There are situations that hurt and last over time. The passage of years does not mean that memories are magically erased. When things happen to us that are difficult to assimilate and cause us great pain, we look for solutions that can provide us with relief from so much suffering. Sometimes, when faced with physical pain, we turn to a medical specialist. On other occasions, faced with economic difficulties, we consider alternatives that can give us a break. In the case of emotions and memories that hurt, we usually go to a psychologist to talk about all the issues that distress and bother us.
In this way, there are usually several possibilities that allow us to deal with pain related to situations from the past. Psychology has its own ways of approaching them. Do you want to know more about this? In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about what is abreaction in psychology.
What is abreaction
When we talk about the concept of abreaction, we refer to a release of an emotion related to an idea or memory that occurred in the past which has generated a lot of discomfort in the individual. Consequently, the discharge of said emotion can make it possible to work on those memories in therapy so that the patient feels better.
Examples of abreaction
To better understand what abreaction means in psychology, we are going to exemplify it with two different cases:
- Distress: A woman may have been sexually abused by a family member during the period of her childhood and this has caused her great distress. However, over the years she has forgotten this memory of her, but she continues to be distressed often. Abreaction occurs when the woman manages to remember the situation that has distressed her for so many years and thus relief occurs in her life.
- Fear: A man has been beaten by his father during his childhood and this has generated great fear in him that manifests itself in a large number of situations in his life. In this way, the abreaction is generated at the moment that the patient remembers this situation that has caused the . Consequently, the release of emotion makes it possible to alleviate his discomfort.
These situations are examples that allow us to see how abreaction works in psychology at a general level. However, the particularities of each case must be taken into account to glimpse the function that abreaction has according to the patient.
Although the meaning of abreaction is mostly linked to childhood situations, it is also applicable to other later moments in life in which there may be unpleasant emotions linked to situations that have been forgotten by the patient.
Emotional abreaction techniques and their effects
First of all, we must keep in mind that abreaction in psychology is a concept that corresponds to a type of therapy called . In this sense, the practice of abreaction is carried out through a series of methods that can result in the emotional release of the patient. Next, we show you what the emotional abreaction techniques are and their effects:
- free association: consists of the fact that the patient speaks, without any prior order, about what is happening to him. In other words, free association is linked to talking about any situation that comes to the person’s mind. In this way, it is possible that the union of several situations makes it possible for the patient to talk about the painful memory.
- Insight: consists of the idea that the patient can take an internal view of himself/herself to understand some event that has occurred. Like free association, insight relieves the patient’s suffering, since it makes it possible to release an emotion that belongs to a distressing or painful memory.
Difference between abreaction and catharsis
One of the most important aspects to consider regarding this topic is the difference between abreaction and catharsis. Although these two words may seem synonymous, the truth is that they have some nuances that differentiate them.
On the one hand, catharsis is a concept taken from Aristotle, which referred to the purification of the soul when it was possible to discharge an emotion. If we take this idea and apply it to psychoanalytic therapy, we can understand that catharsis is a direct consequence of abreaction.
To achieve , it is necessary to work on a painful memory during therapy. The objective is that there is both a liberation and a purification in the patient. For these reasons, to achieve abreaction and catharsis in therapy, it is important to resort to the techniques mentioned above.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Figueroa, G. (2014). Freud, Breuer and Aristotle: catharsis and the discovery of Oedipus. Chilean Journal Neuro Psychiatry, 52 (4), 264-273.
- Freud, S. (1895). Studies on hysteria. Complete works of Sigmund Freud. Volume II.