Construct · 1 fields · 1 citations

abreaction: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · one construct, one field Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
abreaction1 CONSTRUCTAbreactionBREUER & FREUD · 1895

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Psychoanalysis

Discharging a pent-up emotion tied to a memory

In early psychoanalysis, abreaction is the discharge of emotion attached to the memory of a traumatic event, releasing the affect that had been "strangulated" when the event could not be adequately responded to at the time. Breuer and Freud described the process in their 1895 Studies on Hysteria, where recalling a trauma under the cathartic method and expressing its blocked affect relieved hysterical symptoms. The referent is a therapeutic release of bound affect, observed clinically, which later shaped debates about catharsis in psychotherapy.[1]

Unit
The release of affect bound to a repressed or blocked memory
Recovery means
Symptom relief was held to follow once the strangulated affect is discharged and the memory put into words
Measured by
Not directly measured; observed clinically as the expression of previously blocked affect

Next

Run it through the Collider, or take the citations with you.

See how abreaction sits against neighbouring constructs in the Collider, or export every reference on this page in one click.

Open in ColliderExport BibTeXReport this entry

Nearby constructs

affect4 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, several feeling constructscatharsis4 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, one hope, three fieldsdischarge3 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, three constructs

References

  1. Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (2000). Studies on hysteria (J. Strachey, Trans.). Basic Books. (Original work published 1895) ISBN 9780465082766

Cited on this page?

Confirm your construct, or correct us.

If your work is cited behind one of these entries, you know better than we do whether we captured the meaning right. Confirm it, suggest an edit, or dispute it, and your name goes on the entry as an author who has checked it, linked to your ORCID.

Claim your construct