


1. To show strong emotion while reliving a traumatic experience.
2. To discharge or release repressed emotion.


tr.v. abre·acted, abre·acting, abre·acts
To release (repressed emotions) by acting out, as in words, behavior, or the imagination, the situation causing the conflict.

ab′re·ac′tion n.


the expression of repressed feelings by revisiting the situation in a way that relieves anxiety. See abreaction.


(ab?re-ak'shon) [ ab- + reaction]
In psychoanalysis, the release of emotion by consciously recalling or acting out a painful experience that had been forgotten or repressed. The painful or consciously intolerable experience may become bearable as a result of the insight gained during this process.
See: catharsis (2) abreact (-akt')
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References in periodicals archive ?
As the reader eventually learns, Huntly's narrative is influenced by an unresolved trauma: his vengeful triumph is an attempt to abreact the murder of his parents and an infant sibling in an Indian raid.
Eric's extensive experience in the Life Sciences industry will serve Grant well in terms of further establishing the science behind the Company's AbReact technology, while Kevin Crow's extensive business experience will no doubt be helpful to Grant as it begins commercializing its AccuDx product line.
They abreact feelings bringing in the adult to express for the child what the child could not express at the time of the trauma, thus overcoming early inhibitions.