1. SYN: purgation. 2. The release or discharge of emotional tension or anxiety by psychoanalytically guided emotional reliving of past, especially repressed, events. SYN: psychocatharsis. [G. katharsis, purification, fr. katharos, pure]
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1) PURGATION
2) elimination of a complex by bringing it to consciousness and affording it expression compare ABREACTION
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n.
purging or cleansing out of the bowels by giving the patient a laxative (cathartic) to stimulate intestinal activity.
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ca·thar·sis (kə-thahrґsis) [Gr. katharsis a cleansing] 1. evacuation. 2. in psychiatry, release of ideas, thoughts, and repressed material from the unconscious, accompanied by an emotional response and relief.Medical dictionary. 2011.