Meaning & use
Abreaction
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In psychology, the process of releasing a repressed emotion by consciously or unconsciously reliving the experience that caused it.
See it in a sentence
Through abreaction, the patient relived the traumatic event and finally began to process his grief.
Early psychoanalysts believed abreaction alone could relieve the symptoms of hysteria.
A note on using this word
A central concept in early psychoanalytic theory developed by Freud and Breuer, describing how reliving a suppressed memory can relieve its emotional charge.
Words with a similar meaning
catharsisemotional release
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Words with an opposite meaning
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