Repression - Catharsis - Insight

Treatment, argued Freud and Breuerrequires the patient to recall these repressed experiences into consciousness and confront them once and for all, leading to a sudden and dramatic outpouring of emotion ("catharsis") and the attainment of insight. In the course of treatment, the patient is likely to display "resistance" in the form of changing the topic, blanking out, falling asleep, arriving late, or missing appointments. In fact, such behavior merely suggests that he/ she is close to recalling repressed material but, for the moment, still afraid of doing so.