Primal therapy for trauma: what does it consist of?

Primal therapy makes it easier for the person to get in touch with their emotions and deepest needs.. It is a psychological approach that combines humanism with psychoanalysis and seeks to treat childhood trauma. It should be noted that currently this type of therapeutic tool is not without some controversy.

Its creator was Arthur Janov, a Californian psychoanalyst who gained great notoriety after the publication of his book The primal screa min 1970. In it, he argued that unexpressed pain and painful memories are the origin of most human illnesses.

Every mental and physical problem could be solved through this type of therapy, according to Dr. Janov. As we can well deduce, such a statement is still pretentious and doubtful. First, because primal therapy is not useful for all people; second, because some medical conditions have a psychological origin. Likewise, not every problem has its roots in childhood. Despite this, it is still an interesting resource on a theoretical level.

As a curiosity, John Lennon himself commented that after years of therapeutic work with Arthur Janov he was able to assimilate a good part of his childhood.. He also confessed that constructing this story helped him recover his creative potential at a specific time in his career.

Primal therapy: objective, characteristics and effectiveness

Primal therapy is like taking a deep and restorative journey to our childhood. This descent involves feeling, experiencing and understanding the origin of our psychological suffering. Let’s say that if depression were a garden full of weeds, this approach would guide us so that we could pull up each plant and see what is hidden in its roots.

What we would discover is that the common seed of that mental anguish that limits our lives is found in the past. Sometimes, it is not necessary for abuse dynamics to exist. Many times we grow up feeling that there are needs that were never satisfied. (validation, security, recognition, etc.).

The primary objective of this form of therapy is for the patient to release and express their repressed emotions. To do this, a safe environment is created between the person and their psychotherapist so that they feel comfortable to talk, cry and even scream.

Expression and emotional release are that first cathartic threshold that will make it easier, little by little, to resolve psychological problems.

What type of therapy is it?

Primal therapy makes use of a humanistic perspective that also integrates a body framework. That is, our body is, for this psychological approach, the plane on which mental disorders manifest themselves. The purpose is to treat those sensations, those discomforts to find the origin of the problem.

Likewise, psychodynamic is added to the humanistic cut. For Dr. Janov, his main mission was, on the one hand, to guide the patient towards the connection with those unconscious and repressed areas that originated the original substrate of the trauma. On the other hand, help you deactivate that entire set of neurotic defense mechanisms that prevent contact with the original wound.

What techniques does primal therapy use?

More than techniques, what primal therapy applies is a series of stages that guide the therapeutic process between the specialist and the patient. They are the following:

The regression. In this phase, we seek to connect the person with that emotional and psychophysiological state in which the trauma as such was experienced. Something like this involves leading the mind towards the repressed past, to facilitate the emergence of emotional pain in all its forms.Release. Once contact is made with the primal wound of trauma, that long-contained, silenced and repressed suffering must be released and expressed. This therapy encourages you to cry, scream, and release every sensation and every emotion without fear.Integration. The third phase of primal therapy is the most decisive for healing and overcoming trauma. The time has come to rationalize the past, give it meaning, put together the loose pieces and make way for forgiveness. In particular, self-forgiveness as a liberation mechanism so that the person feels worthy of a healthier present and future.Resolution. In every psychotherapeutic exercise it is decisive to know how to bring closure to this psychoemotional journey. The person must feel free from emotional pain and confident enough, fulfilled and with sufficient skills to face their daily lives.

How effective is Arthur Janov therapy?

It should be noted that we have few analyzes on the effectiveness of primal therapy. For example, we can cite the 1983 study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. It highlighted that of 10 patients analyzed who had various personality disorders, 8 improved significantly after 2 years. One of the big problems with this study is that the sample is not representative.

Primal therapy was very successful in the context of the American counterculture of the 1970s.. Arthur Janov himself became a symbol for the youth movements of the time. He advocated messages such as that any radical social upheaval must also resolve his personal trauma to achieve triumph and freedom.

John Lenon and Yoko Ono were two defenders of this type of therapy. Therefore, we can conclude that this approach had its golden age and its subsequent decline. It does not have the support of the scientific community and, today, it is an interesting past resource that is part of the history of psychology itself.

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