Sometimes, people have overwhelming emotions that need to be released safely; when the release happens, it is called a cathartic release. Catharsis helps to relieve emotional overload through engagement in activities such as movement, writing, or creating art. Catharsis generates new insights as well as a sense of purification.1 By releasing these emotions, an emotional breakdown can be prevented.
Do Your Emotions Feel Extreme?
Therapy can help you be less reactive and calmer. BetterHelp has over 30,000 licensed therapists who provide convenient and affordable online therapy. BetterHelp starts at $65 per week and is FSA/HSA eligible by most providers. Take a free online assessment and get matched with the right therapist for you.
What Is Catharsis Psychology?
The origin of the word catharsis goes back to ancient Greece and was coined by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.2 To experience catharsis is a two-part process; the expression of strong emotions and the achievement of insight. Together, these can generate positive change as if a cleansing or purification has occurred. Catharsis allows for the unconscious to become conscious.
Today, catharsis refers to the release of emotions that are either being repressed or intense, and the release of these emotions is like opening up a “safety valve” when the pressure in a system gets too strong. The cathartic release allows for emotional regulation and helps people regain a sense of emotional equilibrium. It can be helpful when people have experienced trauma or are dealing with anxiety, fear, or other emotional disruptions.
How Cathartic Release Works
When people experience difficult situations, traumatic events, or face significant challenges to their emotional equilibrium, intense emotions can build up inside. The emotional overwhelm can be so great that a person might feel ready to “explode,” or they may experience a feeling of numbness as their emotions reach a point of emotional overload. Strong emotions can get in the way of normal functioning.
Catharsis can serve as the release valve to help people express their emotions or suppressed emotions that can be too scary to talk about easily. By finding cathartic release, a person can give their emotions an outlet, which helps the body and mind find equilibrium. When strong emotions are suppressed or blocked over time, it can lead to ongoing psychological distress.
The Benefits of Cathartic Release
When emotions get too intense, finding a healthy way to express them can bring cathartic relief. For instance, having a good cry can provide cathartic relief after a romantic breakup. Some people are surprised when extreme anger prompts tears, but crying is a safe way to express anger and rage. Bodies and minds can only manage so much distress until they signal that release is required.
Catharsis relieves physical and emotional distress.3 Emotional equilibrium allows people to manage minor and major causes of distress, and release helps achieve equilibrium. Through cathartic release, balance is restored, which leads to stress reduction, clarity of thought, and enhanced mental well-being. These help support more effective coping skills.4 Physical benefits include reduced stress, better sleep, and improved overall functioning and vitality.
Examples of Cathartic Release
Cathartic release can occur in various settings, including a therapist’s office, the privacy of one’s home, outdoors, or in a theater or a library. Catharsis can be intentional, facilitated by a therapist, or spontaneous, such as through a bout of crying or physical exertion.5 When it happens spontaneously, a person can be surprised at the emotional relief they experience afterward.
Some examples of how catharsis might take place include:
- Visual arts: Art allows people to express feelings and emotions that they may not have words to express. By using art, suppressed or repressed emotions can inspire creative output that defies explanation and allows for emotional release.
- Physical activities: Engaging in activities such as running can allow a person to reflect or process distressing feelings. The activity provides an outlet for these emotions and leaves a person feeling cleansed of their negative emotions.
- Music: Music provides a universal language, and listening to or making music can greatly influence emotional states. Music provides a strong cathartic effect on both musicians and non-musicians alike.6
- Sports: For some people, being a spectator or participating in sports can be cathartic. As an observer, watching competitive sports can allow strong emotions to be expressed through cheering on your side; participating in sports allows for expressing repressed emotions through physical engagement.
- Physical Labor: Engaging in physical activities that require little mental focus, including house cleaning, yard work, or similar tasks, can provide a release valve for distressing emotions.
- Movies: Movies are typically designed to stir particular emotions in moviegoers. Whether it is a fear-inducing element or a scene designed to be a tearjerker, experiencing these emotions through onscreen stimuli gives people a chance to process and express deeper, more personal emotions safely.
- Theater: In ancient Greece, attending dramatic or comedic plays was a recommended healing treatment for the emotional malaise. The theater allows people to feel a part of the actions unfolding on stage and provides emotional release through attendance.
- Storytelling: When a person can tell their story of a traumatic or tragic experience, including illness, as a narrative, it provides a feeling of catharsis. They can gain a sense of mastery over the event as they retell it.7
Top Rated Online Therapy Services
BetterHelp – Best Overall
“BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that quickly connects you with a licensed counselor or therapist and earned 4 out of 5 stars.” Take a free assessment
Online-Therapy.com – Great Alternative
In addition to therapy, all Online-Therapy.com subscriptions include a self-guided CBT course. Visit Online-Therapy.com
Healthy Techniques for Achieving Cathartic Release
While some people mistakenly believe that achieving catharsis requires intense or aggressive actions, catharsis can be achieved in a variety of ways that include solitary, calm-inducing practices. From meditation to reflective writing to active engagement in physical activities, people can find emotional release.
The key aspects of catharsis are the expression of intense emotions along with gaining a new perspective and insight through their expression. Sometimes, the cathartic process begins with the intention to sort through difficult emotions. Other times, catharsis can occur without planning, and it is only during or after it’s occurred that people become aware of the experience.
Here are some examples of how it can be intentionally motivated:
Journaling
Mental health professionals often recommend journaling to make sense of emotions and experiences. Journaling allows space to explore difficult emotions and create a narrative of one’s life. Writing down experiences and feelings enables a person to express distress safely, process their feelings, and gain insight from their writing. Journaling can be prescriptive, addressing specific prompts, or freewriting.
Movement
Engaging in specific movement-based activities, such as yoga or taekwondo, can be an effective method of facilitating cathartic release. In case of trauma, trauma-informed yoga can be especially effective. These forms of movement and associated yogic breathing techniques encourage the practitioner to turn inwards and focus on their mind and body as they experience the moment. This mindful engagement allows repressed emotions to rise to the surface and be released through the practice.
Yell or Scream
Cathartic release is often depicted as some kind of strong physical experience, and yelling and screaming may seem to be harsh displays of negative emotions. While yelling or screaming may seem to be psychologically distressing in themselves, they can serve to diminish distress as they provide a means of expressing and releasing emotions that are unsettling and upsetting.
Talk it Out With Close Friend
When journaling your feelings isn’t as cleansing or healing as hoped, talking with someone who cares about you can be helpful. Narrating your experience, sharing the complicated or intense emotions that you’re feeling, and processing the distress you’re currently feeling can be effective in providing the insight you need to cleanse yourself of the negative emotions.
How to Avoid Overwhelm & Emotional Flooding
Often, people are anxious about expressing their negative emotions or their strong feelings as they may fear that they may be overwhelmed by their feelings. Emotional flooding is the term used to describe that feeling of being so overwhelmed by emotions that your behaviors and responses to others seem out of the norm, and you feel your emotions are out of control.
To prevent emotional flooding, it is helpful to stay in touch with your emotions and how you manage upsetting experiences. When you feel you are nearing the tipping point of being overwhelmed, give yourself permission to take a step back and a mental break. Acknowledging what you’re feeling and where it’s coming from can help you regain control.
Practice naming and expressing your emotions to take stock of unsettling feelings as quickly as possible. By learning more about your triggers and your responses, you will be able to prepare for future events. Simple practices such as deep breathing or encouraging self-talk can be utilized when dealing with emotionally distressing situations that catch you by surprise.
Guided Cathartic Experiences Through Therapy
When people have emotions that they keep stuffing down or bottling up, they may experience signs of emotional flooding once the dam breaks and their emotions flood into their awareness. However, intentional and planned catharsis can help people feel more in control of their emotional release. Making space to process distressing feelings, unsettling emotions, or upsetting experiences in a therapeutic setting can help.
There are advantages to seeking the support of a trained professional when dealing with more profound or more complex emotional releases. If emotional overwhelm is negatively affecting your life, If engaging in self-care methods of catharsis leaves you feeling overwhelmed rather than in control and with greater insight, working with a therapist is advised. Emotionally Focused Therapy and psychodrama are two therapies that specifically support catharsis.
By consulting an online therapist directory, you can find someone who specializes in areas that are specific to your needs, including trauma or catharsis. You may also choose to participate in online therapy sessions if that works better for your schedule. Catharsis can be gained through sharing your experiences aloud so online group therapy may be a good option for some.
In My Experience
In my experience, emotional overwhelm is one of the frequent reasons individuals seek professional support. Psychological distress from prior life experiences that linger well after an event can hinder optimal functioning. When clients have spent years stuffing their feelings, being encouraged to share them with a therapist can be a freeing experience that provides catharsis in a safe setting. It’s normal to experience strong emotions. However, if emotional expression is causing distress or if expression isn’t happening at all, a therapist can provide guidance and support in the release of these emotions.
Additional Resources
To help our readers take the next step in their mental health journey, Choosing Therapy has partnered with leaders in mental health and wellness. Choosing Therapy is compensated for marketing by the companies included below.
Online Therapy
BetterHelp Get support and guidance from a licensed therapist. BetterHelp has over 30,000 therapists who provide convenient and affordable online therapy. BetterHelp starts at $65 per week and is FSA/HSA eligible by most providers. Take a free online assessment and get matched with the right therapist for you. Free Assessment
Online Psychiatry
Hims / Hers If you’re living with anxiety or depression, finding the right medication match may make all the difference. Connect with a licensed healthcare provider in just 12 – 48 hours. Explore FDA-approved treatment options and get free shipping, if prescribed. No insurance required. Get Started
Reduce Drinking
Sunnyside Want to drink less? Sunnyside helps you ease into mindful drinking at your own pace. Think lifestyle change, not a fad diet. Develop new daily routines, so you maintain your new habits for life. Take a 3 Minute Quiz
Mental Health Newsletter
A free newsletter from Choosing Therapy for those interested in mental health issues and fighting the stigma. Get helpful tips and the latest information. Sign Up
Online Anxiety Test
A few questions from Talkiatry can help you understand your symptoms and give you a recommendation for what to do next.
Best Online Therapy Services
There are a number of factors to consider when trying to determine which online therapy platform is going to be the best fit for you. It’s important to be mindful of what each platform costs, the services they provide you with, their providers’ training and level of expertise, and several other important criteria.