primal therapy

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.

primal therapy

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of primal therapy¹

An Americanism dating back to 1970–75

Word History and Origins

Origin of primal therapy¹

C20: from the book The Primal Scream (1970) by Arthur Janov, US psychologist, who originated the treatment

Example Sentences

They named their band after the concept of primal therapy, which focuses, in part, on repressed emotions from childhood: Tears are a replacement for fears.

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“Primal therapy has to do with the traumas you’ve undergone in the womb, at birth, in infancy and childhood,” Janov explained in an interview excerpted in the book.

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Cannon: I was into primal therapy.

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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.

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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.”

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