. 183–184.
Retrieved 2019-01-27. "Wir dürfen nur
annehmen, er habe eben nicht
behaupten wollen, daß beide Mittel
zugleich, sowohl Furcht als Mitleid,
nöthig wären, um die Reinigung der
Leidenschaften zu bewirken, die er zu
 dem letzten Endzwecke der Tragödie
macht [...]."
14. Lucas, F. L. Tragedy in Relation to
Aristotle's Poetics, p. 23. Hogarth,
1928
15. The following works can be usefully
consulted in this regard: L. Golden,
"Aristotle on Tragic and Comic
Mimesis," Atlanta, 1992; S. Halliwell,
"Aristotle's Poetics," London, 1986; D.
Keesey, "On Some Recent
Interpretations of Catharsis, "The
Classical World", (1979) 72.4, 193–
205.
1 . Dodds, E. R. (1966). "On
Misunderstanding the 'Oedipus Rex' ".
Greece and Rome. 13 (1): 37–49.
doi:10.1017/s0017383500016144 .
JSTOR 642354 .
17. Brecht, Bertold, "La dramaturgie non
aristotélicienne", Théâtre épique,
théâtre dialectique, éd. Jean-Marie
Valentin, Paris, Éditions de L'Arche,
1999, pp. 69–70.
1 . Burkert, Walter (1992). The
Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern
Influence on Greek Culture in the Early
Archaic Age . Harvard University
 Press. p. 56 . This sub-section
depends largely on Burkert.
19. Burkert (1992), p. 56.
20. Burkert notes parallels with a bilingual
Akkadian-Sumerian ritual text: "the
knowledgeable specialist, the
sacrificial piglet, slaughter, contact
with blood, and the subsequent
cleansing with water" Burkert (1992,
p. 58).
21. Burkert (1992), p. 57.
22. Reale, Giovanni, (1990) History of
Ancient Philosophy, vols. 5, trans. by
 John R. Catan, Albany: State University
of New York Press, vol II, pp. 166–167
23. Smith, Andrew, (2004) Philosophy in
Late Antiquity, London and New York,
Routledge, pp. 62–64
24. Strickland, Bonnie, ed. (2001).
Catharsis. Gale.
25. Bushman, B. J.; Baumeister, R. F.;
Stack, A. D. (March 1999). "Catharsis,
aggression, and persuasive influence:
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prophecies?". Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology. 76 (3): 367–
376. doi:10.1037/0022-
 3514.76.3.367 . PMID 10101875 .
S2CID 18773447 .
2 . Gannon, Theresa A. (2007). Gannon,
Theresa A.; Ward, Tony; Beech,
Anthony R.; Fisher, Dawn (eds.).
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35. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-
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27. Baron, Robert A.; Richardson, Deborah
R. (2004). "Catharsis: does 'getting it
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 Human Aggression. Springer.
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2 . Denzler, Markus; Förster, Jens;
Liberman, Nira (January 2009). "How
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doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.08.021 .
29. Ferguson, Christopher; Rueda,
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 European Psychologist. 15 (2): 99–
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30. Bandes, Susan A. (2009). "Victims,
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31. Kanwar, Vik (2002). "Capital
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34. Durkheim, Émile (1915). The
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Translated by Swain, Joseph Ward.
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35. Langston, Christopher A. (1994).
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"Purification"  . Encyclopædia Britannica.
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Dictionary of the History of Ideas :
"Catharsis"
Catholic Encyclopedia: "Mysticism" and
"NeoPlatonism"
Blackwell Reference
 Kohn, Alfie (1992). No Contest: The Cast
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"Catharsis in Psychology and Beyond: A
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Catharsis

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