In psychology, to release repressed emotions or trauma by talking about or acting out the experiences in a therapeutic setting.
From Latin 'ab-' (away) + 'reactus' (acted), a term coined in early psychology meaning to 'react out' or 'perform away' one's emotional burden.
Early psychologists discovered that patients who simply talked about trauma without emotional release didn't improve—abreaction, or the cathartic release of emotion while recounting experiences, became central to therapeutic breakthroughs.
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