A Contribution to the Objective Measurement of the Cathartic Process—I

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Abstract
In previous work (8, 9) the writer has found that measures of breathing activity during speech, and of output of speech per breath are related to the emotional intensity and to the extent to which emotions are restrained or given free expression in the exchanges during psychiatric interviews. A high level of ventilation, i.e. high breathing activity with low output of speech per breath was shown to belong to content implying outgoing affect (jealousy, appetite, sex, aggression, wishes and hopes), and a low level of ventilation in speech to be associated with topics of restricted emotionality, such as fear, inhibition, deprivation, as well as to reasoning.Tension states as rated by physicians or as experienced subjectively, as well as anxiety states and other emotional disturbances have been shown to be associated with physiological changes in the muscular system as measured by the electromyograph (15, 19, 21). Increased muscular tension was also found to accompany hyperventilation (1, 6) and increased muscular tension as well as inhibited breathing have been reported to accompany intellectual effort (11, 22, 23). Rising gradients of tension from forehead and chin have recently been shown to accompany sustained attention when listening to read material (26).