Catharsis

For this event, I participated by submitting my fiber art research piece, which consisted of small embroidered statements of apologies

Catharsis

This creative nonfiction essay collection provides a nuanced portrait of mental illness. The collection reveals the effect of a sibling\u27s mental illness on the narrator\u27s life and explores the central question: What does it mean to be good

Catharsis in psychotherapy

The historical context of catharsis in psychotherapy is discussed, with particular reference to drama and ritual. The 'cathartic technique' of Freud and Breuer is then presented as part of the continuing development of approaches that advocate feeling-expression as a way of promoting personal change. The contemporary approaches considered include Reichian therapy, bioenergetics, primal therapy, and reevaluation counselling. Heron's theory of catharsis in human development is emphasized, and is central to the two experiential research inquiries presented later. The evidence for the efficacy of catharsis is reviewed from the perspective of the various 'schools' of emotionally-expressive therapy, and reference to the psychosomatic and bereavement literature is also made. Two research inquiries are presented which investigate the effects of catharsis on human functioning. A new paradigm experiential approach was adopted in which co-researchers engaged in a collaborative inquiry. 'Inside’ measures of subjective experiencing, contingent upon emotional catharsis, were gathered through self-report, as well as 'outside' measures of blood pressure, pulse rate, and personality functioning. Results suggest that physiologic tension decreases following somatic emotional catharsis, but that longer term changes in psycho-somatic functioning require the development of insight into the genesis of the 'symptom', as well as complementary therapeutic strategems. It is further suggested that the development of insight is contingent upon historical somatic catharsis. The results also show that where cognitive catharsis occurs without affective release, an increase in psycho-physiologic tension is effected, as shown in both the physiological measures and subjective experiencing. Finally, the implications of catharsis for therapeutic practice are discussed

Psychoanalytical Theories about Dance and Art

With the recent trend of crossing academic boundaries and integrating the humanities with social and abstract sciences in contemporary times, this article focuses on the role of art in the school of psychoanalytical thought and by extension, modern medicine. In the process, it explores the relationship between Aristotle's concepts of art and catharsis as associated with Freud's concept of psychoanalysis as the base of modern psychotherapy. This article attempts through a descriptive methodology analyzes historically, artistically and psychologically and establishes the concept of catharsis as central to Dance, Art and psychoanalytical theories. Ultimately, research identifies as problematic that catharsis has only been prominently focused on in medical related health care and research as opposed to art related health care strategies. However, catharsis provides a valuable base line for influencingboth artistic and medical based healing, especially as related to the art of psychotherapy

Psychological Analysis of Catharsis in the Field of Psychotherapy (By Emphasizing on the Counseling Theories)

The following article has focused on the role of emotional catharsis and the effectiveness of it in different theories of psychotherapy and counseling. Each of the theories has been examined based on their possibilities in the catharsis of five emotions: anger, sadness, fear, anxiety and hatred. Counselling is not giving advice and teaching information to the clients, but the possibility it provides for catharsis is the success factor of the treatment. In catharsis of the anger, therapy's primary emphasis is facilitating the client's development. But in the release of grief, the focus is on resolving personality conflicts. In releasing anxiety, the main purpose is to change behavior. In catharsis of the hatred, psychotherapy aims to adapt the client to the environment. This article examines counseling theories in terms of how they deal with the aforementioned five emotions. Psychotherapy is interactive, confidential, and humanitarian conversation. In this conversation, the client talks about the troubles, disturbances, pressures and discomforts. Clients express their feelings and thoughts, and the therapist tries to simplify the process of this retelling with specific methods appropriate to the client's situation and problem. Therefore, only the consultation based on catharsis carries out the treatment in the true sense

Humor and National Catharsis in Roberto Cossa's El saludador

This article examines humor in Roberto Cossa’s El saludador and proposes that, through his unique blend of comic forms, the playwright manipulates audience reaction and provokes catharsis in his spectators. Cossa creates a comic protagonist who is a surrogate for the Argentine nation. Through their identification with the humorous protagonist/nation, spectators can consider their own reaction to the abuses the nation has suffered or self-imposed. Unlike earlier Cossa plays, which may have impeded audience catharsis, the spectator/protagonist/nation identification in El saludador promotes catharsis through audience laughter and allows spectators to purge themselves of economic and political fears in the aftermath of recent events in Argentina’s history. (GB

Lev Vygotsky's Theory of Aesthetic Experience

In his chapter on the contributions of Lev Vygotsky to twentieth century aesthetics João Pedro Fróis provides insights into Russian and Eastern European psychology and philosophy from around the time of the Russian Revolution, into the 1950s, when Vygotsky’s work was first introduced to Western readers. Frois introduces us to the historical context of Vygotsky’s education and brief but highly influential academic career. (Vgotsky died at age thirty-eight, of tuberculosis.) While educators outside the field of art education are familiar with Vygotsky’s theories on language development, less familiar is his work on aesthetics. Thus, in The Psychology of Art, (1926/1971) the result of his work over the years 1915–1922, Vygotsky addressed the following questions: “What is the relation between aesthetic response and all other forms of human behavior? How do we explain the role and importance of art in the general behavioral system of man?” (p. 240). His text is an investigation into those questions. Frois’s chapter draws our attention to what Vygotsky considered to be key elements of human behavior. These include imagination, creativity, and Vygotsky’s particular interpretation of catharsis as it emerges from aesthetic response.As Fróis points out, Vygotsky’s work was not only influential in his day, even anticipating the work of some of his contemporaries, but continues to have an impact on writers in the fields of education, psychology and aesthetics today. What is unusual about Vygotsky’s work is the breadth of his influences and interests. Thus Fróis introduces us to Vygotsky’s early studies of literature, particularly of Hamlet, and shows how Vygotsky branched out from literature to incorporate the other arts into his spectrum of interests. Indeed, the arts seemed to provide Vygotsky with the grounding for his theory development from three perspectives— instrumental, cultural, and historical. Revolutionary and post-revolutionary Russia was a fertile ground for cultural and societal self-examination, after all, and the arts lent themselves to such examination. But Vygotsky’s interests spanned the human sciences as well as the arts. In particular, Vygotsky began to examine the psychology of the day and to bring it to bear on his study of the arts. Thus, his Psychology of Art (1926) draws heavily on his earlier critiques of Hamlet. It is in this text that Vygotsky draws analogies between perception and artistic creation, from the perspective of psychology. That is, he sees creativity as emerging from “those sensations that arise in the nervous system”, in other words perception, but that these only hint at possibilities there for development. Vygotsky’s assertion that “our capacities exceed our activity” foreshadows his theory of the zone of proximal development, a theory that educators today still find compelling. Perhaps the most surprising component of Vygotsky’s work, however, was his insistence upon a focus on the artwork as opposed to the viewer, in order to arrive at an understanding of aesthetic response as a general principle, as opposed to an isolated instance of idiosyncratic behavior. This gives Vygotsky’s work a distinctly empirical flavour, one with which Fróis obviously sympathizes. Fróis does an admirable job of guiding us through Vygotsky’s thinking in this regard. The point of being able to arrive at some kind of general principle of aesthetic experience is, as Fróis points out in his conclusion, that then aesthetic responses are capable of not only individualized meanings but of shared realities as well. The capacity for shared meanings puts aesthetic experience firmly within the educational realm.Essays on Aesthetic Education for the 21st Century, co-edited by Tracie Costantino and Boyd White, brings together an international collection of authors representing diverse viewpoints to engage in dialogue about the ongoing critical relevance of aesthetics for contemporary art education. Inspired by a conference symposium in which the four authors in the first section of the text, titled Initiating a Dialogue, explore a range of concepts including aesthetic experience, beauty, wonder, and aisthetics, this book enlarges the dialogue with eight additional chapters by authors from North America and Europe. In addition to chapters that address issues of social awareness, curriculum theory and research, and applications to practice with pre-service teachers, there are several chapters that acknowledge historical influences on current notions of aesthetics as a basis on which to open the gate into the twenty-first century. This book will be a valuable resource for graduate students in art education and curriculum studies, as well as practicing art educators, pre-service teachers, and anyone interested in the significance of aesthetics, not only in contemporary art education but the wider field of general education as well