There are many ways you can delay catharsis. For instance, you might try to postpone vomiting for the fifth time when violently ill. Or you might choke back tears at the end of a sad movie, thinking that the accompanying social awkwardness would just make things worse. One way or another, both of these efforts at delay will catch up with you; you’ll either be loading barf-soaked sheets into the washing machine, or bursting into sobs at work while taping “Chemical Waste” labels on toxic canisters… respectively.
The term “catharsis” is Greek in origin and primarily refers to the second situation I mentioned, whereby audiences would experience a mental purging or purification after a particularly emotional play[i]. These performances still exist, though their modern forms are usually confined to independent film theatres and particularly touching episodes of Futurama.
It seems as if putting off this cleansing is a sure-fire way to fill your cargo hold with feeling-baggage, inevitably resulting in a suitcase-strewn runway and a crew of grim-faced airport workers sorting through your personal belongings. What I’m curious about is why the physical manifestation of one’s emotions is often a necessary part of coming to terms with them. Why can I not simply say “It’s really sad those two flaming gay cowboys had their lives unjustly destroyed,” and leave it at that?

The next sentence is my answer.
I think humans are incapable of dealing internally with emotions because we aren’t wired for it. Social constraint is something relatively new to biology; practically ever animal on earth will make some show of pain if they injure themselves, and the more human-like mammals will mourn openly and even turn to others for support if emotionally wounded[ii]. Ultimately, the visible expression of our feelings could have been an early form of communication. Perhaps not. My second theory is a little Freudian, though deviants be forewarned that it contains no matriphilism.
When we keep feelings bottled up, they are undefined, tangled, and intangible; and at any two moments your thoughts about a situation are coupled to a thousand others. This constant, multi-directional flow takes an enormous amount of mental energy, and is practically useless if your goal is to sort things out. Crying, for me, seems to focus that nervous energy and get it out of my system, allowing my ego to come to grips and my id to remember to eat.


[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis
[ii] http://www.biopsychology.com/index.php?
descType=always&id=15&type=chapter&page=0

Picture Credits:
Hurl cleanser: http://www.riteaid.com/stores/instore_specials/detail.php?item_nbr=0411277&price=%2414.99&t_nbr=T97073&desc=Tide+Laundry+Detergent+Liquid+-+200+oz.
Dr. Zoidberg: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1340825
Two quacks, one face: Me, Freud, and Photoshop