Debunking the Myth of Catharsis in Therapy

There’s a common belief that therapy- or any session involving coaching or mindfulness work- should leave you shaken, moved or completely unburdened. You’re expected to cry, feel “unlocked,” or experience some huge inner shift every time.

But that expectation sets people up to confuse release with resolution. And worse, it normalizes a pattern of chasing emotional highs instead of building psychological resilience.

If you’ve ever walked away from a session thinking, “I didn’t cry, so maybe nothing happened,” or “I don’t feel better right away- did the session fail?”- this post is for you.

What Is the Catharsis Hypothesis?

The catharsis hypothesis is the idea that expressing strong emotions- especially anger, grief or distress- leads to emotional release and psychological relief. It comes from ancient Greek thought and was popularized in modern psychology by figures like Freud. While emotional expression can be valuable, research over the years has shown that release alone, without reflection or regulation, doesn’t always lead to lasting change. In fact, venting can sometimes reinforce emotional patterns instead of resolving them.

What the Research Says

There’s evidence that venting without structure can be unhelpful or even counterproductive.

• Zhan et al. (2020) found that unstructured emotional catharsis can increase distress and even aggression, not reduce it.

• Researchers like Scheff and others further clarify that catharsis only works with appropriate distancing and therapeutic containment. Otherwise it risks reinforcing unhealthy emotional patterns

• Results show the association between crying and the outcomes of therapy and the client-therapist relationship is not necessarily about the number of crying episodes, but how crying episodes are emotionally and cognitively experienced or processed with the therapist.

• Modalities like EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) show that emotional episodes like crying are best seen as moments to explore, make sense of, and connect, rather than as ends in themselves.

• Peter Levine, developer of Somatic Experiencing, writes that catharsis can become compulsive- emotional highs may give a false sense of progress and actually reinforce emotional patterns, calling it a “therapeutic dead-end”

A Word of Caution

If you’re leaving sessions regularly feeling emotionally drained, dramatically relieved or unusually euphoric, it’s worth checking in with what’s really happening.

Ask yourself:

• Am I getting practical tools and guidance?

• Is the practitioner helping me integrate what came up?

• Am I being supported in coming back to a regulated state at the end?

• Is this encouraging codependency or giving me life skills I can use outside the sessions?

If not, it may feel meaningful in the moment, but it won’t necessarily lead to long-term change. And it may unintentionally create a dependency on the emotional “high” of the session rather than your own internal growth.

When Emotional Release Does Happen

Emotional release isn’t bad in itself. There are moments when something breaks open- grief, old pain, a core belief. Tears come. That’s human.

What matters is what happens after. Is the therapist or practitioner:

• Helping you understand what surfaced?

• Supporting you in coming back to baseline?

• Offering skills to work with it between sessions?

If those pieces are missing, then even genuine emotional moments can become destabilising over time.

The Real Work Is Subtle

Sustainable progress in therapy or coaching often looks like this:

• You start noticing your reactions sooner.

• You catch unhelpful thoughts before they spiral.

• You develop language for what you’re feeling.

• You try something different in a situation where you would’ve shut down before.

• It doesn’t feel like a huge breakthrough. But it adds up.

This isn’t glamorous work. It can feel slow, repetitive, sometimes even boring. But it’s the kind of work that makes healthy, sustainable progress.

For 1:1 and group Mindfulness & Coaching sessions, please contact us or take a look at our Bookings & Services page.