Catharsis is not healing- it simply clears the way for healing to begin
There is a contemporary zeitgeist around "healing" that seems focused on intense spiritual catharsis. I think that is what is causing the growth in popularity of plant medicine and intense somatic work.
There seems to be this idea that healing can occur in a single dramatic event- an ayahuasca journey, or a weekend long rebirthing seminar. And perhaps these cathartic events can be helpful, sometimes necessary on the path to recovery- however a cathartic healing event will only remove blockage to allow deeper heaing to begin- it is not the end of the healing journey.
True healing and spiritual growth requires clonstant daily affirmation and willingness to change. It is developed over time and it is never a linear growth. It certainly can not happen in a single drug trip or a particularly weepy therapy session.
I believe the western obsession with catharsis centric healing comes from our deeply individualistic and capitalistic culture. We want to be able to order a spiritual experience the way we can order a cheeseburger from McDonalds. The catharsis is alluring because it carries with it the implication that we can drink tea from an exotic and foreign medicine man and face all of our trauma at once. Then having done that we can return to our self centered and power based existence with the smug knowledge that anything that continues to cause upset in our lives is no longer our fault because we have been absolved of unspiritual thoughts.
This way of thinking about healing removes our responsibility to actually change our actions or to participate in community as an integrated person- which makes it attractive to people who already benefit from a deeply individualized culture.