Catharsis Theory in Anger Management

Note: This article is in collaboration with the DC Society for Psychological Improvement. You may see our contributions on the Senior Student Centre’s bulletin board.

The steam engine is often believed to be the catalyst for the industrial revolution. In broad terms, it allowed us to offload human labour to mechanical labour. In a steam engine, water is boiled in a chamber, causing it to evaporate into steam. Since a given amount of steam has a much higher volume than the same amount of water, pressure increases and the steam expands to fill the entire space. Eventually, steam enters a separate cylinder behind a one-way valve containing a piston. As pressure continuously rises, the piston is pushed to the edge of the cylinder which contains an exhaust port, letting steam escape and condense back into water, causing the piston to retract. This pushing and pulling is what allows for wheels to be turned, pumps to be pushed, axles to be spun, all without human input. While we like to associate this technology with old-fashioned steam locomotives and steamboats, the principle of converting thermal energy into mechanical energy through water and steam never left us. Present-day fossil fuel and geothermal plants produce electricity by using their respective fuel sources to drive a steam turbine, burning coal, oil, and gas or using the earth’s natural heat to heat water to create high-pressure steam.

You may be wondering why I just dedicated an entire paragraph to describing the inner workings of a steam engine. Truthfully, the steam engine didn’t just revolutionise how we think about manufacturing, it also revolutionised how we think of human emotions. It’s the basis for catharsis theory, which describes how emotions can be built up and released.

It’s astounding how much of our popular understanding of psychology comes from Sigmund Freud. Freud developed the hydraulic model for the mind. Hydraulics is an applied science that studies the mechanical properties and applications of liquids. For example, how the properties of water can be applied to produce mechanical work. Freud hypothesised that, similar to how pressure builds and releases in a steam engine, humans have a “psychic force” which he called libido that builds and releases in the mind. Freud originally devised this model to describe sexual impulse, however, he later expanded it to explain stress and emotions in general (Brand, 2023). Indeed, the saying, “letting off steam” to describe releasing some kind of pent-up emotions describes the widespread acceptance of Catharsis theory. There’s just one problem, seen in the “theory” part of Catharsis theory, being that we don’t know if that’s how emotions work. This isn’t an insignificant issue either, since emotional regulation and management are the crux of many people’s well-being.

So the question remains, are emotions like steam? Can we let off steam?

On an intuitive level, it seems to make sense. People often repress emotions, and mood swings or outbursts can often feel like these emotions are escaping after remaining trapped long enough for the pressure to build.

A 2021 study took an anthropological approach to examine the effectiveness of the Catharsis theory. The study documented the behaviour of members of a university Taekwondo club. They found that members “experienced catharsis from ethical purification of emotions”. Taekwondo, or indeed most sports can feel cathartic as they create an artificial “magic circle”, where the rules of real life are suspended. It’s the difference between a war on the battlefield and a game on the soccer field. While the spirit of competition is fierce, the knowledge that everything is for play allows for the expression of camaraderie after the game, for example, “exchange their uniforms with their opponents, shaking hands and hugging each other” (Bing et al, 2021).

The study makes another point that “modern people remove unmet needs in reality through sports, which are characterised by physical activity, interactivity, success experiences, and vicarious satisfaction”. It’s a trend that the media we find engaging feels cathartic because they mimic experiences and emotions that we don’t normally experience. Horror films might scare you with the thought of being locked in a cabin with a killer, but knowing that this fear is artificial allows for all those emotions to be satisfyingly released.

The rules in a sport, the stories in a novel, and the acting in a film are all fictional, and fiction often intentionally creates negative emotions within you, before releasing it for the purpose of satisfaction or catharsis.

So is that the conclusion? If you’re feeling stressed, go watch a horror film; if you’re feeling sad, go listen to some MCR. The answer can’t be that simple. The study makes another point, that “sports activities provide a sense of psychological healing by resolving dissatisfaction and violent psychology accumulated inside through the free expression of emotions”. It’s not unusual to think that when people feel angry, that they act violently, or when people feel sad, that they cry. It’s the distinction between feeling and expressing an emotion.

To feel an emotion without expressing it is called repression, whereas to express an emotion without feeling it might be described as a kind of acting. Even here, there are nuances, as you can directly and indirectly express an emotion. Modern-day Taekwondo may be viewed as an indirect expression of anger, as the forms and demonstrations, while violent, are not done for violence. Similarly, a novel with a tragic ending might make you cry, but those tears are an indirect expression of sadness. You can empathise with feelings of sadness, but empathy is not the same as first-hand experience.

Crucially, when it comes to quelling frustration, anger, stress or other negative emotions, research suggests that it’s counterproductive to directly express that same negative emotion as a way of releasing it. This is best seen in studies around rage rooms. These places are relatively new phenomena where you can pay to directly express your anger by smashing objects. A meta-review on strategies for anger management found that physically aggressive activities like rage rooms or exercise did not measurably decrease anger, whereas physically calming activities such as yoga or breathing did measurably decrease anger. In the study’s own words, “turning down the flame can decrease the heat” (Kjærvik et al, 2024).

Whether or not Catharsis theory works for managing emotions depends on whether or not emotional release is through direct or indirect expressions. When it comes to the direct expression of fear, anger, and stress, Catharsis theory seems to produce the opposite effect of amplifying those negative feelings. Whereas indirect expressions of those same emotions allow those feelings to safely subside. 

In closing, there’s a curious tendency for us humans to compare our minds to various kinds of technology. Perhaps you have heard memories compared to data in a computer. Indeed, calling the components that store data in a computer “memory”, as in RAM (random access memory), or ROM (read-only memory) is itself a metaphor for the memories in our heads. Can human memories reach a limit? If you forget something, is that the same as deleting files in a computer to make space for new files? Is amnesia the same as unplugging your hard drive while it’s in operation? Neuroscientists far smarter than I can deal with those questions, but it’s important to recognize the potential of a false equivalence. While comparing emotions to steam or memories to bytes may help us conceptualise how we think, we cannot find the mind's construction in constructions of the mind. These metaphorical links we think up may feel intuitive, but thought and theory alone will not allow us to fully understand the ways we think, and the ways we feel.

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