# Primal therapy

Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov, Ph.D.

## Quotes

* Los Angeles Times book critic Robert Kirsch wrote in his "Truth of Neurotic Behavior," March 27, 1970 article about the book The Primal Scream:
       "Dr. Janov is an impressive writer and thinker. Certainly, It is worth reading and considering,”
          (quotation used on subsequent covers of some editions of The Primal Scream), however, he also wrote earlier in the article that:
       "to question the ‘truth’ of primal therapy is therefore neurotic since Dr. Janov claims for his approach the final truth about neurotic behavior...Such hyperbole, such evangelic certainty may make us more determined to suspend judgment.”
* In the book New Age Blues (1979, ISBN 0-525-47532-X Michael Rossman:
       "The elements are all pretty traditional: isolation, deprivation, anticipation, and suggestion. You can teach people a lot of different things that way. Brainwashing and the vision-quest both use it." (Page 28)
* Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare, Let's Talk About Me (1981), (BBC. ISBN 0 563 17887 6:
       "It does appear that the need to cling to a simple, unqualified, dogmatic theory outweighs whatever critical awareness that Janov's readers possess." (Page 121)
* The 1996 book "Crazy" Therapies ISBN 0-7879-0278-0:
       "Two years after writing his first book, Janov's certitude about having the one cure-all was established-at least in his mind" (page 121)... "Catharsis theory in all its forms has been challenged repeatedly over the years. 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).
* 1998 Insane Therapy ISBN 1-56639-601-8 sociologist Marybeth F. Ayella
       "what Frank (1974:424-25) describes as healing cults more closely resembles what I think occurs in Primal Therapy than does Janov's description" (page 39).
* Soul Snatchers: The Mechanics of Cults (December 1999, ISBN 978-1-892941-04-6, Algora Publishing), French psychiatrist and cult expert Dr. Jean-Marie Abgrall
       "primal therapy, which was invented by Arthur Janov, has been all but abandoned, especially due to a lack of evidence that it actually works."
* The Death of Psychotherapy: From Freud to Alien Abductions. (2000) Donald A. Eisner ISBN 0275964132.
       "Since there is no relevant research, Primal Therapy could simply be chalked up as a placebo and the excessive demand characteristics of the extreme rituals and procedures as well as group pressures." (Pages 51-52)
* "Primal Therapy", Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001, Timothy Moore
       "Truth be known, primal therapy cannot be defended on scientifically established principles. This is not surprising considering its questionable theoretical rationale."
* 2002 Fringe Psychotherapies: The Public at Risk
       "Rebirthing, Primal Scream Therapy, and Dianetics (Scientology) all assert that people can and should recall times in their lives when their brains and cognitive processes were too immature to lay down memories of the sort posited by these theorists" (Page 11)
* The Road to Malpsychia: Humanistic Psychology and Our Discontents by J. Milton (San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2002)
       "where...are the cadres of permanently cleared ex-primallers who live their lives without struggle..." (Page 185)
* Popular Psychology - An Encyclopedia (2005)ISBN 0-313-32457-3 psychology professor Luis A. Cordon
       "...while undeniably an inventive and intriguing approach to psychotherapy, it lacks the underpinning of scientific validation which potential clients ought to be able to expect at this point in our history." (Page 133)
* Discover magazine, May 2007,Steve Ornes:
       "Timothy Moore, chairman of the department of psychology at York University's Glendon College in Toronto, points out that Janov's ascertains of scientific linkage are based on uncontrolled case histories and personal observations, and as such his work has not been scientifically validated." article

## See also

* Erhard Seminars Training
* Large-group awareness training

## References

* ↑ Skepdic entry about "Crazy Therapies"
* ↑ Review of "Crazy" Therapies, 1997
* ↑ Fringe Psychotherapies: The Public at Risk at the Simon Fraser University site