Primal therapy
Encyclopedia
Primal therapy is a trauma
-based psychotherapy
created by Arthur Janov
, who argues that neurosis
is caused by the repressed
pain of childhood trauma. Janov argues that repressed pain can be sequentially brought to conscious awareness and resolved through re-experiencing the incident 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 criticizes the talking therapies
as they 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 therapy is used to re-experience childhood pain—i.e., felt rather than conceptual memories—in an attempt to resolve the pain through complete processing and integration, becoming "real". An intended objective of the therapy is to lessen or eliminate the hold early trauma exerts on adult life.
Primal therapy became very influential during a brief period in the early 1970s, after the publication of Janov's first book, The Primal Scream
. It inspired hundreds of spin-off clinics worldwide and served as an inspiration for many popular cultural icons. John Lennon
, actor James Earl Jones
and pianist Roger Williams
were prominent advocates of primal therapy. Primal therapy has since declined in popularity, partly because Janov has not produced the outcomes necessary to convince research-oriented psychotherapists of its effectiveness. Janov and others continue to advocate and practice the therapy or various developments of it.
Janov believes that there is only one source of mental illness (besides genetic defects)—imprinted pain. He argues that this unitary source of neurosis implies that there can be only one effective cure—re-experiencing.
It has been claimed that Janov developed concepts from Sándor Ferenczi
(who used the expression primal trauma) and Wilhelm Reich
.
Need is a total state of the human being - and at birth we are almost nothing but need. Janov argues that for the helpless newborn, survival is at stake in nearly every second of existence.
Janov asserts that when needs go unfilled for too long, pain is the result. (Janov capitalizes Primal Pain in his early work, although in later works, he dropped the capitalization.)
Janov describes Pain as the pain that does not hurt because, as soon as the person goes into it, it becomes simply feeling. Most of the suffering component is in the blockage or repression.
is not simply awareness but refers to a state of the entire organism
, including the brain, in which there is "fluid access" between the parts. Using the triune brain
work by Paul D. MacLean and adapting it to Primal Theory, three levels of consciousness are recognized in Primal Theory.
The following table summarizes some of the fundamental ideas and terms Janov (J) has used as well as conventional terms used in general and scientific papers.
According to Janov, Primal Pains are imprinted in the lower brain first, then later the limbic system, and still later intellectual defenses are formed by the cortex simply because this is the sequence of neurological development. The therapy therefore occurs in the reverse sequence: "There is no way to go deep without first going shallow." In primal therapy, medication is prescribed for some "overloaded" patients, so they do not overshoot into first-line pains that they are not ready to feel, thereby allowing them to feel the more recent pains first.
. This neurosis begins very early in life (especially in the "critical period"—birth plus the first three years) as a result of needs not being met. There may be one or more isolated traumatic events, but more often, it is a case of daily neglect or abuse.
Neurosis therefore may begin to develop at birth, or even before, with first-line Pains. Subsequent Pain is thought to be added on top of previous pain in what is called "compounding" the Pain.
Throughout childhood, more elaborate "defenses" develop, as the early unmet needs keep pressing for satisfaction in symbolic, and therefore inevitably unsatisfying, ways.
Based on Janov's own in-house studies, Janov and Holden concluded that the pre-primal rise in vital signs indicates the person's neurotic defenses are being stretched by the ascending Pain to the point of producing an "acute anxiety attack" (the conventional description), and the fall to more normal levels than pre-primal levels indicates a degree of resolution of the Pain.
Janov distinguishes the primal from emotional catharsis or abreaction, an abreaction being (according to Janov) a "pseudo-primal". A primal may be referred to as a "connected feeling", but a complete connected feeling will usually take months or even years to feel in many primals. It should be noted that abreaction or catharsis as used by other psychologists does not mean a false or unconnected feeling. Psychiatrist Anthony Storr
claimed that primal therapy techniques have much in common with abreaction.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Press
in April 1971, Janov estimated an average of 11 months of therapy after the three-week intensive.
A therapist working for Janov stated in 1973: "The need for therapy really never ends. Nobody is ever able to flush all the pain from his body." According to this source, there were patients who stayed in therapy for as long as two years.
The only independent account on primal therapy studied 32 patients who entered therapy at The Primal Institute in 1975 and 1976. The study concluded, "The main result is that about 40% of the primal patients achieve a satisfactory result within 15 to 25 months."
In The New Primal Scream (published in 1991), Janov wrote that after a year to a year and a half, patients are able to continue therapy on their own, with only sporadic follow-up necessary.
Commenting on the "modest" claims John Lennon made about his own 1970 primal therapy experience, Janov said, "The therapy takes at least thirteen-fourteen-fifteen months....I worked with him from March through July—five months. That was when he was forced to leave."
According to Stanislav Grof
, many patients stayed in primal therapy for years with no substantial progress. According to Grof, the clinical state of some patients actually worsened.
(Chapter 8), Janov wrote: "Primal therapy is much more economical than conventional insight therapy - not only in financial terms but also in the time involved. The total financial outlay is about one-fifth the cost of a psychoanalysis."
In 1971, the three-week intensive (two to four daily hours) had a cost of $US1,650 ($8,740 in 2009 dollar values). In 1973, the cost—payable in advance—was $US6,000 for six months of therapy($28,991 in 2009 dollar values). In 1978, a year of primal therapy had a cost of $US6,600 USD ($21,700 in 2009 dollar values).
.
Since his first book, Janov has often written about primal therapists who are not associated with his practice, whom he has referred to as "mock primal therapists" or simply "mock therapists" or "would-be practitioners".
Arthur Janov wrote that primal therapy is an experiential psychotherapy and that:
Janov initiated from the outset small-scale research using questionnaires and measures of EEG
, body temperature, blood pressure
and pulse
from his patients. A 1971 Pittsburgh Press
article cited a University of California at Irvine study on primal therapy patients that showed a slowing of brain waves. Janov claimed that primal therapy reduced, in some patients, the frequency and the amplitude of Alpha waves
, core body temperature (as much as three degrees) and blood pressure
(as much as 30 percent). Two Brain Research Institute (UCLA) scientists confirmed that there were brain-wave changes in primal patients.
In 1993, Janov stated: "It is a therapy that has been investigated for over fifteen years by independent scientists, and the findings are consistent. Primal Therapy is able to reduce or eliminate a host of physical and psychic ailments in a relatively short period of time with lasting results." Janov lists research evidence at his webpage. In 2010, Janov said of primal therapy, "It is one of the most heavily researched private psychotherapies extant in the world."
Authors Prochaska and Norcross called the research by Janov "largely uncontrolled, non comparative and short term."
in English), Tomas Videgård reported on a study of a sample of 32 patients who entered therapy at The Primal Institute in 1975 and 1976.
The outcome evaluation for the patients was 4 Very Good, 9 Good, 8 Medium, 6 Bad (including one suicide), 5 Unavailable for post-testing (left therapy prematurely). Patients who did not finish the therapy were excluded. (See Duration above.) Patients in the sample had been in therapy for between 15 and 32 months.
Videgård himself went through the therapy. The evaluation was based on patients' answers to questions and some projective test
s that require interpretation by the tester (Videgård himself). There was no control group.
Videgård concluded that therapy at The Primal Institute was marginally better than the Tavistock Clinic
and markedly better than the Menninger Foundation
—the two psychotherapy clinics he used for comparison. Videgård wrote, "The outcome is about half as good as Janov claims the results of PT to be," calculating a 40 percent success rate, compared with a 98-100 percent success rate claimed by Janov.
Delphi poll
as "discredited".
Primal therapy has sometimes been dismissed as shallow, glib, simplistic, or trendy. It has also been criticized for not paying sufficient attention to transference
. Some researchers have suggested that primal therapy's contention that adults can recall infantile experiences is empirically refuted. Primal therapy has also been rejected as dogmatic or overly reductionist.
In the book Let's Talk About Me, Dr. Anthony Clare
criticizes primal therapy in several ways. He claims that Janov sees confirming evidence everywhere: "Everything is taken as evidence of [the truth of Janov's Pain Theory]." He claims that Janov has "no evidence" that childhood traumas cause adult neurosis, except for the "frenzied memories" of his patients.
In a 1982 paper published in the journal Zeitschrift für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychoanalyse, Ehebald and Werthmann report that, following a review of the scientific literature, they found "no on-going reports of primal therapy's therapeutic results, no statistical studies and no follow-up studies." Concluding that primal therapy is not a valid therapeutic technique, they stated that most psychotherapists in the Federal Republic of Germany believe it to be questionable in theory and dangerous in practice.
Alice Miller
initially endorsed primal therapy. Later, however, she wrote a communication to her readers in which she expressed some reservations about it. In that communication, she stated that primal therapy could be dangerous when conducted by therapists who are not properly trained. She also stated that there was "too much faith" in cathartic discharge, claiming that the relief was sometimes temporary. She also voiced criticisms about the structure of the initial three-week intensive phase, claiming that it could provide opportunities for unscrupulous therapists. She warned of the dangers of developing an "addictive dependency" to pain.
In 1996, authors Starker and Pankratz published in Psychological Reports a study of 300 randomly sampled psychologists. Participants were asked for their views about the soundness of methods of mental health treatment. Primal therapy was identified as one of the approaches "most in question as to soundness."
The 1996 book "Crazy" Therapies discusses Janov's claim to have discovered the one cure for neurosis: "Evidence that expressing angry, violent behaviour does not drain it away but increases the chances of its recurrence has been presented in the scientific psychology literature for years." (page 128)
In the 1998 book Insane Therapy, sociologist Marybeth F. Ayella says that "what Frank (1974:424-25) describes as healing cults more closely resembles what I think occurs in Primal Therapy than does Janov's description."
Primal therapy is cited in the book The Death of Psychotherapy: From Freud to Alien Abductions. The author claims that all schools of psychotherapy, including primal therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and others, have no scientific evidence of effectiveness beyond placebo.
In the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, Timothy Moore wrote: "Truth be known, primal therapy cannot be defended on scientifically established principles. This is not surprising considering its questionable theoretical rationale."
Martin Gardner
wrote a critical article called "Primal Therapy: A Persistent New Age Therapy" in the Skeptical Inquirer
. Gardner discussed some of what he sees as the problems with primal therapy, and also details a protest over the publication of Janov's 2002 book The Biology of Love.
The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) Newsletter listed primal therapy, among other treatments, in the article "Dubious Mental Health".
function where Raphael Montañez Ortíz shouted "Mama!", inviting the audience to do the same. Janov encouraged Danny Wilson insistently to do the same. The patient finally fell to the floor in pain for half an hour. Janov taped the session and reheard it repeatedly. He did not understand its meaning until years later.
In 1968, The Primal Institute was founded by Arthur Janov and his first wife, Vivian.
On January 1, 1970, Arthur Janov published his first book, The Primal Scream
. In March, Arthur and Vivian started treating John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In 1970, Janov registered the name Primal as a trademark
at the U.S. Patent Office and had his attorneys sue therapists using the word Primal to describe their work. The International Primal Association
and the Primal Feeling Center challenged Janov's trademark. In 1978, the U.S. Department of Commerce cancelled the registration. "Primal Therapy" is now listed among genericized trademark
s that became "free to anyone to use in describing products or services."
In 1971, two trainee primal therapists (another source claims they were "therapists" at the Primal Institute), Joseph Hart and Richard Corriere, abandoned Arthur Janov and started the Center for Feeling Therapy
. Hart claimed: "When we left Janov, forty percent of the patients came with us....we found that most had been faking their primals."
In 1973 a "birth simulator" was in use at the Primal Institute. The simulator was a 10-foot-long adjustable pressure vinyl tube. The patient was covered with a slick substance to simulate birth. Reports were made of bruises from obstetricians' fingers appearing on the skin of patients reliving their births.
In 1977, Arthur Janov filed a $US7.1 million ($25 million in 2009 dollars) suit against Psychology Today
, because the magazine called primal therapy "Jabberwocky
".
In 1982, the German courts
decided in two legal findings that insurance companies did not have to pay for primal therapy.
In 1982, Arthur Janov and his second wife, Dr. France D. Janov (married 1980), started to offer primal therapy in Paris
through an organization called the European Primal Institute (EPI). According to the UNADFI and Science et Vie, patients had to sign a contract "disengaging the Institute of all responsibility" until the Parisian operation closed down without previous warning in August 1985. According to these sources, some patients were "abandoned" (abandonnés), caught by the sudden closing of the EPI with their therapy unfinished. Janov wrote them a letter saying, "I can not live anymore in the midst of pain and misery; after 35 years seeing patients, it is time for me to live my own life."
In June 1989, two fires caused an estimated $US475,000 ($821,000 in 2009 dollars) damage at The Primal Institute in West Los Angeles. Authorities ruled the fire as arson
.
In 1989, Arthur Janov established the Janov Primal Center in Venice
(later relocated to Santa Monica
) with his second wife, France.
claimed primal therapy cured him from smoking and hemorrhoids. Pianist Roger Williams
claimed primal therapy cured him of his cold hands and said that Arthur Janov was one of history's five greatest men.
Psychotherapist Bert Hellinger
had nine months of primal therapy with Janov.
Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs
briefly practiced primal therapy. A source states that Jobs "grew bored and disdainful of Primal Therapy."
Actress Dyan Cannon
built a "special scream room" in her house after her primal therapy experience. She appeared with Arthur Janov to tell her experiences on Mike Douglas's show.
, went through primal therapy in 1970. A copy of the just-released The Primal Scream arrived in the mail at Tittenhurst Park
(sources differ about who sent the book). Lennon was impressed, and he requested primal therapy to be started at Tittenhurst. Arthur Janov and his first wife, Vivian Janov, went to Tittenhurst in March 1970 to start the therapy, which continued in April in Los Angeles. Arthur Janov went to Tittenhurst after giving instructions in advance about the isolation period and giving instructions to Lennon to be separated from Ono. Lennon and Ono had three weeks of intensive treatment in England before Janov returned to Los Angeles, where they had four months of therapy.
According to some sources, Lennon ended primal therapy after four months. Arthur Janov later said, "They cut the therapy off just as it started, really....We were just getting going....We had opened him up, and we didn't have time to put him back together again." (INS
records released under FOIA
confirm Janov´s claim). Another source states that Lennon and Ono broke off treatment after continuous disputes between Ono and Janov. Lennon asked Janov for a primal therapist to be sent to Mexico, but Janov refused. The web page "John Lennon - Primal therapy" includes excerpts of interviews with John Lennon, Arthur Janov, and Vivian Janov, along with an account of one of Lennon's therapy sessions written by Pauline Lennon.
Lennon refused to be filmed in therapy by Arthur Janov, saying, "Who are you kidding Mr. Janov?" Lennon commented after therapy, "I still think that Janov's therapy is great, you know, but I do not want to make it a big Maharishi
thing" and "I just know myself better, that's all. I can handle myself better. That Janov thing, the primal scream and so on, it does affect you, because you recognize yourself in there...It was very good for me. I am still 'primal' and it still works." and "I no longer have any need for drugs, the Maharishi or the Beatles. I am myself and I know why."
Shortly after therapy, Lennon produced his album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
. (Ono recorded a parallel album, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band
, from her experiences; both albums were released on the same day on the Apple
record label.) Lennon's album featured a number of songs that were directly affected by his experience in therapy, including "Remember", "I Found Out", "Isolation"
, "God"
, "Mother"
, "My Mummy's Dead", and "Working Class Hero
".
was directly inspired by Janov's writings.
See also Primal Scream (disambiguation).
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
-based psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
created by Arthur Janov
Arthur Janov
Arthur Janov is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and the creator of primal therapy, a treatment for mental illness that involves repeatedly descending into, feeling, and expressing long-repressed childhood pain. Janov directs a psychotherapy institute called the Primal Center in Santa...
, who argues that neurosis
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic...
is caused by the repressed
Psychological repression
Psychological repression, also psychic repression or simply repression, is the psychological attempt by an individual to repel one's own desires and impulses towards pleasurable instincts by excluding the desire from one's consciousness and holding or subduing it in the unconscious...
pain of childhood trauma. Janov argues that repressed pain can be sequentially brought to conscious awareness and resolved through re-experiencing the incident 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 criticizes the talking therapies
Talking therapies
Talking therapies is the generic name for the range of psychotherapies. It is a derivative of the talking cure, although less related to one therapy alone, it is a term that does cover psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling or counselling psychology approaches.- History...
as they deal primarily with the cerebral cortex
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...
and higher-reasoning areas and do not access the source of Pain within the more basic parts of the central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
.
Primal therapy is used to re-experience childhood pain—i.e., felt rather than conceptual memories—in an attempt to resolve the pain through complete processing and integration, becoming "real". An intended objective of the therapy is to lessen or eliminate the hold early trauma exerts on adult life.
Primal therapy became very influential during a brief period in the early 1970s, after the publication of Janov's first book, The Primal Scream
The Primal Scream
The Primal Scream is a book by Arthur Janov Ph. D, the inventor of Primal Therapy. It is subtitled Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis. The book describes the experiences Arthur Janov had with 63 patients during his first 18 months discovering and practicing Primal Therapy...
. It inspired hundreds of spin-off clinics worldwide and served as an inspiration for many popular cultural icons. John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, actor James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
and pianist Roger Williams
Roger Williams (pianist)
Roger Williams was an American popular music pianist. As of 2004, he had released 116 albums.-Biography:...
were prominent advocates of primal therapy. Primal therapy has since declined in popularity, partly because Janov has not produced the outcomes necessary to convince research-oriented psychotherapists of its effectiveness. Janov and others continue to advocate and practice the therapy or various developments of it.
Concepts
Janov states that neurosis is the result of suppressed pain, which is the result of trauma, usually trauma of childhood origin. According to Janov, the only way to reverse neurosis is for the neurotic to confront their trauma in a therapeutic setting. Janov contends that by confronting their trauma, the neurotic can relive the original traumatic incident and can express the emotions that occurred at that time, thereby resolving the trauma.Janov believes that there is only one source of mental illness (besides genetic defects)—imprinted pain. He argues that this unitary source of neurosis implies that there can be only one effective cure—re-experiencing.
It has been claimed that Janov developed concepts from Sándor Ferenczi
Sándor Ferenczi
Sándor Ferenczi was a Hungarian psychoanalyst, a key theorist of the psychoanalytic school and a close associate of Sigmund Freud.-Biography:...
(who used the expression primal trauma) and Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...
.
Needs
Janov believes that much of the pain of childhood is the result of needs going unmet. Drawing from earlier psychologists, he described his take on the basic needs in his books. "Our first needs are solely physical ones for nourishment, safety and comfort. Later we have emotional needs for affection, understanding and respect for our feelings. Finally, intellectual needs to know and to understand emerge."Need is a total state of the human being - and at birth we are almost nothing but need. Janov argues that for the helpless newborn, survival is at stake in nearly every second of existence.
Janov asserts that when needs go unfilled for too long, pain is the result. (Janov capitalizes Primal Pain in his early work, although in later works, he dropped the capitalization.)
Pain
In primal theory, "Primal Pain is deprivation or injury which threatens the developing child. A parent's warning is not necessarily a Primal Pain for the child. Utter humiliation is...An infant left to cry it out in the crib is in Pain...It is not hurt as such which defines Primal Pain but rather the context of the hurt or its meaning to the impressionable developing consciousness of the child."Janov describes Pain as the pain that does not hurt because, as soon as the person goes into it, it becomes simply feeling. Most of the suffering component is in the blockage or repression.
Consciousness and repression
In primal theory, consciousnessConsciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
is not simply awareness but refers to a state of the entire organism
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
, including the brain, in which there is "fluid access" between the parts. Using the triune brain
Triune brain
The triune brain is a model of the evolution of the vertebrate forebrain and behavior proposed by the American physician and neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean. MacLean originally formulated his model in the 1960s and propounded it at length in his 1990 book The Triune Brain in Evolution...
work by Paul D. MacLean and adapting it to Primal Theory, three levels of consciousness are recognized in Primal Theory.
The following table summarizes some of the fundamental ideas and terms Janov (J) has used as well as conventional terms used in general and scientific papers.
| Level/Line (J) | Technical name | Functions mediated | Brain structures involved | Incorporates (J) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Third | cognitive | cognition and intellectual faculties | neocortex Neocortex The neocortex , also called the neopallium and isocortex , is a part of the brain of mammals. It is the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres, and made up of six layers, labelled I to VI... |
thinking mind |
| Second | affective | emotional responses | limbic system Limbic system The limbic system is a set of brain structures including the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex and fornix, which seemingly support a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, long term memory, and olfaction. The term "limbic" comes from the Latin... |
feeling mind |
| First | somatosensory | sensation and visceral responses | brainstem Brain stem In vertebrate anatomy the brainstem is the posterior part of the brain, adjoining and structurally continuous with the spinal cord. The brain stem provides the main motor and sensory innervation to the face and neck via the cranial nerves... |
survival mind |
- Janov describes defenses as the agents of repression that consume energy while protecting the system from the catastrophic Pain of unfulfilled need. When referring to Pain or defense the word line is used instead of level; e.g. first-line Pain = early trauma imprinted in the brainstem usually involving physical injury, third line defense = intellectual defense.
- The brainstem has also often been referred to as the reptilian brain as it is the structure which mammals have in common with reptiles.
- First-line imprints occur before intellectual abilities, such as the use of verbal language, have developed. They are at the level of pure sensation and visceral (or gut) reaction. The brainstem is capable of processing the most primitive emotions of rage and terror, and these can be experienced very early in life.
According to Janov, Primal Pains are imprinted in the lower brain first, then later the limbic system, and still later intellectual defenses are formed by the cortex simply because this is the sequence of neurological development. The therapy therefore occurs in the reverse sequence: "There is no way to go deep without first going shallow." In primal therapy, medication is prescribed for some "overloaded" patients, so they do not overshoot into first-line pains that they are not ready to feel, thereby allowing them to feel the more recent pains first.
Origins of neurosis
Primal theory contends that many or most people suffer from some degree of neurosisNeurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic...
. This neurosis begins very early in life (especially in the "critical period"—birth plus the first three years) as a result of needs not being met. There may be one or more isolated traumatic events, but more often, it is a case of daily neglect or abuse.
Neurosis therefore may begin to develop at birth, or even before, with first-line Pains. Subsequent Pain is thought to be added on top of previous pain in what is called "compounding" the Pain.
Throughout childhood, more elaborate "defenses" develop, as the early unmet needs keep pressing for satisfaction in symbolic, and therefore inevitably unsatisfying, ways.
Format and process
The overall strategy of primal therapy has hardly changed from the early days. The therapy begins with an intensive three weeks of fifteen open-ended sessions with one therapist. After this, the patient joins group meetings with other patients and therapists once or twice a week for as long as is needed. Private sessions are still available, though not every day. The length of time needed in formal therapy varies from person to person.Connected feeling
A connected feeling, according to Janov, is a "conscious" experience that connects the present to the past and connects emotion to meaning - there may also be a connection to sensations in the case of a physically traumatic experience such as physical or sexual abuse or painful birth.Primal
As a noun or a verb, the word primal denotes the reliving of an early painful feeling. A complete primal has been found, according to Janov and Holden, to be marked by a "pre-primal" rise in vital signs such as pulse, core body temperature, and blood pressure leading up to the feeling experience and then a falling off of those vital signs to a more normal level than where they began. After the primal ("post-primal"), Janov claims the patient will be flooded with his own insights.Based on Janov's own in-house studies, Janov and Holden concluded that the pre-primal rise in vital signs indicates the person's neurotic defenses are being stretched by the ascending Pain to the point of producing an "acute anxiety attack" (the conventional description), and the fall to more normal levels than pre-primal levels indicates a degree of resolution of the Pain.
Janov distinguishes the primal from emotional catharsis or abreaction, an abreaction being (according to Janov) a "pseudo-primal". A primal may be referred to as a "connected feeling", but a complete connected feeling will usually take months or even years to feel in many primals. It should be noted that abreaction or catharsis as used by other psychologists does not mean a false or unconnected feeling. Psychiatrist Anthony Storr
Anthony Storr
Anthony Storr was an English psychiatrist and author. Born in London, he was a child who was to endure the typical trauma of early 20th century boarding schools. He was educated at Winchester College, Christ's College , and Westminster Hospital. He qualified as a doctor in 1944, and subsequently...
claimed that primal therapy techniques have much in common with abreaction.
Duration
In The Primal Scream (published in January 1970), Janov wrote, "By the time someone has reached his eighth month is generally well...Many patients finish before the eight months; some remain in therapy for ten or eleven months. It all depends on how sick they were to begin with."In an interview with the Pittsburgh Press
Pittsburgh Press
The Pittsburgh Press is an online newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, currently owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Historically, it was a major afternoon paper...
in April 1971, Janov estimated an average of 11 months of therapy after the three-week intensive.
A therapist working for Janov stated in 1973: "The need for therapy really never ends. Nobody is ever able to flush all the pain from his body." According to this source, there were patients who stayed in therapy for as long as two years.
The only independent account on primal therapy studied 32 patients who entered therapy at The Primal Institute in 1975 and 1976. The study concluded, "The main result is that about 40% of the primal patients achieve a satisfactory result within 15 to 25 months."
In The New Primal Scream (published in 1991), Janov wrote that after a year to a year and a half, patients are able to continue therapy on their own, with only sporadic follow-up necessary.
Commenting on the "modest" claims John Lennon made about his own 1970 primal therapy experience, Janov said, "The therapy takes at least thirteen-fourteen-fifteen months....I worked with him from March through July—five months. That was when he was forced to leave."
According to Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of analyzing, healing, and obtaining growth and insight into the human psyche...
, many patients stayed in primal therapy for years with no substantial progress. According to Grof, the clinical state of some patients actually worsened.
Cost
In The Primal ScreamThe Primal Scream
The Primal Scream is a book by Arthur Janov Ph. D, the inventor of Primal Therapy. It is subtitled Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis. The book describes the experiences Arthur Janov had with 63 patients during his first 18 months discovering and practicing Primal Therapy...
(Chapter 8), Janov wrote: "Primal therapy is much more economical than conventional insight therapy - not only in financial terms but also in the time involved. The total financial outlay is about one-fifth the cost of a psychoanalysis."
In 1971, the three-week intensive (two to four daily hours) had a cost of $US1,650 ($8,740 in 2009 dollar values). In 1973, the cost—payable in advance—was $US6,000 for six months of therapy($28,991 in 2009 dollar values). In 1978, a year of primal therapy had a cost of $US6,600 USD ($21,700 in 2009 dollar values).
Janov's warnings
Arthur Janov has printed warnings for many years in all of his books, stating that people could check the credentials of any therapist claiming to be a trained primal therapist by contacting The Primal Institute or The Primal Foundation in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Since his first book, Janov has often written about primal therapists who are not associated with his practice, whom he has referred to as "mock primal therapists" or simply "mock therapists" or "would-be practitioners".
Reports
Over the decades since Janov's first book on the subject, there have been several reports and critiques relating to primal therapy in books and peer-reviewed journals.Arthur Janov wrote that primal therapy is an experiential psychotherapy and that:
- "Although there are scientific references and citations throughout this work, we should not lose track of the overarching truth--feelings are their own validation. We can quote and cite all day long, but the truth ultimately lies in the experience of human beings. Their feelings explain so much that statistical evidence is irrelevant."
Janov initiated from the outset small-scale research using questionnaires and measures of EEG
EEG
EEG commonly refers to electroencephalography, a measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.EEG may also refer to:* Emperor Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company...
, body temperature, blood pressure
Blood pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. When used without further specification, "blood pressure" usually refers to the arterial pressure of the systemic circulation. During each heartbeat, BP varies...
and pulse
Pulse
In medicine, one's pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the heartbeat by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist , behind the knee , on the inside of the elbow , and near the...
from his patients. A 1971 Pittsburgh Press
Pittsburgh Press
The Pittsburgh Press is an online newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, currently owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Historically, it was a major afternoon paper...
article cited a University of California at Irvine study on primal therapy patients that showed a slowing of brain waves. Janov claimed that primal therapy reduced, in some patients, the frequency and the amplitude of Alpha waves
Alpha Waves
Alpha Waves is an early 3D game that combines labyrinthine exploration with platform gameplay. By most definitions of the genre it could be considered to be the first 3D platform game, released in 1990, 6 years before the genre's seminal classic Super Mario 64...
, core body temperature (as much as three degrees) and blood pressure
Blood pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. When used without further specification, "blood pressure" usually refers to the arterial pressure of the systemic circulation. During each heartbeat, BP varies...
(as much as 30 percent). Two Brain Research Institute (UCLA) scientists confirmed that there were brain-wave changes in primal patients.
In 1993, Janov stated: "It is a therapy that has been investigated for over fifteen years by independent scientists, and the findings are consistent. Primal Therapy is able to reduce or eliminate a host of physical and psychic ailments in a relatively short period of time with lasting results." Janov lists research evidence at his webpage. In 2010, Janov said of primal therapy, "It is one of the most heavily researched private psychotherapies extant in the world."
Authors Prochaska and Norcross called the research by Janov "largely uncontrolled, non comparative and short term."
Tomas Videgård's The Success and Failure of Primal Therapy
In an early account of the results of primal therapy (published in book form, only in SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in English), Tomas Videgård reported on a study of a sample of 32 patients who entered therapy at The Primal Institute in 1975 and 1976.
The outcome evaluation for the patients was 4 Very Good, 9 Good, 8 Medium, 6 Bad (including one suicide), 5 Unavailable for post-testing (left therapy prematurely). Patients who did not finish the therapy were excluded. (See Duration above.) Patients in the sample had been in therapy for between 15 and 32 months.
Videgård himself went through the therapy. The evaluation was based on patients' answers to questions and some projective test
Projective test
In psychology, a projective test is a personality test designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts. This is different from an "objective test" in which responses are analyzed according to a universal standard...
s that require interpretation by the tester (Videgård himself). There was no control group.
Videgård concluded that therapy at The Primal Institute was marginally better than the Tavistock Clinic
Tavistock Clinic
The in London was founded in 1920 by Dr. Hugh Crichton-Miller, a psychiatrist who developed psychological treatments for shell-shocked soldiers during and after the First World War. The clinic's first patient was, however, a child. Its clinical services were always, therefore, for both children...
and markedly better than the Menninger Foundation
Menninger Foundation
The Menninger Foundation was founded in 1919 by the Menninger family in Topeka, Kansas, and consists of a clinic, a sanatorium, and a school of psychiatry, all of which bear the Menninger name. In 2003, the Menninger Clinic moved to Houston. The foundation was started by Drs. Karl, Will, and...
—the two psychotherapy clinics he used for comparison. Videgård wrote, "The outcome is about half as good as Janov claims the results of PT to be," calculating a 40 percent success rate, compared with a 98-100 percent success rate claimed by Janov.
Books by primal patients about their therapy
- Facing the Wolf: Inside the Process of Deep Feeling Therapy by Theresa Sheppard Alexander (1997), Plume. ISBN 0-452-27521-0 ISBN 978-0-452-27521-8.
- Healing Fits: The Cure of an Epileptic by Robert Reese (1988), Big Sky Press. ISBN 0-944592-00-7.
Criticism
Primal therapy has not achieved broad acceptance in mainstream psychology. It has been frequently criticized as lacking outcome studies to substantiate its effectiveness. It is regarded as one of the least creditable forms of psychotherapy and has been classified in a 2006 APAAmerican Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
Delphi poll
Delphi method
The Delphi method is a structured communication technique, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.In the standard version, the experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds...
as "discredited".
Primal therapy has sometimes been dismissed as shallow, glib, simplistic, or trendy. It has also been criticized for not paying sufficient attention to transference
Transference
Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
. Some researchers have suggested that primal therapy's contention that adults can recall infantile experiences is empirically refuted. Primal therapy has also been rejected as dogmatic or overly reductionist.
In the book Let's Talk About Me, Dr. Anthony Clare
Anthony Clare
Anthony Ward Clare was an Irish psychiatrist well known in the UK and Ireland as a presenter of radio and TV programmes.-Career:...
criticizes primal therapy in several ways. He claims that Janov sees confirming evidence everywhere: "Everything is taken as evidence of [the truth of Janov's Pain Theory]." He claims that Janov has "no evidence" that childhood traumas cause adult neurosis, except for the "frenzied memories" of his patients.
In a 1982 paper published in the journal Zeitschrift für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychoanalyse, Ehebald and Werthmann report that, following a review of the scientific literature, they found "no on-going reports of primal therapy's therapeutic results, no statistical studies and no follow-up studies." Concluding that primal therapy is not a valid therapeutic technique, they stated that most psychotherapists in the Federal Republic of Germany believe it to be questionable in theory and dangerous in practice.
Alice Miller
Alice Miller (psychologist)
Alice Miller née Rostovski was a psychologist and world renowned author, who is noted for her books on child abuse by their own parents, translated in several languages...
initially endorsed primal therapy. Later, however, she wrote a communication to her readers in which she expressed some reservations about it. In that communication, she stated that primal therapy could be dangerous when conducted by therapists who are not properly trained. She also stated that there was "too much faith" in cathartic discharge, claiming that the relief was sometimes temporary. She also voiced criticisms about the structure of the initial three-week intensive phase, claiming that it could provide opportunities for unscrupulous therapists. She warned of the dangers of developing an "addictive dependency" to pain.
In 1996, authors Starker and Pankratz published in Psychological Reports a study of 300 randomly sampled psychologists. Participants were asked for their views about the soundness of methods of mental health treatment. Primal therapy was identified as one of the approaches "most in question as to soundness."
The 1996 book "Crazy" Therapies discusses Janov's claim to have discovered the one cure for neurosis: "Evidence that expressing angry, violent behaviour does not drain it away but increases the chances of its recurrence has been presented in the scientific psychology literature for years." (page 128)
In the 1998 book Insane Therapy, sociologist Marybeth F. Ayella says that "what Frank (1974:424-25) describes as healing cults more closely resembles what I think occurs in Primal Therapy than does Janov's description."
Primal therapy is cited in the book The Death of Psychotherapy: From Freud to Alien Abductions. The author claims that all schools of psychotherapy, including primal therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and others, have no scientific evidence of effectiveness beyond placebo.
In the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, Timothy Moore wrote: "Truth be known, primal therapy cannot be defended on scientifically established principles. This is not surprising considering its questionable theoretical rationale."
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...
wrote a critical article called "Primal Therapy: A Persistent New Age Therapy" in the Skeptical Inquirer
Skeptical Inquirer
The Skeptical Inquirer is a bimonthly American magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry with the subtitle: The magazine for science and reason....
. Gardner discussed some of what he sees as the problems with primal therapy, and also details a protest over the publication of Janov's 2002 book The Biology of Love.
The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) Newsletter listed primal therapy, among other treatments, in the article "Dubious Mental Health".
History
In 1967, Janov had his pivotal session with Danny Wilson (pseudonym), a patient who recalled emotionally a Theatre of the AbsurdTheatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work...
function where Raphael Montañez Ortíz shouted "Mama!", inviting the audience to do the same. Janov encouraged Danny Wilson insistently to do the same. The patient finally fell to the floor in pain for half an hour. Janov taped the session and reheard it repeatedly. He did not understand its meaning until years later.
In 1968, The Primal Institute was founded by Arthur Janov and his first wife, Vivian.
On January 1, 1970, Arthur Janov published his first book, The Primal Scream
The Primal Scream
The Primal Scream is a book by Arthur Janov Ph. D, the inventor of Primal Therapy. It is subtitled Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis. The book describes the experiences Arthur Janov had with 63 patients during his first 18 months discovering and practicing Primal Therapy...
. In March, Arthur and Vivian started treating John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In 1970, Janov registered the name Primal as a trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
at the U.S. Patent Office and had his attorneys sue therapists using the word Primal to describe their work. The International Primal Association
Primal integration
Primal Integration 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...
and the Primal Feeling Center challenged Janov's trademark. In 1978, the U.S. Department of Commerce cancelled the registration. "Primal Therapy" is now listed among genericized trademark
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
s that became "free to anyone to use in describing products or services."
In 1971, two trainee primal therapists (another source claims they were "therapists" at the Primal Institute), Joseph Hart and Richard Corriere, abandoned Arthur Janov and started the Center for Feeling Therapy
Center for Feeling Therapy
The Center for Feeling Therapy was a psychotherapy group founded in 1971 in Los Angeles by Joe Hart, Jerry Binder and Richard "Riggs" Corriere. After a period of experimentation and research during the 70's, Binder and Hart left the group...
. Hart claimed: "When we left Janov, forty percent of the patients came with us....we found that most had been faking their primals."
In 1973 a "birth simulator" was in use at the Primal Institute. The simulator was a 10-foot-long adjustable pressure vinyl tube. The patient was covered with a slick substance to simulate birth. Reports were made of bruises from obstetricians' fingers appearing on the skin of patients reliving their births.
In 1977, Arthur Janov filed a $US7.1 million ($25 million in 2009 dollars) suit against Psychology Today
Psychology Today
Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...
, because the magazine called primal therapy "Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
".
In 1982, the German courts
Judiciary of Germany
The Judiciary of Germany is based on the concept of the , in which the exercise of governmental power is constrained by law. Federal law delineates the structure of the judiciary, but the administration of most courts is regulated by the states of Germany which are responsible for the lower levels...
decided in two legal findings that insurance companies did not have to pay for primal therapy.
In 1982, Arthur Janov and his second wife, Dr. France D. Janov (married 1980), started to offer primal therapy in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
through an organization called the European Primal Institute (EPI). According to the UNADFI and Science et Vie, patients had to sign a contract "disengaging the Institute of all responsibility" until the Parisian operation closed down without previous warning in August 1985. According to these sources, some patients were "abandoned" (abandonnés), caught by the sudden closing of the EPI with their therapy unfinished. Janov wrote them a letter saying, "I can not live anymore in the midst of pain and misery; after 35 years seeing patients, it is time for me to live my own life."
In June 1989, two fires caused an estimated $US475,000 ($821,000 in 2009 dollars) damage at The Primal Institute in West Los Angeles. Authorities ruled the fire as arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
.
In 1989, Arthur Janov established the Janov Primal Center in Venice
Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors...
(later relocated to Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
) with his second wife, France.
Notable patients
Actor James Earl JonesJames Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
claimed primal therapy cured him from smoking and hemorrhoids. Pianist Roger Williams
Roger Williams (pianist)
Roger Williams was an American popular music pianist. As of 2004, he had released 116 albums.-Biography:...
claimed primal therapy cured him of his cold hands and said that Arthur Janov was one of history's five greatest men.
Psychotherapist Bert Hellinger
Bert Hellinger
The German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger is associated with a therapeutic method best known as Family Constellations and Systemic Constellations. In recent years, his work has evolved beyond these formats into what he now calls Movements of the Spirit-Mind...
had nine months of primal therapy with Janov.
Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
briefly practiced primal therapy. A source states that Jobs "grew bored and disdainful of Primal Therapy."
Actress Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer.-Early life:...
built a "special scream room" in her house after her primal therapy experience. She appeared with Arthur Janov to tell her experiences on Mike Douglas's show.
John Lennon
The musician John Lennon and his wife, Yoko OnoYoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
, went through primal therapy in 1970. A copy of the just-released The Primal Scream arrived in the mail at Tittenhurst Park
Tittenhurst Park
Tittenhurst Park was the home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from the late summer of 1969 until August 1971, and then the home of Ringo Starr and family until the late-1980s. It is located on a 72-acre estate in London Road, Sunningdale, near Ascot, Berkshire SL5 0PN, England, close to the Surrey...
(sources differ about who sent the book). Lennon was impressed, and he requested primal therapy to be started at Tittenhurst. Arthur Janov and his first wife, Vivian Janov, went to Tittenhurst in March 1970 to start the therapy, which continued in April in Los Angeles. Arthur Janov went to Tittenhurst after giving instructions in advance about the isolation period and giving instructions to Lennon to be separated from Ono. Lennon and Ono had three weeks of intensive treatment in England before Janov returned to Los Angeles, where they had four months of therapy.
According to some sources, Lennon ended primal therapy after four months. Arthur Janov later said, "They cut the therapy off just as it started, really....We were just getting going....We had opened him up, and we didn't have time to put him back together again." (INS
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
records released under FOIA
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
confirm Janov´s claim). Another source states that Lennon and Ono broke off treatment after continuous disputes between Ono and Janov. Lennon asked Janov for a primal therapist to be sent to Mexico, but Janov refused. The web page "John Lennon - Primal therapy" includes excerpts of interviews with John Lennon, Arthur Janov, and Vivian Janov, along with an account of one of Lennon's therapy sessions written by Pauline Lennon.
Lennon refused to be filmed in therapy by Arthur Janov, saying, "Who are you kidding Mr. Janov?" Lennon commented after therapy, "I still think that Janov's therapy is great, you know, but I do not want to make it a big Maharishi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
thing" and "I just know myself better, that's all. I can handle myself better. That Janov thing, the primal scream and so on, it does affect you, because you recognize yourself in there...It was very good for me. I am still 'primal' and it still works." and "I no longer have any need for drugs, the Maharishi or the Beatles. I am myself and I know why."
Shortly after therapy, Lennon produced his album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was received with high critical praise upon release. Critic Greil Marcus remarked, "John's singing in the last verse of 'God' may be the finest in all of rock." In early 1971, the album reached number eight on the UK and went to number six in the US, spending eighteen...
. (Ono recorded a parallel album, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is the avant-garde debut album by Yoko Ono, which came after recording three experimental releases with John Lennon and a live album as a member of The Plastic Ono Band...
, from her experiences; both albums were released on the same day on the Apple
Apple Records
Apple Records is a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston...
record label.) Lennon's album featured a number of songs that were directly affected by his experience in therapy, including "Remember", "I Found Out", "Isolation"
Isolation (John Lennon song)
"Isolation" is a 1970 song appearing on John Lennon's first official solo album release, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.-Personnel:The musicians who performed on the original recording were as follows:*John Lennon – vocals, piano, organ...
, "God"
God (John Lennon song)
"God" is a song from John Lennon's first post-Beatles solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The album was released on 11 December 1970 in the United States and the United Kingdom....
, "Mother"
Mother (John Lennon song)
Mother is a song by British musician John Lennon, first released on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version of the song was issued as a single in the United States on Apple Records, catalogue 1827, about three weeks after the album. The single runs about fifteen seconds...
, "My Mummy's Dead", and "Working Class Hero
Working Class Hero
"Working Class Hero" is a song from John Lennon's first post-Beatles solo album, 1970's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.-Theme:The song is a take on the class split of the 1940s and 1950s, and of the 1960s in which he was famous. The song appears to tell the story of someone growing up in the working...
".
In popular culture
British rock band Tears for FearsTears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
was directly inspired by Janov's writings.
See also Primal Scream (disambiguation).
See also
- Attachment theoryAttachment theoryAttachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...
- Center for Feeling TherapyCenter for Feeling TherapyThe Center for Feeling Therapy was a psychotherapy group founded in 1971 in Los Angeles by Joe Hart, Jerry Binder and Richard "Riggs" Corriere. After a period of experimentation and research during the 70's, Binder and Hart left the group...
- Pre- and perinatal psychologyPre- and perinatal psychologyPrenatal and perinatal psychology is an interdisciplinary study of the foundations of health in body, mind, emotions and in enduring response patterns to life...
- Primal integrationPrimal integrationPrimal Integration 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...
External links
- Dr. Arthur Janov's Primal Center home page
- The Primal center "Primalrevivre" in Geneva in Europe of Ansermot Myriam
- The Primal Institute directed by Vivian Janov
- The Primal Psychotherapy Page - A Resource For Those With Interests In the Regressive Deep-Feeling Psychotherapies
- A look at four psychology fads — a comparison of estEST-Places:* Est , a town in Gelderland* Estonia, a nation in northern Europe** Estonian language, the Estonian language in ISO 639.2 or ISO 639–3 language codes* Est Region , one of Burkina Faso's 13 administrative regions...
, primal therapy, Transcendental MeditationTranscendental MeditationTranscendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
and lucid dreamingLucid dreamingA lucid dream is a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. The term was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik van Eeden . In a lucid dream, the dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem real and...
at the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....