Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Psychotherapy) the purging of emotional tensions. See catharsis, below.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (psychoanalysis) purging of emotional tensions

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Modeled on German abreagierung, from ab ("away from") + reagierung ("reaction").

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Examples

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  • the resolution of a neurosis by reviving forgotten or repressed ideas of the event first causing it, e.g. bomb blasts; Abreaction of the Lord of the Night, 139

    May 28, 2009