Primal therapy

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[[File:Primal Scream 2009.09.20 003.jpg|thumb|right|165px|The other ''Primal Scream'']]
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'''Primal scream therapy''', or simply '''primal therapy''', was an odd bit of [[woo]] popularized by Arthur Janov {{lived|1924|2017}} in his 1970 book, ''The Primal Scream''. His [[hypothesis]] was that [[psychological]] problems are caused by early [[children|childhood]] trauma, such as during [[birth]]. These traumatic incidents could be re-experienced and then emotionally discharged by expressing them during therapy by screaming. [[John Lennon]], [[Yoko Ono]], and [[Steve Jobs]] were brief adherents of the movement.

Although Janov was then a respected psychologist and did not (as far as is known) derive his [[hypothesis]] from superficially similar ideas which were already then regarded as [[quackery]], his focus is somewhat similar to the [[Dianetics]] ([[Scientology]]) notion of removing "engrams" by re-experiencing traumatic incidents and emotionally discharging them, and to the quack therapy of re-experiencing birth traumas through [[rebirthing]]. No [[empirical]] studies ever found the therapy useful or sound, and nothing eventually came of his hypothesis except yet another quack movement. Today Primal Therapy is lumped in with other [[fringe]] therapies which emerged as part of the [[Human Potential Movement]].

Having said all that, ''{{wpl|Screamadelica}}'' by the band Primal Scream is a fantastic album. {{wpl|Tears For Fears}} named themselves after an idea in primal scream therapy and is likewise a fantastic band. Lennon's album ''{{wpl|John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band}}'', recorded while he was an adherent of the movement, is often regarded as his finest solo album.

==More claims==
[[File:The Primal Scream, 1977 ABACUS edition.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Let me count the ways that ''Primal Scream'' is wrong.]]
These are all quotes from ''The Primal Scream'' by Arthur Janov, Perigree 1981 softcover edition. The wootastic assertion of major physical changes from a psychological treatment, and the sweeping panacea type claims made for it in general, should be a big red flag for everybody.

====Primal therapy makes your boobies grow====
"Perhaps the most dramatic changes which take place in post-Primal patients are physical… For example, about one-third of the moderately flat-chested women independently reported that their [[breasts]] grew" (p. 154)

====Primal therapy makes everything else grow====
"Two male patients in their early twenties told of beard growth for the first time in their lives. Several others reported giving off an odor for the first time after perspiring. Several patients noted growth of hands and feet." (p. 154)

"There are neurotic symptoms which are not usually thought of as such&mdash;being short, for example… We see that the patient has grown and thus may infer that his being short was indeed a symptom&mdash;his idiosyncratic resolution of the inner contradictions which plagued him." (p. 134)

====Primal therapy screams away the gay====
{{main|Reparative therapy}}
"I do not believe that there is a basic [[genetic]] [[homosexual]] tendency in man. If this were true, the cured patient would still have his homosexual needs, which he does not. Post-Primal patients who have been latent and overt homosexuals before report no homosexual leanings, fantasies, or dreams." (p. 308)

====In case I missed anything====
"I could go on endlessly listing all the symptoms which Primal Therapy has eliminated, from [[Menstruation|menstrual]] cramps to asthma. But that would tend to make Primal Therapy seem some kind of [[panacea]] and thus lessen its credibility." (p. 134)

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Psychology]]

Categories: Pseudoscience, Psychology