Jung on Using Catharsis to Release Suppressed Emotions & Fully Cure Neuroses
In Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Carl Jung outlines the use of catharsis in psychoanalytic treatment.
Discover how the practice works to release suppressed emotions and fully cure neuroses below.
What is catharsis?
Catharsis comes from the Greek word for 'purification' or 'cleansing'.
The term has various meanings. Among others, these include:
Dramatic catharsis: In drama, catharsis is the arousal of strong, often negative emotions in an audience that are purged through a release of tension by the end of the play
Medical catharsis: In Greek, catharsis originally referred to medical purification practices – a lineage that's brought us the 'cathartic', similar to a laxative
Psychoanalytic catharsis: In Freudian psychoanalysis, catharsis relates to the expression of a buried trauma at the root of a neurosis, bringing it into consciousness, and releasing it, increasing wellbeing
Discovering the hinterland of the mind
Catharsis was one of the earliest methods of psychoanalytic treatment, which Jung describes below:
‘The early method of catharsis consisted in putting the patient, with or without hypnotic aid, in touch with the hinterland of his mind–that is to say, into that state which the Eastern yoga systems describe as meditation or contemplation. In contrast to the meditation found in yoga practice, the psychoanalytic aim is to observe the shadowy presentations—whether in the form of images or of feelings—that are spontaneously evolved in the unconscious psyche and appear without his bidding to the man who looks within. In this way we find once more things that we have repressed or forgotten.’
For Jung, the unconscious has a life of its own, always active below the threshold of our waking mind.
When psychic contents remain unconscious, through repressions, concealments, or underdevelopment, they form the root of neuroses that impact our psychological wellbeing.
Practices that put us in contact with the ‘hinterland of the mind’ allow us to ‘observe the shadowy presentations’, which is the psychoanalytic aim.
Revealing the shadow
Jung describes the consequences of this revelation with such wisdom that it’s worth including:
‘Painful though it may be, this is in itself a gain—for what is inferior or even worthless belongs to me as my shadow and gives me substance and mass. How can I be substantial if I fail to cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole; and inasmuch as I become conscious of my shadow I also remember that I am a human being like any other.’
Fully curing the neuroses
For Jung, the rediscovery of your shadow makes you whole and restores the condition preceding the neuroses.
However, in keeping the matter private, the cure is only partial, as you remain in your state of isolation: only confession frees you from the burden of alienation.
Jung writes:
‘The goal of treatment by catharsis is full confession—no merely intellectual acknowledgement of the facts, but their confirmation by the heart and the actual release of the suppressed emotions.’
The ideas and quotes are taken from Chapter 2 of Modern Man in Search of a Soul – read it if you want to learn more.