COMMUNAL CATHARSIS METHODS

Most studies in the field of psychological/ emotional trauma were restricted to addressing topics of individual psychic trauma, individual catharsis and the possible methods to reach closure/ recovery.In return, there is a significant lack in dealing with the notion of collective catharsis and its possible means despite the considerable number of collective trauma instances; which can be an important topic of research with reliance on the research conducted on this concept and allowing a proper understanding of the concept.Through an analysis of Psychosocial Interventions after Large-scale Violence, War and Natural Disaster by Barry Hart, Healing Trauma and Community Recovery from War and Natural Disasters by Amy Erickson and Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling: A Framework to Address Racial Trauma in African Communities.Research objective: I contend that these works aim at discussing the actual meaning of collective catharsis; working-through communal trauma, exposing the cathartic measures opted by the traumatized group to 'externalize' the pathological experience of psychic trauma and to reconnect with the ordinary life and highlighting both: similarities and differences existing between the evoked means and the individual cathartic methods.Research hypothesis: The research assumes that the psychoanalytic field has demonstrated the importance of art in achieving both individual and communal healing.The importance of the research: The importance of the research stems from the fact that it sheds light on the different effective ways intervening in the recovery of both: affected individuals and communities Research Methodology: The first chapter addresses both concepts of collective trauma and collective healing.It begins with defining the condition of emotional/ psychic trauma; individual and collective.Likewise, it deals with individual/ collective catharsis.Subsequently, it exposes a diverse array of both: early and latent/ belated responses to collective trauma.