Effectiveness of Catharsis

 Catharsis means to release or cleanse internal negative emotional pressure by telling someone about your feelings. It can help a lot. The effectiveness of Catharsis is valid for making the feelings from good to best.

The basic purpose of Catharsis is to bring about some kind of positive change in one’s life. It involves both a powerful emotional component in which strong emotions are felt and then expressed in an honest way. It also involves a cognitive component in which the individual gains new insight into his issues. This insight can affect somewhat negatively because discovery can initiate some un-comforts, but at the end of the day, it will prove good.

This term is basically used by Aristotle, who used catharsis after watching theatre plays, to release their tension. He used to treat people in trouble with the help of this technique. It was considered a fruitful way.

In daily use, we observe that sometimes we feel tension due to some events that create troublesome effects on our lives and result in awful feelings. If we share these feelings with someone, it releases this pressure to some extent. It has a therapeutic effect. By using this way of behaving, people feel relaxed.

In psychotherapy, it is used very frequently. It is proved to be a very effective tool in many therapeutic interventions. By using this, a serious type of patients used to feel better and only with the help of it they begin to improve.

Catharsis is not only a psychological term, it is used in the same way, for releasing one’s emotions. Usually, it is used by women in different ways for example through poetry, through writings or through different forms of art like painting.  In this way, a woman can express her feelings in an indirect way, which is more comfortable and acceptable in society. It can release her feelings of suppression and resulting anxiety.

It is usually understood that it is only or mostly used by women because of their passive and suppressed position in society. In fact, this is not true. It is not limited to women. Men in a society, where they are not free to do many things and are suppressed by the upper, also use catharsis as a remedy for their sufferings. They also release their tensions in positive or negative ways.

What happened when catharsis is not possible? It is observed that different kinds of effects are there in this situation. It is possible that when a person, who is in a negative situation and don’t find anyone with whom he/she can share his or her feelings, he can go to a condition of stress.  Women can go through depression or it can result in some physical ailment like hypertension or sugar. Men can become trouble creating figures in society or can go into depression as well.  

There must be opportunities for catharsis in all societies. People must provide the time to others to tell their sufferings. There must be the liberty to express feelings through any acceptable for all. There must be some professionals, who can provide this psychological help in an easy way. So, the tensions and sufferings of people can be released at least. In an ideal society, there must be an effort to decrease the discomfort level of people, by providing them possible facilities and benefits. The best way of catharsis is hidden in friendship. When one feels discomfort he/she can talk with friends to find out some way of relief.