Catharsis

Catharsis, derived from the Ancient Greek term meaning “purification” or “cleansing”, refers broadly to processes through which troubling emotions, thoughts or spiritual impurities are released or resolved. Although now widely associated with psychology and dramatic theory, its earliest meanings were physical and ritualistic, describing practices of purification in ancient Greek religion and medicine. Over time the concept has been adopted and reinterpreted within philosophy, religion, the arts and psychoanalytic theory, each domain emphasising different aspects of emotional, spiritual or intellectual renewal.

Origins and early meanings

In its earliest usage, katharsis referred to physical cleansing. In Greek medical contexts it denoted the evacuation of bodily fluids—especially menstrual discharge—while a cathartic referred to substances that promoted the purging of waste. This sense underpinned later metaphorical extensions of the term.
The vocabulary of purification appears in Homer, where kathairein and katharos describe rituals intended to cleanse pollution following acts such as homicide. The roots of these terms may lie in Semitic languages, particularly the word qatar, meaning “to fumigate”. Greek mythic and ritual traditions display numerous examples of cathartic practices. The Aithiopis, part of the Epic Cycle, recounts the purification of Achilles after killing Thersites. Later Greek religion refined such rituals, notably at Delphi, which played a key role in removing blood guilt. Aeschylus’ account of Orestes’ purification—where the blood of a sacrificial piglet is poured over the polluted individual before washing in flowing water—illustrates the seriousness with which ritual cleansing was undertaken. Parallels have been noted between Greek and Mesopotamian purification rites, suggesting continuity across older ritual traditions.

Catharsis in Platonism and Neoplatonism

In Platonic philosophy, catharsis forms part of the soul’s ascent toward knowledge. It is associated with detaching oneself from the sensory world and attaining access to the intelligible realm. Neoplatonists such as Plotinus and Porphyry developed this further, presenting catharsis as the elimination of passions that cloud the soul’s true nature.
These thinkers distinguished between civic virtues, which organise conduct within the material world, and cathartic virtues, which purify the soul and prepare it for union with the divine. Civic virtues, although orderly and worthy, remain tied to corporeal existence. By contrast, cathartic virtues separate the soul from the sensible world, enabling contemplation of the divine Mind (Nous) and advancing the soul along a spiritual path.

Catharsis in drama

Catharsis is most commonly associated with Aristotle’s analysis of tragedy. In Politics and Poetics, Aristotle uses the term to describe the emotional effect that music and drama can exert on an audience. Music, he observed, can evoke intense feelings such as pity, fear and religious excitement, and in doing so brings about a state akin to medical purification—a restorative release in those who experience it.
In the Poetics, Aristotle famously states that tragedy enacts a representation of significant human action and, through pity and fear, accomplishes a catharsis of such emotions. While the precise meaning of this catharsis has been debated for centuries, it is clear that Aristotle saw emotional engagement with tragedy as beneficial, providing relief and a sense of emotional balance.
Interpretations of catharsis in Aristotelian drama generally fall into three categories:

• Purgation: emotional excesses are expelled, similar to medical purging. This interpretation was favoured by scholars such as F. L. Lucas.
• Purification: tragedy restores emotional harmony, bringing pity and fear into a virtuous mean, as suggested by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
• Clarification: emotional engagement leads to intellectual insight, allowing the audience to understand the causes and patterns of human action. This view is supported by later scholars who emphasise Aristotle’s broader theory of mimesis as an educational process rooted in learning and inference.

The clarification model has gained prominence in modern scholarship, aligning catharsis with the intellectual pleasure derived from understanding complex events.

Ritual and religious purification

In addition to its theatrical and philosophical uses, catharsis also acquired theological meaning. In Christian thought, the term has been used to describe the spiritual cleansing associated with purgatory. Medieval observers sometimes applied the term “Catharism” to certain religious groups that emphasised purity, although this label was external and not used by the groups themselves.
Greek religious purification traditions continued to influence later spiritual practices. In Neoplatonic and Christian contexts, catharsis denoted stages of moral or mystical purification preceding illumination or union with the divine.

Catharsis in psychology

In modern psychology, catharsis is strongly associated with Freudian psychoanalysis. Freud employed the term to describe the therapeutic process of bringing repressed memories, particularly traumatic ones, into conscious awareness, thereby releasing the emotional tension responsible for neurotic symptoms. This approach built on earlier work by Josef Breuer, who observed that recounting distressing experiences could produce psychological relief.
While catharsis has become a familiar concept in popular psychology, contemporary therapeutic models vary in their endorsement of cathartic techniques. Some approaches emphasise emotional expression as healing, while others caution that unstructured emotional release may not lead to lasting improvement. Nevertheless, the term persists as a metaphor for emotional unburdening and psychological renewal.

Interpretive debates and modern scholarship

The ambiguity of Aristotle’s original usage has produced extensive scholarly debate. G. F. Else, for example, argued that the traditional medical interpretations were not supported by the Poetics and stemmed instead from later writers who generalised the term from broader Aristotelian contexts. Elizabeth Belfiore offered a perspective in which emotions of pity and fear themselves act as agents of emotional transformation, akin to the principle of allopathic medicine.
Throughout the twentieth century, increased attention was given to the intellectual dimension of catharsis. Scholars such as L. Golden, S. Halliwell and D. Keesey argued that catharsis must be understood within Aristotle’s theory of learning and mimesis. According to this view, the pleasure of tragedy lies not simply in emotional release but in the cognitive clarity gained from recognising patterns of human behaviour and moral consequence.