Summary
This book gives an account of the development of Primal Therapy. The book starts with an account of a group therapy session in 1967, during which a young man (Danny Wilson) underwent some kind of emotional catharsis during the therapy session. The young man was encouraged by Janov to call out for his mommy and daddy, which he did, only to fall into involuntary convulsions. After which, the young man announced "I can feel", and he then had some kind of emotional resolution.
In the remainder of the book, Janov develops a general theory of neurosis. Janov claims that neurosis is caused by repressed emotional pain from childhood trauma, and can be cured by reliving and expressing. Janov claims in the book that all neurosis is caused by repressed childhood emotional trauma, and that reliving is the only effective cure which really addresses the root cause of the problem.
The book contains numerous testimonials but little scientific evidence. The book is based upon Janov's theorizing after experimenting with his patients from 1967 to 1970.
Influence and reception
The Primal Scream was a popular success. [1] It reportedly sold more than one million copies internationally, [2] and was read by tens of thousands of people in the United States. [3] Albert Goldman reported in The Lives of John Lennon (1988) that Janov sent pre-publication copies of The Primal Scream to celebrities such as John Lennon and Mick Jagger, and that Lennon subsequently underwent primal therapy with Janov. [4] According to The New York Times , The Primal Scream "attracted wide attention in newspapers and magazines" and made Janov a celebrity. [5] The fame and success it brought Janov inspired many therapists who had not met him to offer imitation primal therapy, and led to the proliferation of programs offering happiness through radical personal transformation. [3]
Early reviews in the popular press were mixed. The book critic Robert Kirsch cautioned about Janov's "hyperbole" and "evangelic certainty" in the Los Angeles Times , but nevertheless called him an impressive writer and thinker and concluded that The Primal Scream was "worth reading and considering." [5] The Primal Scream was praised by the Chattanooga Times and the Berkeley Gazette, both of which compared Janov to Freud. [6] However, psychologists immediately questioned the assertions Janov made in the book, pointing out the "unverifiability of its central claim of the existence of primal pain and the lack of independent, controlled studies demonstrating the therapy’s effectiveness". [5]
Erin Shoemaker criticized Janov's ideas about homosexuality in the gay magazine The Body Politic , noting that clinical studies contradicted Janov's view that girls become lesbians through being seduced by older women and that Janov did not have a clear idea of what constituted "real" behavior. [7] The psychoanalyst Joel Kovel argued in A Complete Guide to Therapy (1976) that The Primal Scream shows that Janov is one of several figures in the history of psychotherapy who have come to be seen as savior figures. He credited Janov with tapping a "bedrock of great emotional power." [6] The Primal Scream was reviewed in BMJ in 2012. [8]
Neurosis is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related conditions more generally.
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is the debut solo studio album by English musician John Lennon. Backed by the Plastic Ono Band, it was released by Apple Records on 11 December 1970 in tandem with the similarly titled album by his wife, Yoko Ono. At the time of its issue, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band received mixed reviews overall, but later came to be widely regarded as Lennon's best solo album.
Catharsis is from the Ancient Greek word κάθαρσις, katharsis, meaning "purification" or "cleansing". In English, it can refer to a number of different excreting acts.
Arthur Janov, also known as Art Janov, was an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and writer. He gained notability as the creator of primal therapy, a treatment for mental illness that involves repeatedly descending into, feeling, and experiencing long-repressed childhood pain. Janov first directed a psychotherapy institute called the Primal Institute on North Almont Dr. in West Hollywood, California and from 1980 at the Janov Primal Center at 1205 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, in Venice, Los Angeles and latterly on Ashland Avenue in Santa Monica, California.
Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov, who argued that neurosis is caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma. Janov argued that repressed pain can be sequentially brought to conscious awareness for resolution through re-experiencing specific incidents and fully expressing the resulting pain during therapy. Primal therapy was developed as a means of eliciting the repressed pain; the term Pain is capitalized in discussions of primal therapy when referring to any repressed emotional distress and its purported long-lasting psychological effects. Janov believed that talking therapies deal primarily with the cerebral cortex and higher-reasoning areas and do not access the source of Pain within the more basic parts of the central nervous system.
Primal Integration (PI) is a form of personal growth work first formulated by the Canadian Bill Swartley in the mid-1970s. Unlike many other approaches known as psychotherapy, it puts the emphasis on an individual's self-directed exploration of their own psyche assisted by facilitators who serve the individual and are responsible for their safety. It uses an educational model and is considered to be part of humanistic psychology. It has a different approach to the better known Primal therapy formulated by Arthur Janov and is not related to it except in the broadest sense by its name and by its acceptance of the significance of early experiences.
Repressed memory is a controversial, and largely scientifically discredited, psychiatric phenomenon which involves an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is understood as a defense mechanism that excludes painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from consciousness. Repressed memory is presently considered largely unsupported by research. Sigmund Freud initially claimed the memories of historical childhood trauma could be repressed, while unconsciously influencing present behavior and emotional responding; he later revised this belief.
Countertransference, in psychotherapy, refers to a therapist's redirection of feelings towards a patient or becoming emotionally entangled with them. This concept is central to the understanding of therapeutic dynamics in psychotherapy.
Repression is a key concept of psychoanalysis, where it is understood as a defense mechanism that "ensures that what is unacceptable to the conscious mind, and would if recalled arouse anxiety, is prevented from entering into it." According to psychoanalytic theory, repression plays a major role in many mental illnesses, and in the psyche of the average person.
Vegetotherapy is a form of Reichian psychotherapy that involves the physical manifestations of emotions.
Recovered-memory therapy (RMT) is a catch-all term for a controversial and scientifically discredited form of psychotherapy that critics say utilizes one or more unproven therapeutic techniques to purportedly help patients recall previously forgotten memories. Proponents of recovered memory therapy claim, contrary to evidence, that traumatic memories can be buried in the subconscious and thereby affect current behavior, and that these memories can be recovered through the use of RMT techniques. RMT is not recommended by professional mental health associations.
Repetition compulsion is the unconscious tendency of a person to repeat a traumatic event or its circumstances. This may take the form of symbolically or literally re-enacting the event, or putting oneself in situations where the event is likely to occur again. Repetition compulsion can also take the form of dreams in which memories and feelings of what happened are repeated, and in cases of psychosis, may even be hallucinated.
A scream is a loud/hard vocalization in which air is passed through the vocal cords with greater force than is used in regular or close-distance vocalisation. This can be performed by any creature possessing lungs, including humans.
Abreaction is a psychoanalytical term for reliving an experience to purge it of its emotional excesses—a type of catharsis. Sometimes it is a method of becoming conscious of repressed traumatic events.
Models of abnormality are general hypotheses as to the nature of psychological abnormalities. The four main models to explain psychological abnormality are the biological, behavioural, cognitive, and psychodynamic models. They all attempt to explain the causes and treatments for all psychological illnesses, and all from a different approach.
The Center for Feeling Therapy was a radical psychotherapy community that existed in Los Angeles between 1971 and 1980. At its peak, it had 350 resident patients and 2,000 members including several branches in other locations. Although lacking the typical religious component, the group has been described as a cult by various sources, including ex-members, researchers, and a judge. The Center was led by Richard "Riggs" Corriere and Joseph Hart, who would ultimately be stripped of their licenses to practice psychology as a result of the fallout from the group's collapse. The rise and fall of the Center has been called the greatest scandal in the history of psychology and led to the biggest psychology-related lawsuit of its time.
"Primal Scream" is a song by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. The single was released on the 1991 album Decade of Decadence 81-91, which was the band's first of many greatest hits compilations. The song charted at No. 63 on Billboard Hot 100 and No. 21 on the Mainstream rock charts. Decade of Decadence was released on October 19, 1991, and "Primal Scream" was one of three newly recorded songs for the album, the other two being "Angela" and "Anarchy in the U.K.".
Emotional flooding is a form of psychotherapy that involves attacking the unconscious and/or subconscious mind to release repressed feelings and fears. Many of the techniques used in modern emotional flooding practice have roots in history, some tracing as far back as early tribal societies. For more information on emotional flooding, see Flooding (psychology).
The Memory Wars: Freud's Legacy in Dispute is a 1995 book that reprints articles by the critic Frederick Crews critical of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and recovered-memory therapy. It also reprints letters from Harold P. Blum, Marcia Cavell, Morris Eagle, Matthew Erdelyi, Allen Esterson, Robert R. Holt, James Hopkins, Lester Luborsky, David D. Olds, Mortimer Ostow, Bernard L. Pacella, Herbert S. Peyser, Charlotte Krause Prozan, Theresa Reid, James L. Rice, Jean Schimek, and Marian Tolpin.
Hypnoanalysis is the technique of using hypnosis in the practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. It attempts to utilize the trance state induced by hypnosis to effect a conscious understanding of a person's unconscious psychodynamics.
