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• n  a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels
• s  emotionally purging
• s  emotionally purging (of e.g. art)
• s  strongly laxative

• A new study has found that it was likely that crying in front of one person would produce a more accentuated cathartic effect than doing in front of a larger group.
• Official commemoration of those who lost their lives in 9/11 was a cathartic experience for the people of New York.
• Loving fellow humans is not only cathartic, but is also a catalyst for becoming a better person in life.

• purgative
• physic
• aperient
• psychotherapeutic
• releasing
• evacuant

News & Articles

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• Emmy Hopeful: Monica Potter - 'Parenthood'
  From day one, Parenthood has been TV's go-to-source for cathartic crying. But after three seasons of happy and sad tears, NBC's family drama reached an emotional zenith in season four when Kristina Braverman was diagnosed with breast cancer. What followed was the single best portrayal of the physical, mental, spiritual and communal toll cancer takes on the afflicted and their kin.
  June 11, 2013 - ET Online via omg!
• No doubt about Bedlam's place for OSU
  Oklahoma State's Bedlam victory in 2011 might have been one of the most cathartic wins for a program I've seen in a long time in college football. It was a combination of building a program on top of Boone Pickens' cash, escaping underneath the thumb of in-state rival Oklahoma, winning a Big 12 title and the first time out on the field after one of the toughest days in OSU history (see Scott ...
  June 10, 2013 - ESPN Blogs
• Concert preview: Anthem slingers Japandroids set to raise fists, spirits at the Newport
  Celebration Rock, Vancouver duo Japandroids’ splendorous second LP, feels like all chorus all the time. It comprises eight humongous, cathartic, breathlessly aerobic tracks of perpetual youthful exuberance, the sound of the good old days transmuted into now and forever. Drums reverberate to Earth’s molten core; guitars ring out to the far reaches of the stratosphere; voices strain; forearms pump ...
  June 6, 2013 - Columbus Alive

Quotes

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• Jon Bon Jovi in FOXNews
  Richie (Sambora) and David (Bryan) suffered a lot in the last year, a lot of pain. In what had been a very peaceful decade and a half, suddenly there was a lot of pain in the organization,Bon Jovi said. "I think it was cathartic for Richie...
• Sarah McLachlan in The Canadian Press
  I think all my albums are sort of emotional postcards of where I am in my life and this last year has been a total emotional roller-coaster for me,McLachlan commented. "It's been extremely cathartic, as it always is for me to write some of...
• Tracey Ullman in San Jose Mercury News
  That spectrum includes what Ullman calls one of her "weirdest" impersonations-her mutation into curmudgeonly "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney for "a cathartic, truthful, improvised rant" in the show's fourth episode.