primal therapy

American  

noun

Psychiatry.

1. a form of psychotherapy in which the patient is encouraged to relive traumatic events, often screaming or crying, in order to achieve catharsis and a breakdown of psychological defenses.

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primal therapy British  

noun

1. Also called: primal scream therapy.   scream therapy.  psychol a form of psychotherapy in which patients are encouraged to scream abusively about their parents and agonizingly about their own suffering in infancy

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Etymology

Origin of primal therapy

An Americanism dating back to 1970–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

primal therapy

Part notebook, part incantation, part primal therapy, it is so esoteric it sometimes seems as if it were written in a language with just one speaker left.

From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2019

In 1971, Janov told reporters, “In the future, there will be no need for a field called psychology,” because primal therapy would cure “80 per cent of all ailments.”

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 31, 2019

The breakthrough he said the patient experienced led him to develop the full regimen of primal therapy.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 4, 2017

As with many other emotional-release therapies of its time, primal therapy is today widely rejected by mental health professionals as unscientific and ineffectual.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 3, 2017

"Lifing" is the effort to derive the utmost from every day; "Who are you screaming with?" a glancing allusion to primal therapy, is now a query about any psychological aid the subject is seeking.

From Time Magazine Archive