CATHARSIS: ITS OCCURRENCE IN ARISTOTLE, PSYCHODRAMA AND PSYCHOANALYSIS

Abstract

I intend, in this paper, to compare the idea of catharsis in three of its most significant incarnations: in its function within Greek tragedy as formulated by Aristotle within the Poetics, by Jacob Moreno in its expanded and enhanced place within psychodrama and within the context of the psychoanalytic concept of therapeutic change. The persistence of the term since the ancient times attests to its evocative power: it elicits deep emotional responses in those who hear it. Its centrality to the thought of Moreno is unquestioned. My challenge in this paper is to clarify, precisely and specifically, the connections the psychodramatic catharsis bears to the catharsis on the stage in Greece as well as the enlargement of its therapeutic possibilities from the germinal psychoanalytic understanding.