| Abreaction is the discharge or release of emotional | | | | authoritarian father. Have a good cry you will feel |
| tension associated with a repressed idea, conflict, or | | | | better.' This kind of advice provides an example of |
| memory. The term often implies the 'reliving' or vivid | | | | the possible value of an abreactive process in daily |
| recall of a painful emotional experience. Now I am | | | | living. |
| trying to explain with an example. When Zara was | | | | The concept of abreaction is associated primarily with |
| three years old her father slapped her across the | | | | psychoanalysis. The first psychoanalytic case in |
| front of her face so hard that he gave Zara a bloody | | | | history was the case of Anna O. Conducted not by |
| nose. When Zara cried, her father said, 'shut up or I | | | | Sigmund Freud, but by Joseph Breuer. Anna had a |
| will give you a black eye to go with a bloody nose!' In | | | | number of repressed conflicts about her feelings |
| psychoanalysis, thirty-year-old zara recalls the | | | | toward her deceased father who she had cared for |
| long-forgotten incident. It has been blocked or | | | | during his dying days. When Anna brought out her |
| repressed from conscious memory for many years. | | | | neurotic symptoms (i.g. difficulty in swallowing). She |
| Now Zara 'relives' the incident and cries again. She | | | | herself referred to Breuer's treatment as 'chimney |
| even tells her therapist that her nose feels swollen. | | | | sweeping.' Freud gives credit for conducting the first |
| The emotional release associated with the recall of | | | | psychoanalysis, and the concept of abreaction played |
| the memory (i.e. the abreaction) helps Zara to | | | | an important part in Freud's early formulation. |
| connect with a whole set of attitudes concerning her | | | | |