Is_Primal_Therapy_A_Cult?
The word cult for many people has become associated with groups that have had violent outcomes. So to be clear, primal therapy is not like that. Primal participants generally don’t break the law, although there are exceptions to that rule (see below). There is not going to be mass suicides or homicides, it’s not like that at all. In addition, unlike many cults, in primal therapy there are no supernatural beliefs, although there are untestable beliefs. I think it is essential to understand how cults work to understand what is going on in primal therapy.
“Not all cults have compounds or convince members to commit suicide. Most attract members with kindness and promises of perfect lives.” from the website: http://www.rickross.com/reference/recovery/recovery10.html
There are problems with labeling a movement or therapy a cult. For example, the definition can be argued over because it is a subjective judgment and almost all cultlike groups have a part of the definition that they can use to show they are not a cult. In addition, there could be stigma in labeling somebody a cult member or former cult member. But on the other hand it may help people get out of a bad situation and prevent others getting into a cult. It is a useful concept that people can use to help them recover from being involved in a group that uses some degree of strong social influence over an individual. Understanding that their beliefs were effected by strong social pressures from both primal therapy literature and the people inside the group, can help them leave the group and readjust to life outside. Drawing parallels between their own group and cults can help people realize how mistreated they were and avoid that in the future. In addition, to continue to carry the unproven ideas of the group increases the risk of being isolated from relationships with others outside the group. In this way, realizing they were in a cult can help people move on to a better life, and save them a lot of money too.
The problem with the word “cult” is that people uneducated on the topic may think a cult member may have had something wrong with them. This is not true, research on the subject shows that it is the situation, more than the personality of the followers, that matters. Those that get caught up in cults are just as intelligent and bright as anybody else. It has even been suggested that cult members are above average intelligence. Everybody is vulnerable to cult-like movements. In particular, if primal therapy is a cult, I consider it one of the most difficult to identify as such from Janov’s literature alone, and therefore those that join and stay should not be criticized for a lack of judgment. It is very difficult to unpack, unravel and understand in my opinion. Part of the problem is the fact that there is no obvious supernatural belief system - although there is a certain amount of magical thinking in some participants.
However, it should be said that some primal therapy participants may have been in and out of therapy quickly enough not to experienced some of the things that was observed by others who got more involved. For them, this section may seem unfair, but there are no fabrications here.
How is a cult defined?
Anthropologist Willa Appel defined a cult as involving: “an authoritarian structure, the regimentation of followers, renunciation of the world, and the belief that adherents alone are gifted with the truth.” (1983:16-17)
Sociologists see it this way: “A cult is simply a new or different religion….Cults often originate with a charismatic leader, an individual who inspires people because he or she seems to have extraordinary qualities.” Sociology 8th Ed, Henslin page 531.
More specifically to psychotherapy cults, Temerlin and Temerlin (1982) list a number of characteristics which they argue are common to such groups. Summarized briefly, the following are the suggested main criteria for the identification of psychotherapy cults:
“1. Charismatic leader figure, with authoritarian and narcissistic tendencies;
2. Idealizing of leader by followers. Frequently the leader is hailed as a ‘genius’, and is at least considered the supreme exponent of the group ideology;
3. Followers regard their belief system as superior to all others, and a more rational investigation of alternatives or the empirical verification of key concepts is discouraged.
4. Followers frequently join group at time of exaggerated stress in their own lives, when confidence in their own independent judgment is likely to be low.
5. The therapist becomes the central focus of follower’s life. The group concerned absorbs increasing time, energy and commitment.
6. The group becomes cohesive. Illusions emerge of superiority to other groups. In particular, much of its energy is focused on idolatry of leader.
7. The group becomes suspicious of other groups. Links with others are discouraged, ensuring that ideas which do not originate within the group are ‘translated’ for the group’s benefit by leader figure.”
Temerlin and Temerlin (1982)
Is there any evidence Primal is like a cult?
You really have to read about cults to see the subtle similarities (see books and excerpts below). Here are snippets of evidence (this section is not intended to give a balanced impression of what primal therapy is like, it is just a compilation of bits of evidence gathered over several years):
The following sometimes is honest opinion or honest interpretation:
1. The demand or pressure for the participant to lower their defenses during an intense three weeks of therapy at the beginning of treatment, and to maintain their state of lowered defenses throughout therapy. They are told to trust the therapist and do everything they tell you (see The Primal Scream appendix). The conditions of the intensive are ripe for cultic processes such as deprivation, isolation, duress, emotional manipulation, personal history revision, reality confusion and intense painful experiences.
2. Adulation of therapists.
For one example, consider this: One primal participant protected his former two therapists despite complaints by others and evidence of possible unethical behavior (one married a patient, the other allegedly faced a threat of a lawsuit), and says that he believes they were “the top two best therapists in the world.”
However, a total clean sheet ethically in reality would be needed to even make it into the top 1000 therapists in the world, because ethical behavior would be a major measure of therapist rank. In addition both these therapists were psych assistants (a one year course with no psychology degree necessary for entry), so I’m not sure how objective he is being considering thousands more therapists exist with master degrees and Ph.D.s.
[ Compare this claim to the Center for Feeling Therapy cult claims that they had the top eminent therapists in the world in the book Insane Therapy by Marybeth Ayella. ]
Also relevant in this piece of evidence is my observations that my cohorts (as described in “COHORT OBSERVATIONS”) did not seem to benefit from these ”top” therapists at any rate above placebo, spontanous remission, maturation etc, in my estimation.
For another example, a lot of what Janov did or said, was copied by some members. I remember how a senior therapist believed Arthur Janov was the “only true sympath to be involved in primal therapy, ever” (sympath loosely means “winner”) and “Dr Janov does not have hope, he has expectation” (expectation was then said to be real). Other times someone copied the words he spoke, trying to use the same tone and everything.
3. Insulation of people, many have most friends and/or a partner in primal therapy.
4. People outside primal therapy sometimes seen as inferior in terms of level of feeling, depth of understanding and level of contribution to a better world.
5. Many primal people believe (or at the very least at one point believed) primal therapy could be the best chance for humanity surviving, and the only real hope for peace. There are quotes I could find when I get time in Janov’s books that show this.
6. Anti-intellectualism. Further education is often not seen as necessary once you know the truth of primal feelings. [For example in my three weeks intensive: in response to myself saying maybe I should have gone back to school instead of saving money for primal therapy. I was told by one of Janov's top therapists that "well, you just have to go through the primal process and that is all you need to know."]
Education is often seen as a game you have to endure to get qualifications to work, or to get a pass or card to work. Education I observed is sometimes undergone with a bad attitude towards it, (especially science or psychology) as if it’s all wrong, because the educators have not felt the truth of feelings. As far as I observed and read, evidence based psychology seemed to be rejected due to a primal consensus that almost all of it is nonsense. Neurology was an exception to this, neurology was okay probably because it is so far removed from psychotherapy so that nothing in it could falsify primal theory; it also can be used to make the theory sound scientific and distract attention away to where the real science should start: the clinically independent testing of primal therapy efficacy.
7. Some primal people try to recruit others to do therapy, even if they have no mental disorder. For example, family members or friends. I have a couple of emails in my inbox asking me to come back and do primal therapy, for example, despite never having really met DSM IV criteria for a disorder, and despite the fact primal therapy has no clinical evidence of being effective or safe for any mental disorder anyway! ( paraphrasing the email, it says that I should “go to the primal therapists to ask what your feeling is!” . No kidding!) The reason for the suggestion to do more primal therapy was a direct response to the communication of the fact that primal therapy criticism had been published online.
8. There were warnings -sometimes from other patients- that if you stop primalling it has bad consequences, or that you lose what you gained. The patient often learns after starting therapy that it is a never-ending therapy, at which point the commitment has already been made. This is not made clear in The Primal Scream (it stated therapy only takes 8 months on average), and not emphasized clearly in any primal book.
“Primal therapy is more than a therapy, it is also a way of life” is the nice way they now dress the fact that primal therapy never ends. In my opinion and observation, it is rare that paid primal therapy ever ends for anyone without some sort of disapproval or warning from therapists or other patients.
9. Primal therapy is often seen as the only hope for some people. some believe it is the best choice for most people on the planet because they all are “acting out”. All human behavior can be defined as an “act out” if it suits the argument. ”everybody is acting out all of the time, including us” I heard a senior therapist say.
10. Primal theory explains with the concepts of Pain, gates, repression and need, the whole spectrum of human behavior, including wars, politics, evolution, child development, biopsychology, (albeit with an unfalsifiable theory). This use of untestable ideas and lack of boundary conditions is similar in cults like scientology for example, although primal does not involve any supernatural beliefs.
11. The turning of the primal participants complaints into feelings, (it’s always a feeling) and the expectation that it should then explain the irrationality of the complaint after the catharsis is over, the “defense” broken, and diffuse the complaint. This gradually increases authoritarianism and loyalty in such victims.
12. Money. The high cost of therapy resulting in many patients mortgaging their lives. Many save for years, putting life on hold in the meantime.
13. The insistence that no work or study be done in the first three weeks, combined with the common occurrence of people dropping out of school or leaving their professional job (sometimes permanently) that they deem too intellectual.
14. The manufacture of the “need” to have primal feeling sessions, which never really ends. This initially starts out as external advice from therapists or patients, but eventually the patient comes to strongly internalize that they “need to feel” (meaning need to have primal feelings, linked to childhood, usually involving paid therapy).
15. Members and former members sometimes come to be fearful that if they speak out they will get into trouble, overestimating the actual power and legality of retribution. Confusion of members that the internal laws of the group, (such as keeping everything secret including teaching content, unethical or abusive behavior), are not actually federal or state law, and may even be unconstitutional (imagine having to keep all your medical school lectures secret (rather than just patient confidentiality, which is understandable and correct), it has no precedents in mainstream education).
16. Primal participants sometimes advise others to do primal therapy if they disagree with them on something, or they label the person with a mental disorder as a direct result of a disagreement.
17. Participants working for the therapy practice in return for free therapy time. This leads to a general trend that those that have done that are the most loyal, cultic and authoritarian regarding primal therapy and their therapists.
18. Miraculous or idolizing testimonials written by patients in return for free therapy time. Both online and in Janov’s books.
19. Interactions with group members, including therapists can sometimes be confusing, bizarre and disturbing due to their beliefs and idolation of leaders. This can especially apply when a high status individual is abusive, and followers take the high status persons side, and even admire the genius of it. There is no where to turn for the victim and everyone acts in unison. It is a bizarreness I witnessed a few times in primal therapy, and I never have seen that outside primal therapy. It is ”weirdness,” to put another way, not everything adds up or makes sense, I suspect cults feel like that too.
20. The use of pseudoscientific names, like “sympath” and “parasympath, ” combined with the redefining of abreaction and catharsis as “unreal” and the new labeling of “real” primal feelings. The leader’s sole redefinition and reinterpretation of psychology and of other psychology terms, which is done for the followers without them needing to check themselves.
21. The inability of primal people to be able to face contrary or critical information on primal therapy and the tendency to use social pressure to reject such information. (Personal attack, rejection, mockery or distain is common. Threats have also been used but seemingly only rarely).
22. The attempt of removal, or qualifying of critical information online. The posting of faithful praise by primal followers on book reviews. The editing out of criticism and the editing in of praise online (e.g. wikipedia, which at the time of writing (2007) has become an online advertisement for primal therapy) by primal people.
23. Attempts to recast the definition of cults in Dr Janov’s writing on cults, for example in an article the LA Times and one in the SF Chronicle, and also in his books. (This kind of redefinition is also done by scientologists, they bought and took over a cult awareness phone line)
24. When participants report abuse, loyalty by group members often results in the rejection of the complainers, and a strengthening of loyalty and belief in the therapy and therapists. An incredible capacity to absorb evidence of unethical behavior in the high rankers and still stay loyal.
25. The existence of a bust of Arthur Janov in his institute, which was deeply admired by at least one patient as documented in The Primal Scream (1970). Apparently, it must have been made before or around the publication of his first book. It appears that this bust was made at a time when Janov had not achieved any fame, nor had contributed any scientific knowledge to his field, in my opinion. (Update: I did not see that bust in the Primal Center in this recent decade.)
26. Threats (relatively rare, but three examples given below) and personal attacks (attacks on character, level of feelingness, authenticity or sanity via gossip or email) on those critical of primal therapy.
One threat, made with cut out newspaper words, and reported to the LAPD on Aug 11th 2007, stated
“you will stop debunking if you know what is good for you. KRAK, BOOM, BOOM. BOOM. or else.”
It was mailed in the Los Angeles area.
Another letter was received a few days later, and submitted to LAPD on Aug 17th 2007 and read:
“If you don’t stop debunking it will be the worse decision of your life”
and there was a picture of a smashed pane of glass with it. It contains additional threats indicating he/she/they will attempt, perhaps even hinting through the use of lies, to make the victim’s life difficult. This threat is shocking and disturbing in a different way to the first, but explaining why it is so shocking would require revealing too much personal information about the victim. However trusted investigators from the APA, APS, BBS, law enforcement or other relevant groups would be able to see the evidence and hear the story behind it.
The LAPD confirmed crimes have been committed with these letters.
(see evidences 1,2,3,4 at the bottom of this webpage).
—
Here is logged another threat toward someone who has spoken out critically against primal therapy (let’s call this person CR):
On May 17th 2008, at around 8.50pm CR was approached at home unannounced by someone who had been a primal therapy participant for a few years, (let’s call this person UN, who has had several years of primal therapy). After some exchange of words, including CR proposing to call the police, UN made it clear he would not be leaving and threatened to call the immigration services, (presumable to make an attempt to get CR deported), if CR called the police. CR called the police and after reporting the incident, was advised to go to court to get a restraining order against UN. CR is a legal European immigrant who moved to America because of the claims and promised science of primal therapy.
This incident was logged and reported to an LAPD officer, whose name was taken, at around 9.22pm, May 17th 2008.
Not only is this incident important as indicative of a boundary-crossing cult-like mindset and a certain amount of groupthink that led UN to inaccurate conclusions - it also gives some circumstantial evidence to an iatrogenic aspect of primal therapy because UN had several years of primal therapy and was relatively normal before, for example- he had a professional job before therapy.
[To draw comparisons with other groups listen carefully to the content of the verbal harrassment here from the three Scientology followers in this video (there are differences as well as similarities, this is just a general informative link for educational purposes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPol_m8wm8Y
In this video, notice how the critic is labelled as possibly psychopathically deviant (a common trend in psychotherapy cults) and how he is given an option to join the group to escape the barrage of attacks and gain acceptance
For further comparisons, here is an example of personal attacks used in a psychotherapy cult: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvjzDgMmELY&NR=1 ]
____________
It has been pointed out elsewhere by a former primal patient that he thought he observed disconfirming evidence of primal therapy being a cult. It is a matter of balancing the evidence, and the label is not so important. It can be confusing in some respects, because it is not uncommon for primal people to joke about it being a cult, or to talk critically of cults or religion, or to say how they do not want it to be a cult. But then the very same people can then be quite cultic at the same time. For example one senior therapist commented on how he didn’t like the way Janov was made to look like a god in a musical play about therapy (called “Scream”). But the same therapist would at other times say very cultic things about Arthur Janov and primal therapy - and even built up his own mini- cult of followers.
It is worrisome that when a primal therapy group is the most cultic, it is then when you are likely to hear the more miraculous testimonials and less dissent, and the movement may grow. A non-cultic primal therapy practice I believe will deliver apparently poorer results due to the increased honesty and reduced social influence.
“But people are allowed to leave primal therapy; doesn’t that make it NOT a cult?”
The fact that you can leave primal therapy certainly rules it out as being a dangerous cult, but still, think about it. I don’t mind which conclusion you come to, just think about it deeper. Are primal people really allowed to leave? Are they allowed to stop primalling at any point, without threat of any consequence? Is there ever a right time to leave? I remember in a Primal Center’s “Orientation” lecture a senior therapist telling us “whatever you do, don’t leave the center in a feeling, it’s the worse thing you could ever possibly do.” But they always tell patients they are in a feeling, so practically speaking there is never is a good time to leave.
I should point out that by “leave” I mean leaving the primal movement as a whole, which is more difficult to do without consequence (or the threat of consequence) than leave a primal center or institute physically. If a patient leaves the center only to later return, or to do phone sessions or feel primals in some other way, they are not really leaving the group or belief system.
Then there was the talk I heard that people can go crazy, get obsessive compulsive, or “go dead” (meaning become robotic), “lose their feelings” or whatever, if they stop having primals (not all believe that, but I did hear some people suggest it. But it could have just been the group I mixed with). That strongly discourages leaving. To address these myths: There is no evidence that people go crazy or become robotic when they get out of primal, in fact they seem to get saner. In fact, I have it on good authority that the only time they get robotic is when they are “doing the robot” at an eighties disco party.
How can you prove to primal participants that nothing bad happens to them if they stop primalling? There is always going to be some fault (real or made up) they can point to in somebody who left primal therapy. This is a type of confirmation bias, where you look for something that you need to prove what you believed already.
If patients dissent (for example about the misleading information in the primal books), they may experience some isolation, attacks on their “realness” and severe loss of status in the group, and that may hurt them. This discourages leaving too indirectly, because the pressure to let go of such criticisms is high, and that hurt can only be avoided by being relatively uncritical.
Some people are damaged by the therapy, but they did not have problems because they stopped feeling or left primal therapy, in these cases they have problems, in my opinion, because of primal therapy. They struggled because their defenses are broken down, they are made vulnerable and confused by the therapy and primal people, and often the social support and approval can be taken away at the end if they run out of money. If they complain about the therapy or theory at this point, they are less likely to be socially supported.
Also, if you leave primal therapy and stop believing in it, criticize the logic, and stop primalling, are you going to lose your friendships and relationships with primal people? Probably. Altogether, there are severe consequences (real and imaginary) to leaving the movement, so the idea that there is total freedom to leave is illusory. Thus we can’t rule out primal therapy from being a cult on these grounds.
However, the purpose of this section is not to declare “it’s a cult” or not, but rather to educate a little as to what cults are so that the reader can decide, to lay out some observations, and to strongly recommend independant learning about cults from non-primal sources.
“But primal therapy is not abusive like the Center for Feeling Therapy, doesn’t that make it not a cult?”
Not really, just because you don’t see a certain type of abuse doesn’t rule it out as a cult. In modern primal therapy, I believe patients do get hurt in other ways, psychologically for example, but I admit it is not half as bad as some destructive cults. Sometimes the effects on patients are quite serious though: there are opportunity costs and sometimes a permanent enhancement of the negative feelings that are focused on in therapy.
It is worth encouraging people to learn more about cults for their own protection. Bear in mind that writers tend to pull their punches when it comes to naming currently active cults. They tend to write about what constitutes a cult, without naming many of them unless they have already shut down, or the publishers can withstand the threats (legal or other) from the cults. So it is up to the consumer to educate themselves to cults, and then use that to avoid them. Usually you don’t get a complete list of those currently active cults to avoid, authors on cults usually try to hint as much as they can and hope the public puts two and two together.
General information and book quotations
(some of which is indicative of cults, others are just quotations that may be of interest to people who have experienced primal therapy. Please read these books fully: there is lots, lots more to learn)
From excerpts from Cults in Our Midst, Margerat Thaler Singer Ph.D.:
“Psychotherapy Cults provide good examples of cult leaders’ use of psychological persuasion techniques, in particular emotional manipulation and peer pressure.”p172
“[psychotherapy cult] ‘therapists’ were, with one exception, Caucasian. The patients were primarily middle-class to upper-middle-class Caucasians with some college or advanced degrees.”p173
“These professionals misused therapeutic techniques and manipulated the professional relationship to their own advantage. They also violated ethical prohibitions by forming exploitative relationships with clients who became their friends, lovers, relatives, employees, colleagues, and students. Simultaneously, patients became like siblings, bonded together to admire and support their common therapist”p173
“A major deviance in psychotherapy cults revolves around the therapeutic phenomenon known as transference. Transference is an important aspect of insight-oriented psychotherapy. Normally, the client and therapist examine together the attitudes the client transfers from earlier life experiences onto the therapist as well as onto other authority persons. Often these are positive expectations, of a ‘good daddy’ for example, but some clients transfer negative attitudes. Both the positive and negative attitudes come out of clients’ own expectations and are not founded on the therapist’s conduct and attitudes. In these cultic situations, however, rather than study and understand the transferences, the therapists/leaders promoted their idolization by their patients.”p173-4
“Instead of having their personal autonomy encouraged, patients were led into submissive, obedient, dependent relations with their therapists.” p.174
“In addition, other cultlike behavior was noted in these therapy cults. In one case, two mental health professionals offered their clinic as a place in which students working on advanced degrees in psychology and counseling could perform required supervised work in the field. They induced trainees to move in with the professionals, get money from their families for therapy, get siblings to join the group for therapy, and recruit other trainees at their schools. These professionals led their followers to believe that only this therapy could save them and the world. The group has grown and moved to a rural setting where it is running a residential treatment program. The followers maintain the property, care for the resident patients, and attempt to recruit other trainees and patients. They are also compiling and attempting to edit the taped ramblings of the leaders” p174
On the Center for Feeling Therapy (a break-away group of ex Primal Institute patients, trainees and therapists(1971) which continued using a model of mind almost identical to primal theory), Singer writes:
“patients were led to see themselves as the potential leaders of a therapy movement that would dominate the twenty-first century.”p175
“The judge also wrote that the center purported to offer treatment “by all of the world’s eight or ten premier psychotherapists”.”p177
On the Dr Tim psychotherapy cultic group, Singer writes:
“No criticism or complaints were tolerated by Tim, who said such complaining indicated “being in your head” rather than “in your feelings”. Anything other than feeling was labeled “being in your stuff” and considered an indication of mental disorder. Dr. Tim “diagnosed” each new member as showing signs of severe mental illness, telling each one that only he could cure the person.” p177
“After his death, a small segment of the followers continued to meet, and to this day these followers proclaim what a wonderful therapist was Dr. Tim.”p178 [despite some abuses not quoted here, see book for more details]
On the “Stanley” psychotherapy cult, Singer writes:
“Stanley strips recruits of their defenses and gets them dependent on him, convincing them they are badly damaged”p179
“[Stanley’s patients] rely on him for most major decisions in their lives, and have forsaken their families for him.”p179
On the “David” psychotherapy cult, Singer writes:
” ‘patients’ have limited their friendships to others in the group, severed relationships with their families of origin, spent most of their free time with David, and structured their lives according to his dictates.” p179
On the “Ray” psychotherapy cult, Singer writes:
“A major portion of his followers are psychologists and graduate trainees in psychology.”p179,
and
“Since most are out of state professionals, they often have trouble securing licenses and jobs in the new area and must take menial jobs to support their work with Ray. Those I interviewed said they became depressed, demoralized, chronically anxious, and lost their self-esteem under Ray’s barrage of psychological criticism. They said they looked to Ray for behavioral cues about how they should act”p180
In general Singer writes:
“Although I have been focusing on specific psychotherapy cults, they are not the only ones using these techniques.”p180
“some of the most potent and common psychological techniques used by cult leaders are trance induction, guided imagery, and indirect suggestion. These methods use language, demeanor, and setting to decrease critical, reflexive, evaluative thinking.”p180-181
“they also draw upon the power of personal history revision, emotional manipulation, and peer pressure to produce behavioral and attitudinal changes”p181 [my highlights]
“Being familiar with cults’ techniques can be useful when you are talking to a friend or relative who has become involved with something new and seems to be overly fascinated, bewitched, or infatuated with the group or person.”p181
“if a person does come under the spell or domination of a cult leader, the lessons of this book can help us all appreciate how much education will be needed to assist that person to understand and break free from what has happened.”p181
Since so much information is missed in these quotations, I recommend a full reading of Singer’s book Cults In Our Midst, as well as a full reading of the other books recommended on this page.
The reader might ask “so is Dr Janov deliberately scamming, manipulating and knowingly using cult techniques?”. No, (I hope not); if primal is a cult, it is one of the 10% of cults (according to Lalich (http://www.meta-religion.com/New_religious_groups/Articles/Criticism/intervies_with_yanya_lalich.htm ) in which all the leaders believe in their theories, and may sometimes practice what they preach. Primal therapy is a group phenomena, Janov got influenced by the counter-culture influenced Los Angeles group he was working with. He influenced them more, but they together came up with an incorrect consensus. It is he who wrote it down and solidified the ideas. He then is like other group members in some ways, his ideas get reinforced, and if he has doubts whoever he turns to will reassure him that it is correct. The patients and therapists contributed to the problem, they called him a genius, they wrote him unbelievable testimonies, they asked him to come and set up shop, etc and this may still be happening. Everybody is both a perpetuator and victim of the group. However the leader(s) carry most of the responsibility for the continuance of the group.
It seems that Arthur Janov’s way to deal with the problem of the cult question has been very effective, at least within the primal movement. He writes about cults! Not only in his books, but he even got an article on cults published in the Los Angeles Times. He redefines cults basically as being led by people who haven’t felt their enormous “Primal Pain”, unlike him, of course. It’s spooky in a way because he is demonstrating the very groupthink that happens in cults as he reaches a primal group consensus on how to redefine cults so that primal therapy is outside of the definition!
The information he got from the loyal members of the primal group is precisely how he came to the conclusion that the senior therapists like himself have felt all or most of their “Primal Pain;” that they are especially “real” or without “defenses”; and therefore he couldn’t be like a cult leader by his definition! Based on a closed group’s feedback that he led! With dissenting views on the matter dismissed as feelings!! But that in of itself is cultlike!!!
Is it possible that Janov’s writing on cults was designed for the purpose to convince people it is not a cult, or at least to deal with the uncomfortable cognitive dissonance that comes with being called a cult leader? He may have never planned or wanted to develop a cult, he may have really believed he was the leader of a scientific revolution, a new paradigm shift in science. We all want to feel we are good and rational, so we develop beliefs and theories to deal with cognitive dissonance. When we find a lucrative way to make money, or a rewarding job that we get a lot out of, we all have a tendency to develop rationales and theories to justify why those things are correct and beneficial to all.
In the book Insane Therapy, sociologist Marybeth Ayella does some critical analysis of primal therapy early on in the book (before going on to focus on the offshoot The Center for Feeling Therapy). She writes:
“What Frank (1974:424-25) describes as healing cults more closely resembles what I think occurs in Primal Therapy than does Janov’s description.
Frank says:
‘The cult leader glories in his claimed healing powers, exerts them without self doubt, and his ministrations are supported by a group of believers in his powers. These healing approaches prize emotion above intellect, subjective certainty above objective analysis, and seek to foster belief and dependence rather than insight and autonomy. Those based on a religious doctrine add another powerful ingredient to the therapeutic brew by claiming to bring supernatural healing forces to the sufferers’ aid. For persons who can abandon skepticism, these cults obviously mobilize strong psychological forces for the production and maintenance of therapeutic change. (emphasis added).’ ” (Insane Therapy, Ayella p.39)
(SEE ALSO AUTHORITARIANISM SECTION, SUBJECT MATTER OVERLAPS)
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:
Insane Therapy: Portrait of a Psychotherapy Cult by Marybeth F. Ayella
Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace by Margaret Thaler Singer
Therapy Gone Mad: The True Story of Hundreds of Patients and a Generation Betrayed by Carol Lynn Mithers
Crazy Therapies : What Are They? Do They Work? by Margaret Thaler Singer and Janja Lalich (Hardcover - Sep 27, 1996)
WEBSITES
Essential reading: http://www.rickross.com/reference/brainwashing/brainwashing6.html. This is an article called “I Was Trapped In A Therapy Cult.” If you read it you will start to see common themes between this group, primal therapy, and the Center For Feeling Therapy. This is not only essential reading for consumers, but also for therapists.
http://www.templeofdreams.com/center1.html website on the Center for Feeling Therapy, a center set up by Janov trained people in the early 1970s, which was a cult.
Cult awareness and information website (section on psychotherapy) http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=956&Itemid=12&limit=1&limitstart=1
Article discussing the change in understanding of cults, away from the old idea of brainwashing, to the view that every person is vulnerable: http://www.utne.com/issues/1999_92/features/332-1.html
International Cultic Studies Association: http://www.icsahome.com/
Recommended Article: “Can Scholars be Deceived? Empirical Evidence From Social Psychology and History.” by Steve K.D. Eichel Ph.D. : http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/dubroweichel_steven_scholarsdeceived.htm
Here is a link to an article about a primal therapy cult led by Jenny James, and later by her daughter, Rebecca: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_19970831/ai_n14466745
1. Evidence of 1st threatening letter discussed above. It was received on August 11th 2007 (because you can’t read it on this black and white copy, the words are ”krak boom boom” and “boom” in the cartoons) This is a slightly sanitized version. This evidence is posted here because it is difficult to believe for some people.
2. Envelope 1st threat letter August 11th 2007 came in. This is posted here for possible handwriting clues in addition to other proof:
3. Evidence of reporting to police of 1st threat letter. This is posted here to show some evidence that this is not a hoax:
2. 2nd threatening letter came in this envelope, received 17th August 2007. Again, this is posted here for possible handwriting clues as well as other proof:
Some facts surrounding the cases:
1. Person(s) sending the threats used an address not available on the web.
2. Person(s) sending the threats used a certain spelling of the name, also was not available on the web.
3. Of those interested in primal therapy that knew the address and a certain spelling of the victim’s name all had had somewhere in the range between one year and a few decades of primal therapy at the time of the threats.
If anyone recognizes this handwriting or has heard who sent the threats, please email:
debunkingprimaltherapy@yahoo.com
