Catharsis: Purging an emotion due to its excessive display. Catharsis is underscored by other hydraulic metaphors that describe 'pent-up' emotions 'building up' and then 'passed' in a sustained outburst like a sort of malicious gas. Catharsis is particularly useful to justify wifely outbursts at errant husbands as well as being an active ingredient in bad psychological advice.
