Debunking Primal Therapy

Critical Articles and Websites on Primal Therapy – 4

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See also: p. 1, p. 2, p. 3

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Wikipedia Criticism

Here are the criticisms preserved that people have put on wiki’s primal therapy page, which could possibly be lost to vandalism in the future.

Some of the criticisms below are new and haven’t been put elsewhere on this debunking site. Following this criticism section is the peer reviewed wiki section, followed by the actual editable text of the criticism section:

Criticism

 Martin Gardner wrote a critical article called “Primal Therapy: A Persistent New Age Therapy.” in the Skeptical Enquirer, May 1 2001. In the article Gardner discusses some of what he sees as the problems with primal therapy, and also details a protest over the publication of the book The Biology of Love (Janov, 2000).

• Alice Miller, a well-known psychologist and writer on child abuse, initially endorsed Primal Therapy, but later retracted her endorsement in a Communication to her readers, in which she criticized Primal Therapy as potentially dangerous and lacking in empirical support.

 

• In the section called “Primal Therapy,” from the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001, Timothy Moore challenges and criticizes primal therapy in a number of ways, including:  

“A recent survey of the opinions of 300 clinicians and researchers regarding psychotherapeutic techniques revealed that primal therapy was the technique whose soundness was most often questioned.” link to article

• In the book Psychobabble (1977, ISBN 0-689-10775-7) R.D. Rosen comments on Janov’s writing:

“It was that kind of talk that recalled nothing so much as L. Ron Hubbard’s claims for Scientology, whose successful graduates, called “clears,” would form a totally neurosis-free superior race.” (Page 144)

• In the book Popular Psychology – An Encyclopedia (2005)(ISBN 0-313-32457-3) psychology professor Luis A. Cordon states that:

“…while undeniably an inventive and intriguing approach to psychotherapy, it lacks the underpinning of scientific validation which potential clients ought to be able to expect at this point in our history.” (Page 133)

• Primal therapy is one of the therapies listed in the 1996 book “Crazy” Therapies (ISBN 0787902780) ^[39][40]

“Two years after writing his first book, Janov’s certitude about having the one cure-all was established-at least in his mind. In the first lines of his second book, Janov wrote: ‘Primal Therapy purports to cure mental illness (psychophysical illness, to be exact). Moreover, it claims to be the only cure. By implication, this renders all other psychologic theories obsolete and invalid. It means that there can be only one valid approach to treating neuroses and psychosis’.” (Pages 121 and 122)

• Primal therapy is cited in the book The Death of Psychotherapy: From Freud to Alien Abductions. (2000) Donald A. Eisner ISBN 0275964132. In that book Eisner writes:

“Since there is no relevant research, Primal Therapy could simply be chalked up as a placebo and the excessive demand characteristics of the extreme rituals and procedures as well as group pressures.” (Pages 51-52)

• The University of Tulsa’s website has a critical article called “Primal Therapy” (2006, Byrd, Ensorm and Mattachione) in its section called “Potentially Harmful Treatments”. In that article the authors write:

“Overall, primal therapy is not based on scientific theory or empirical support and requires the client to spend a lot of money and a long time away from home.”

• Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare commented on primal therapy in his book Let’s Talk About Me (1981), (BBC. ISBN 0 563 17887 6):

“It does appear that the need to cling to a simple, unqualified, dogmatic theory outweighs whatever critical awareness that Janov’s readers possess.” (Page 121)

• In the book New Age Blues (1979, ISBN 0-525-47532-X) Michael Rossman comments on the 3 week intensive phase of primal therapy:

“The elements are all pretty traditional: isolation, deprivation, anticipation, and suggestion. You can teach people a lot of different things that way. Brainwashing and the vision-quest both use it.” (Page 28)

• In a Discover magazine article, May 2007, science writer Steve Ornes wrote:

“Timothy Moore, chairman of the department of psychology at York University’s Glendon College in Toronto, points out that Janov’s ascertains of scientific linkage are based on uncontrolled case histories and personal observations, and as such his work has not been scientifically validated.” [article]

• Sciencetics.com has produced a podcast(number 005) that is critical of primal therapy. This podcast is now available on Itunes.

 

• The website www.religioustolerance.org listed primal therapy in it’s article “Therapeutic and Other Hoaxes” (Sept 1997, updated May 2006) in which B.A. Robinson writes:

“In opposition to primal therapy is the near-consensus among memory researchers that infants cannot retain memories of events in their life. A person’s earliest memories typically are from 42 months of age or later; retained memories prior to 24 months are unheard of.”

• In the winter 2003 edition of the journal The Skeptic professor Jill Gordon, an Associate Dean for Medical Education at the University of Sydney, and a practicing psychotherapist, wrote an article called “Skepticism and Psychotherapy” in which she discusses primal therapy under the subheading “Quack Psychotherapy.” Of all non-evidence based therapies she wrote in general:

“If you can make loads of money and have loads of prestige with so little effort, then why worry about the harm you might be doing? Even the patients you harm will be grateful, although victims’ families and friends may not.”

• Primal Therapy is cited in the 2002 paper Fringe Psychotherapies: The Public at Risk ^[41]

“Rebirthing, Primal Scream Therapy, and Dianetics (Scientology) all assert that people can and should recall times in their lives when their brains and cognitive processes were too immature to lay down memories of the sort posited by these theorists” (Page 11)

• In the science periodical Conocer (number 36, January 1986, pages 93-95), published in Spain by scientist and pseudoscience investigator Manual Toharia, M Rouze wrote a sceptical article on primal therapy.

 

• In the journal National Post article “Former Psychologist Says Profession is Self Serving,” (June 25, 2001) Carol Milstone Ph.D. lists primal therapy as one of the psychology fads of the 1970s. Of these fads, Milstone quotes psychologist Tana Dineen (who was practicing in the 1970s) as saying:

“This is the kind of junk that the colleges of licensed psychologists will do nothing about,” laments Dineen. “These therapists are dangerous people, and people continue to get sucked into their beliefs.”

• The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) Newsletter of July/August 2001 (Vol. 24, Issue 4) listed primal therapy as one type of treatment listed in the article “Dubious Mental Health.” In the same issue primal therapy is mentioned in another article called “Pseudoscientific Psychological Therapies Scrutinized.”
•  
• Former primal therapist Curtis Knecht (MFT) wrote a critical article called “Primal Therapy — An Experience with Enchantment” (1991) in which he writes:

“The therapy did not work. Primal Therapy did not cure neurosis.”…”mostly it was a cult movement.”

• In October 2004, the journal Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction Professionals included an article called “Addiction Counseling Strategies That Lack Research Support” in which Michael J. Taleff, Ph.D. expressed that research does not support primal therapy or ventilation therapies as a strategy for addiction counseling. He writes:

“[ventilation therapy]strategies run the gambit from Primal Therapy that promotes literally screaming out pain and neurosis…The research does not support these or similar strategies.” (v.5, n.5, Pages 46-47)

• Although Los Angeles Times book critic Robert Kirsch wrote in his “Truth of Neurotic Behavior,” March 27th 1970 article about the book The Primal Scream:

“Dr. Janov is an impressive writer and thinker. Certainly, It is worth reading and considering,” (a quotation that was used on subsequent covers of some future editions of The Primal Scream),

he also wrote earlier in the article that:

“to question the ‘truth’ of primal therapy is therefore neurotic since Dr. Janov claims for his approach the final truth about neurotic behavior…Such hyperbole, such evangelic certainty may make us more determined to suspend judgment…The fact is that Dr. Janov asks us not to do what he does throughout the book which is to bring in past terminology, even if, by his approach, this method is to prove the efficacy of his own approach.”

• In the journal Psychoanalytic Psychology (20:717-726, 2003) Robert F. Bornstein, Ph.D. lists primal therapy as having no empirical evidence. He writes in the abstract:

“Evidence supporting the efficacy of…therapeutic approaches varies considerably, with some forms of treatment (e.g., systematic desensitization for phobias) receiving strong empirical support (Barlow, 2002), others (e.g., antidepressant management of depression) receiving mixed support (Greenberg, Bornstein, Greenberg, & Fisher, 1992), and still others (e.g., primal scream therapy) receiving no support at all.”link to abstract

• Online compendium of brief Primal Criticisms

 

• Critical review of the 1996 Janov’s book Why You Get Sick and How You Get Well: The Healing Power of Feelings

 

• An early 1975 criticism of Janov within the Primal framework: Beyond Janov [4], by Herman Weiner, Ph.D.

 

• The book Le Dico des sectes (which means “The Dictionary of the Sects” Edited by Annick Drogou, Toulouse, France: Editions Milan, 1998) lists Janov’s primal therapy as a sect [5].

The book The Road to Malpsychia: Humanistic Psychology and Our Discontents by J. Milton (San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2002) describes primal therapy as one example of Abraham Maslow’s humanistic psychology goal of the “eupsychian dream” becoming a “malpsychian nightmare” [6].

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Here is the peer review section preserved (although it should be noted there are many more critical mentions in peer reviewed not listed here (see above criticism section for example)):

Peer-reviewed journal reports

• Janov’s primal scream therapy, 1975. Article in German.
• Conventional and contemporary approaches to psychotherapy. Freud meets Skinner, Janov, and others, 1977.
• Primal therapy : yesterday and today, 1978. Article in French.
• Critique on primal therapy, 1979.
• Primal therapy–a clinically confirmed procedure?, 1982. Article in German.
• An outcome study of primal therapy, 1983.
• Wilhelm Reich–Arthur Janov–a comparison of their work, 1984.
• Primal scream therapy: a new cause of Mallory-Weiss tear. 1990.[2]

Papers by Arthur Janov in peer-reviewed journals

• Towards a new consciousness,1977.

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Here is the editable text preserved of the criticism wiki section.  Here it is in the format that anyone can easily cut and paste into the edit page at wiki: 

 

== Criticism ==

*[http://www.DebunkingPrimalTherapy.com Debunking Primal Therapy] is a website set up by a former primal therapist trainee, and addresses such issues as peer review, falsifiability, bias, justification and other social psychological effects behind primal therapy. In the section on [http://www.debunkingprimaltherapy.com/cohort_observations Cohort Observations] of the early 2000s the author writes about his admittedly non-experimental observations:

::”…[regarding the efficacy of primal therapy observed in cohorts,] in my judgment the picture is worse than what you would expect from placebo.”

*Martin Gardner wrote a critical article called [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-74523978.html "Primal Therapy: A Persistent New Age Therapy."] in the ”Skeptical Enquirer”, May 1 2001.  In the article Gardner discusses some of what he sees as the problems with primal therapy, and also details a protest over the publication of the book ”The Biology of Love” (Janov, 2000).

*Alice Miller, a well-known psychologist and writer on child abuse, initially endorsed Primal Therapy, but later retracted her endorsement in a [http://www.primals.org/articles/amiller.html Communication to her readers], in which she criticized Primal Therapy as potentially dangerous and lacking in empirical support.

*In the section called “Primal Therapy,” from the ”Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology”, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001, Timothy Moore challenges and criticizes primal therapy in a number of ways, including:

::”A recent survey of the opinions of 300 clinicians and researchers regarding psychotherapeutic techniques revealed that primal therapy was the technique whose soundness was most often questioned.” [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0005/ai_2699000587 link to article]

* In the book ”Psychobabble” (1977, ISBN 0-689-10775-7) R.D. Rosen comments on Janov’s writing:

::”It was that kind of talk that recalled nothing so much as L. Ron Hubbard’s claims for Scientology, whose successful graduates, called “clears,” would form a totally neurosis-free superior race.” (Page 144)

*In the book ”Popular Psychology – An Encyclopedia” (2005)(ISBN 0-313-32457-3) psychology professor Luis A. Cordon states that:

::”…while undeniably an inventive and intriguing approach to psychotherapy, it lacks the underpinning of scientific validation which potential clients ought to be able to expect at this point in our history.” (Page 133)

* Primal therapy is one of the therapies listed in the 1996 book ””Crazy” Therapies” (ISBN 0787902780) <ref>[http://skepdic.com/therapy.html Skepdic entry about ''"Crazy Therapies"'']</ref><ref>[http://www.srmhp.org/archives/review-crazy-therapies.html ''Review of "Crazy" Therapies''], 1997</ref> 

::”Two years after writing his first book, Janov’s certitude about having the one cure-all was established-at least in his mind. In the first lines of his second book, Janov wrote: ‘Primal Therapy purports to cure mental illness (psychophysical illness, to be exact). Moreover, it claims to be the only cure. By implication, this renders all other psychologic theories obsolete and invalid. It means that there can be only one valid approach to treating neuroses and psychosis’.” (Pages 121 and 122)

*Primal therapy is cited in the book ”The Death of Psychotherapy: From Freud to Alien Abductions.” (2000)  Donald A. Eisner ISBN 0275964132. In that book Eisner writes:

:: “Since there is no relevant research, Primal Therapy could simply be chalked up as a placebo and the excessive demand characteristics of the extreme rituals and procedures as well as group pressures.” (Pages 51-52)

* The University of Tulsa’s website has a critical article called [http://www.orgs.utulsa.edu/trapt/primal therapy.doc "Primal Therapy"] (2006, Byrd, Ensorm and Mattachione) in its section called [http://www.orgs.utulsa.edu/trapt/potentially_harmful_treatments.htm "Potentially Harmful Treatments"]. In that article the authors write:

::”Overall, primal therapy is not based on scientific theory or empirical support and requires the client to spend a lot of money and a long time away from home.”

* Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare commented on primal therapy in his book ”Let’s Talk About Me” (1981), (BBC. ISBN 0 563 17887 6):

::”It does appear that the need to cling to a simple, unqualified, dogmatic theory outweighs whatever critical awareness that Janov’s readers possess.” (Page 121)

*In the book ”New Age Blues” (1979, ISBN 0-525-47532-X) Michael Rossman comments on the 3 week intensive phase of primal therapy:

::”The elements are all pretty traditional: isolation, deprivation, anticipation, and suggestion.  You can teach people a lot of different things that way.  Brainwashing and the vision-quest both use it.” (Page 28)

* In a [http://discovermagazine.com/2007/may/whatever-happened-to-primal-therapy Discover] magazine article, May 2007, science writer Steve Ornes wrote:

::”Timothy Moore, chairman of the department of psychology at York University’s Glendon College in Toronto, points out that Janov’s ascertains of scientific linkage are based on uncontrolled case histories and personal observations, and as such his work has not been scientifically validated.” [[http://discovermagazine.com/2007/may/whatever-happened-to-primal-therapy article]]

* [http://sciencetics.com/archive.html Sciencetics.com] has produced a podcast(number 005) that is critical of primal therapy.  This podcast is now available on Itunes.

* The website www.religioustolerance.org listed primal therapy in it’s article [http://www.religioustolerance.org/psy_hoax2.htm "Therapeutic and Other Hoaxes"] (Sept 1997, updated May 2006) in which B.A. Robinson writes: 

::”In opposition to primal therapy is the near-consensus among memory researchers that infants cannot retain memories of events in their life. A person’s earliest memories typically are from 42 months of age or later; retained memories prior to 24 months are unheard of.”

* In the winter 2003 edition of the journal ”The Skeptic” professor Jill Gordon, an Associate Dean for Medical Education at the University of Sydney, and a practicing psychotherapist, wrote an article called [http://www.skeptics.com.au/wordpess/wp-content/uploads/theskeptic/2003/2.pdf  "Skepticism and Psychotherapy"] in which she discusses primal therapy under the subheading “Quack Psychotherapy.” Of all non-evidence based therapies she wrote in general: 

::”If you can make loads of money and have loads of prestige with so little effort, then why worry about the harm you might be doing?  Even the patients you harm will be grateful, although victims’ families and friends may not.”

* Primal Therapy is cited in the 2002 paper ”Fringe Psychotherapies: The Public at Risk” <ref>[http://www.sfu.ca/~beyerste/research/articles/05FringePsychotherapy.pdf ''Fringe Psychotherapies: The Public at Risk'' at the Simon Fraser University site]</ref>

::”[[Rebirthing]], ”’Primal Scream”’ Therapy, and Dianetics ([[Scientology]]) all assert that people can and should recall times in their lives when their brains and cognitive processes were too immature to lay down memories of the sort posited by these theorists” (Page 11)

*In the science periodical ”Conocer” (number 36, January 1986, pages 93-95), published in Spain by scientist and pseudoscience investigator Manual Toharia, M Rouze wrote a sceptical [http://www.debunkingprimaltherapy.com/critical_websitesarticles article] on primal therapy.

*In the journal ”National Post” article [http://tanadineen.com/media/NatPostMilstone.html  "Former Psychologist Says Profession is Self Serving,"] (June 25, 2001) Carol Milstone Ph.D. lists primal therapy as one of the psychology fads of the 1970s.  Of these fads, Milstone quotes psychologist Tana Dineen (who was practicing in the 1970s) as saying:

::”This is the kind of junk that the colleges of licensed psychologists will do nothing about,” laments Dineen. “These therapists are dangerous people, and people continue to get sucked into their beliefs.”

*The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) Newsletter of July/August 2001 (Vol. 24, Issue 4) listed primal therapy as one type of treatment listed in the article [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0AYN/is_4_24/ai_n18612958 "Dubious Mental Health."] In the same issue primal therapy is mentioned in another article called [http://www.ncahf.org/nl/2001/7-8.html "Pseudoscientific Psychological Therapies Scrutinized."]

*Former primal therapist Curtis Knecht (MFT) wrote a critical article called [http://www.debunkingprimaltherapy.com/former_therapist_article "Primal Therapy -- An Experience with Enchantment"] (1991) in which he writes:

::”The therapy did not work. Primal Therapy did not cure neurosis.”…”mostly it was a cult movement.”

* In October 2004, the journal ”Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction Professionals” included an article called [http://www.counselormagazine.com/content/view/338/1/ "Addiction Counseling Strategies That Lack Research Support"] in which Michael J. Taleff, Ph.D. expressed that research does not support primal therapy or ventilation therapies as a strategy for addiction counseling. He writes:

::”[ventilation therapy]strategies run the gambit from Primal Therapy that promotes literally screaming out pain and neurosis…The research does not support these or similar strategies.” (v.5, n.5, Pages 46-47)

* Although ”Los Angeles Times” book critic Robert Kirsch wrote in his “Truth of Neurotic Behavior,” March 27th 1970 article about the book ”The Primal Scream”:

:: “Dr. Janov is an impressive writer and thinker.  Certainly, It is worth reading and considering,” (a quotation that was used on subsequent covers of some future editions of ”The Primal Scream”),

:he also wrote earlier in the article that:

::”to question the ‘truth’ of primal therapy is therefore neurotic since Dr. Janov claims for his approach the final truth about neurotic behavior…Such hyperbole, such evangelic certainty may make us more determined to suspend judgment…The fact is that Dr. Janov asks us not to do what he does throughout the book which is to bring in past terminology, even if, by his approach, this method is to prove the efficacy of his own approach.”

* In the journal ”Psychoanalytic Psychology” (20:717-726, 2003) Robert F. Bornstein, Ph.D. lists primal therapy as having no empirical evidence. He writes in the abstract:

::”Evidence supporting the efficacy of…therapeutic approaches varies considerably, with some forms of treatment (”e.g.”, systematic desensitization for phobias) receiving strong empirical support (Barlow, 2002), others (”e.g.”, antidepressant management of depression) receiving mixed support (Greenberg, Bornstein, Greenberg, & Fisher, 1992), and still others (”e.g.”, primal scream therapy) receiving no support at all.”[http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ppsy.020.0717a link to abstract]

*[http://www.primal-page.com/critic.htm Online compendium of brief Primal Criticisms]

*[http://www.primal-page.com/whysick2.htm Critical review] of the 1996 Janov’s book ”Why You Get Sick and How You Get Well: The Healing Power of Feelings”

*An early 1975 criticism of Janov within the Primal framework: [http://www.primal-page.com/beyondjanov.htm Beyond Janov] [http://www.primals.org/articles/weiner.html], by Herman Weiner, Ph.D.

*The book ”Le Dico des sectes” (which means “The Dictionary of the Sects” Edited by Annick Drogou, Toulouse, France: Editions Milan, 1998) lists Janov’s primal therapy as a sect [http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_bookreviews/bkrev_ledicodessectes.htm].

*The book ”The Road to Malpsychia: Humanistic Psychology and Our Discontents” by J. Milton (San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2002) describes primal therapy as one example of Abraham Maslow’s humanistic psychology goal of the “eupsychian dream” becoming a “malpsychian nightmare” [http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_bookreviews/bkrev_roadtomalpsychia.htm].

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See also: p. 1, p. 2, p. 3

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