Primary therapy

Primary therapy (Engl. Primal Therapy ) is the German name for a US American by psychologist Arthur Janov developed psychotherapeutic treatment. It is based on the Primal Theory ("Primary Theory ") developed by him , the foundations of which he included in his debut work " Der Urschrei " (American original edition " The Primal Scream : Primal Therapy, The Cure For Neurosis"), or a revised version the title "The New Primal Scream: Advances in Primary Therapy" (American original edition "The New Primal Scream: Primal Therapy Twenty Years On"). Primary therapy is based on the assumption that early childhood painful and catastrophic (traumatic) psychobiological experiences can have a lasting negative impact on the entire development and later life of people and that their negative effects can be mitigated and reduced by reliving these experiences and experiences. It is not scientifically recognized.

Primal pain

Janov calls these early childhood pain experiences "Primal Pain" (German: " Primordial Pain "). According to his theory, such pain experiences (see also overstimulation ) in early childhood massively disrupt the natural development of growing and developing human brains.

With his primary theoretical model, Janov presents an alternative view of so-called diseases for individual psychological and physical health disorders as well as social difficulties of people and, among other things, develops a new definition of neuroses.

In his view, for example, the abuse of alcohol and other drugs as well as other compulsive behaviors of people (" exhibitionism ", " binge eating ", " internet addiction ", " shopping frenzy " and so on) are the result of a natural process that helps those affected to create memories to suppress painful, traumatic experiences and experiences from their conscious awareness.

In his books Janov claims that the primary therapy he developed enables far-reaching psychological and physiological changes in patients, such as healing neuroses and psychoses , reducing epileptic seizures, and lowering or increasing blood pressure.

therapy

Primary therapists try to bring the primal pain and the suspected traumatization into consciousness. Similar to classical psychoanalysis , psychological defense mechanisms should be overcome. In the beginning, methods such as isolation, tobacco and drug bans, and breath control were used, and now more gentle interventions and medication treatments are used. In the course of primary therapy, an attempt is made to make patients aware of repressed traumatic experiences in a backward chronological order. During what is known as a primal experience, the patient experiences his trauma primarily on a physical level. The physical reliving leads to different effects. On the one hand, early memories are brought back to life independently of the physical experience. On the other hand, it should be possible for the patient to recognize “connections” to tics, addictions and psychosomatic diseases.

The training to become a primary therapist is not regulated by the state, and the designation primary therapist is not protected. The therapy center founded by Janov in Los Angeles trains and certifies therapists. Basic treatment, which takes four weeks, costs around US $ 12,000 in the US (as of 2000); the total duration of primary therapy is two to four years. In Germany, some users in the Society for Integrative Primary Therapy e. V. merged. As a medical treatment, it may only be used by licensed doctors , alternative practitioners and psychotherapists .

With increasing experience in primary therapy and his theory, Janov determined that patients can experience massive overstimulation, which can lead to the intensification of blockages. Even if this usually happened when patients did not adhere to the therapy guidelines (e.g. due to drug abuse during therapy and subsequent suicide attempts or psychotic attacks), Janov modified his therapy so that psychological blocks no longer exist today be resolved radically in an intensive phase, but in slow steps.

After initially widespread popularity, primary therapy lost its importance again. There are no university courses or chairs. The original scream therapy according to Janov has not found any scientific recognition and the costs of the therapy are therefore not covered by the statutory health insurance companies in Germany.

literature

TS Alexander: Facing the Wolf: Inside the Process of Deep Feeling Therapy. New American Library Publisher, April 1997. ISBN 0452275210 . (engl.)
Ben-Alexander Bohnke, Werner Gross: The healing pain. Herder Verlag, Freiburg 1988. ISBN 3-451-08523-2 .
Hansjörg Hemminger: Escape into the inner world. Primary therapy as childhood meditation. Ullstein Verlag GmbH, 1983. ISBN 3-550-07683-5 .
H. Munk: Arthur Janov. In: Personal Lexicon of Psychotherapy. G. Stumm et al. (Ed.). Springer Verlag, Vienna / New York 2005. ISBN 321183818X .
H. Munk: Primary Therapy. In: Dictionary of Psychotherapy. G. Stumm and A. Pritz (eds.). Springer Verlag, Vienna / New York, 2000. ISBN 3211832483 .
Wolfgang Erlend Rosenberg: Theoretical foundations of a further development of the primary therapy according to Arthur Janov. Dissertation, TU Munich 1987.
Thomas Videgard: The Success and Failure of Primal Therapy. Almqvist & Wiksell Internat. 1985. ISBN 91-22-00698-2 .
Beatrix Vogel. Feeling is a form of knowledge. Arthur Janov's primary therapy as the key to a new basic scientific paradigm . Verlag Karl Alber (Verlag Herder GmbH), Freiburg / Munich 2016. ISBN 978-3-495-48821-8 .

Web links

Arthur Janov's primary therapy. Critical side from the Federal Association of Sect and Psychomarket Consulting (e.V.).

Dr. Janov's Primal Center. Website of the new institute directed by Arthur Janov in Santa Monica, California.

GIPT e. V. Website of the Society for Integrative Primary Therapy.

The Primal Institute. Website of the original institute directed by Vivian Janov.

The Primal Psychotherapy Page by John A. Speyrer. Extensive literature collection on the subject of primary therapy.

Primary therapy in the dictionary of psychotherapy, Springer Verlag

Arthur Janov in the personal dictionary of psychotherapy, Springer Verlag

Up Against the Wall: Primal Therapy and 'the Sixties' Historical classification of primary therapy (popularity in the 1970s, now irrelevant).

Individual evidence

↑ "Primary Therapy is not just about making people scream. That was the title of a book. It was never" Primal Scream Therapy. "Anyone who has read the book knows that screaming is what some people do when they do Others just sob or cry. It was the pain we were after, not mechanical exercises like hitting walls and yelling 'Mama'. " Arthur Janov in The New Primal Scream. Advances in Primary Therapy . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993. ISBN 3-596-11554-X . P. 387.

[1] "Primary Therapy is not just about making people scream. That was the title of a book. It was never" Primal Scream Therapy. "Anyone who has read the book knows that screaming is what some people do when they do Others just sob or cry. It was the pain we were after, not mechanical exercises like hitting walls and yelling 'Mama'. " Arthur Janov in The New Primal Scream. Advances in Primary Therapy . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993. ISBN 3-596-11554-X . P. 387.