Pain and catharsis in art, ritual and therapy
pp. 93-109
in: George, P. G. Jung (eds), Cultural ontology of the self in pain, Berlin, Springer, 2016Abstract
Catharsis in the context of healing rituals, psychotherapy and narratives often involves the (re-)experience of pain. Ideally, catharsis in these three domains is a medical homoeopathic discharge and "Aufhebung" of negative emotions, experiences or "personal aspects". The approach taken in this investigation is transdisciplinary, utilizing research findings in fields such as comparative religion, anthropology, philosophy, art theory, humanistic psychology, ethnology and ethology. The chapter emphasizes the need to re-valuate medical "western" mainstream treatments that attempt to eliminate or reduce pain and further research on ethno-medical, holistic, preventive, humanistic and "eastern" alternative treatments in order to intensify the discourse on such matters.