Abstract
Primal therapy is the brainchild of Arthur Janov (1970). Originally a Freudian psychoanalyst, he claims that patients need to recreate the pain of the birth trauma in order to release themselves from neurosis. He believes that neurosis consists of a warded-off, actual Pain that contains all of an individual’s infantile hurts and wrongs. The neurosis is composed of (1) the symbolic attempts a person makes to shun his Pain — the defences — and (2) the chronic state of tension set going as a result of this state of affairs. It is a therapy that bases itself on the unbearable pain of infantile emotional trauma. Like Freud, Janov sees the neurotic as a person struggling with unsolved problems from childhood.
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Further reading
Janov, A. (1970). The Primal Scream. (New York: Dell Publishing Co)
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© 1983 R. B. Burns
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Burns, R.B. (1983). Primal Therapy. In: Counselling and Therapy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7721-4_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7721-4_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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