different between catharsis vs cathexis

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ???????? (kátharsis, “cleansing, purging”), from ??????? (kathaír?, “I cleanse”). Coined in the dramatic-emotional sense by Aristotle.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k?????s?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /k???????s?s/

Noun

catharsis (countable and uncountable, plural catharses)

1. (drama) A release of emotional tension after an overwhelming vicarious experience, resulting in the purging or purification of the emotions, as through watching a dramatic production (especially a tragedy).
2. Any release of emotional tension to the same effect, more widely.
3. A purification or cleansing, especially emotional.
4. (psychology) A therapeutic technique to relieve tension by re-establishing the association of an emotion with the memory or idea of the event that first caused it, and then eliminating it by complete expression (called the abreaction).
5. (medicine) Purging of the digestive system.

Derived terms

• hemocatharsis

Related terms

• cathartic

Translations

Anagrams

• archaists, stasiarch

Romanian

Etymology

From French catharsis

Noun

catharsis n (uncountable)

1. catharsis

Declension

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ??????? (káthexis, “holding, retention”). The term entered the English language as a translation for the common everyday German word Besetzung, which in the context of psychoanalysis means "occupation" in the sense of a position or something being occupied or filled, and not a military occupation of a place or the filling of job positions (although it can also mean either of these in other contexts). (In English translations, a Greek word was used to be more scientific.)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k????k s?s/

Noun

cathexis (countable and uncountable, plural cathexes)

1. (psychoanalysis) The concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea.

Derived terms

Translations