Catharsis.. Thoughts?

Romans 10:9,10 For if thou shalt Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

That can become a cathartic prayer for salvation.

The Psalms of David are filled with cathartic prayers. #s 55 and 56 are just such examples.

The Prayer of Job, in the last chapter, after God has responded to him, can be such a prayer.

Psalm 6 says <font color="purple">[b] O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me, O Lord for I am weak, O Lord heal me, for my bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed; but thou O Lord, how long. Return O Lord deliver my soul, oh save me for thy mercies sake. For in death there is no rememberance of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks? I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears....

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It isn't the actual words that are said that make it carthartic. It's the "vexation" that preceeds it and the cleansing feeling/knowledge that God has heard once made, imo.

Thank you Sky I really appreciate that. This has really helped me to understand... for myself, i guess that about answers it...

Thanks to each of you who helped with this thread. Baby steps? prior to starting the thread i understood the soul cleansing aspects but hadnt really discussed much the actual process... just self torment has to be resolved... tried ending my life 3 times... figured 'someone' was trying to tell me something... turns out 'they' were...

I bet you can relate Tomi...

i still think there must me a way of doing cathartic therapy painlessly...

everything ive heard goes along the lines of "If it hurts, you're not doing it right."

maybe time for the cathartic process too evolve?

Thanks again everyone

{{{{{{{{{{Darrel}}}}}}}}}}}} I thought about it once... because of some painful words someone through at me simply to hurt me. Claimed I had "no feelings."

My oldest son walked in on me and at that point I realized how selfish and thoughtless I had gotten at the bottom of that particular fifth of Vodka. I slept it off and purposed never to think of it again. I had waaaaaay too much precious stuff to life for! I'll send you a pic of what that little boy has become. Can't imagine having missed that... and every other kind of beauty he has brought into my life. He's the one that's your age, Hon.

I don't believe that cartharsis requires abreaction always. Good therapy doesn't take you so fast that the pulling out of information and changing of thoughts and remembrances of well, memories that it causes abreaction, imo. Some therapy does that, but not all.

The slow, mindful process of learning who we are now, and why we are who we are, and then moving towards who we wish to be, through therapy is cathartic once realization that you are no longer "that" person occurs.

God, in all His wisdom, leads us gently. We are compared to sheep. We can still be dumb, act dumb, but as long as we follow the shepherd, we will get home.

Sept: i viewed the pic of your son... strikingly handsome and obviously successful... i believe these survivor genes we have are much more than biological matter... in him shine the traits of a person with drive, desire, and charisma (a topic i find VERY intersting) ... you are part of his ancestory... big stories... its easy to forget the true struggles our parents experienced in these times of technology..

be proud!!! what is in you, is in he... that eye sparkle... thats the one that could always capture me...

Sky: the term "abreaction" is rolling around my thoughts.. getting mixed in with other, related terms and ideas...

"abreaction" - psychological? / metaphysical? ... and now, spiritual?

is the abreaction similar to: 1.) demonic possessions?

2.) Salem witch trials?

3.) general insanity?

I love the Shepherd analogy! like a good "tender"... gently leads the flock home... of course my mind then wanders a bit further... the term "flock" ... sheep as well as winged animals...

Thanks Everyone

oh... another thing...

Sky, I just wanted to mention the "time' factor regarding speed of therapy progression caught my notice...

a worthy consideration...

wish i would think of all this at one time... i appreciate everyones ideas and thoughts...

abreaction
One entry found for abreaction.

Main Entry: ab·re·ac·tion
Pronunciation: ab-r-ak-shn
Function: noun
: the expression and emotional discharge of unconscious material (as a repressed idea or emotion) by verbalization especially in the presence of a therapist -- compare CATHARSIS 2
- ab·re·act /-akt/ verb

Thank you again Sky... begining to feel guilty i dont do this research myself... I'm assuming you have experience and references available... Mom has a Concordance, but in truth, I'm trying to uncover the diverse application of "catharsis"

i'm actually kind of astounded by what ive learned so far...

im someone who adds things together, and if they fit, i test it out.. sometimes it holds water...

ive been carrying a suspicion that my mental illness was psych/spirtual..

i tried traditional therapy and all i can say is, it didn't work fast enough...

loss of words usually, felt misunderstood, or like i was saying what i really felt...

but i wasn't stupid... that's why i was so overwhelmed.. my mind could still funtion, well, but all social skills had been demolished... and it wouldnt go away..

a pdoc prescribed Zoloft about 2000... it helped clear my head but had side effects... but it may have given me the leap i needed ...

the personal catharsis i endured prior to that had kept me alive... never understanding what i was doing, no manual, training, or guide... just loosely something i called "catharsis"

i saw a painting or read a poem here and there and the term catharsis was associated in some way... because the images so expressed the way i felt inside, i connected catharsis to my feelings...

but ive never talked about it with anyone, before this... thanks again and i would welcome anyones opinions or thoughts on this subject...

ok, so i may be dammed for this... God, I am sorry... AlexandraK.. i am sorry..

it seems this thread would like to sink and disappear... i apologise for temporarily re-awaking it and if it is to disappear after this, so be it... still wanting further discussion though...

i researched "catharsis" right here at PC.. found several interesting references... here is just one from 6/23/07, current member, AlexandraK, whom i have not officially met and i hope this does not offend that i've transplanted her posting to Spiritual...

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alexandra_k said:
hey. everybody's therapy journey is different. it can take some time for you and your therapist to figure out what is right for you on your therapy journey.

i've had a lot of abuse too... and have alters and stuff... i'm well aware that the 'standard line' on treating that is to do memory work... but thats not my journey and its not a journey that feels right for me.

an alternative journey (for example) can involve your talking about... whatever you want to talk about. stuff in the present. stuff a little back in the past. whatever you want. basically... there will be a pattern of how you interact with your therapist that will emerge. transference. stuff like that. when those things come to the fore it can feel like a little bit of relief to understand the origins of those feelings (sometimes).

in your first appointment... your therapist would have been trying to get a feel for what is likely to come. i said a lot of things to my therapist in that initial interview that neither of us have mentioned since. i know he took notes... but he asked questions he hasn't asked since and i talked about things i haven't talked about since. i guess they will come up again at some point. when i'm ready, basically. when it won't hurt too much.

> So, is this what I have to go through to get better? Do I have to relive memories of abuse?

that is controversial. cartharsis is reliving the memories. freud (and others) advocated the cathartic method where reliving the memories was supposed to make the intensity less over time. there has been some research to show that catharsis can actually keep the negative emotions around, however, basically... making people worse. reprocessing is when you talk about what happened and what it meant to you. how you view people and how you view yourself in light of what happened. that is from more of a 'rational' rather than a 'feeling' place. it is the reprocessing that is meant to help... that being said... my t keeps saying that i need to feel the feelings a little bit. reprocessing in the absence of emotion feels empty whereas cartharsis in the absence of reprocessing hurts like hell.

> I just don't see the use of therapy if it makes me feel worse.

hopefully your therapist will focus on building a positive working relationship with you and focus on giving you some skills to help you get through life a little bit better. building trust and stuff like that.

> Do I have to feel worse to get better?

not sure. i think about that a lot. i think that yeah you have to face some stuff that you haven't been able to face in order to process it. but... that you need to get a bit stronger before you will be able to face it so that you gain mastery over it rather than being debilitated by it.

i would think... that your next session would be considerably lighter.

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Sorry for being ignorant on this concept but I've never experienced or witnessed anything remotely like what you all are describing. For some reason I am finding this concept very interesting and this thread has been kicking around in my head for days.

Please correct me if my attempt grasp this concept if off base. From what I can gather from your posts a catharsis is an unbridled release of blocked emotions that yields profound relief. It kind of seems like your are describing a deep sense of pleasure derived from surrendering to intense pain or suffering. Only instead of being a physical experience it is an emotional one?? A person would engage in this activity because it leads to a refractory period of increased awareness and tranquility???

that all seems pretty accurate mckell... for me, it consists of surrounding myself with all the self-hate built up inside myself, at times, rather than self-hate, it might be extreme sorrow, fear, lonliness... feelings you've tried every method of avoiding without success...

it could last for days, months... in my case, 29 years...

but there are levels of attainment along the way... gradually, the pain which previously imprisoned, is dropped away.. ever, so gradually...

at the pace you can endure... but, essential is self-honesty and a desire to heal...

there are probably guides available... i am still not certain of the practices used in Catholicism but i believe there is an association.. i need to do more research to understand it myself..

but, the reason this topic is interesting to me is because of the transcendances i have experienced..

i believe as Sky and Alexandra support, catharsis is a term that can be used to describe therapeutic healing...

self-catharsis is less controlled and possibly more damaging.. imo ..

however, self teaching is one of those things in life that makes life have meaning...

if i had known the process prior to beginning, im not sure i would have stayed with it.. i tried many successful programs, but, whatever reason, i didnt stay with them... and returned again to dropping myself full into all the darkness and breaking down until there was nothing else to do, but let it go awhile...