Excitatory Abreaction: With Special Reference to Its Mechanism and the Use of Ether

The origin of the term abreaction dates from the time of Breuer and Freud's (1) early studies in hysteria, when they observed that patients were helped by “just talking it out.” Later their technique was employed under hypnosis (2). Sadler (3) defined abreaction as “a process of reviving the memory of a repressed unpleasant experience and expressing in speech and action the emotions related to it, thereby relieving the personality of its influence.” Miller (4) quotes Freud as holding that experiences shall be recalled with emotional vividness. “Affectless memories are almost useless,” said Freud.