noun
- the expression and emotional release of a previously repressed traumatic experience through reliving it in therapy
Usage: psychology; psychoanalysis
Examples
- The therapist guided the patient through abreaction to help process the childhood trauma.
- Abreaction allowed her to finally confront the emotions she had buried for years.
- The psychoanalyst believed that abreaction was essential for the patient’s recovery.
- Through abreaction, he was able to release the anxiety that had plagued him since the accident.
- The therapeutic process included abreaction sessions to address her war-related PTSD.
- Freud considered abreaction a key component of psychoanalytic treatment.