Debunking Primal Therapy

Is Janov Really One of the World’s Leading Psychologists?

     This addresses one of the self published claims of primal therapy. The Primal Center’s website claims that “Dr. Arthur Janov is one of the world’s leading psychologists” (as of Jan 2011).  Is this actually true?  Is it misleading? According to what sources is it true? Do other psychologists consider him a leading psychologist?  This is relevant to the discussion on primal therapy because by saying he is one of top psychologists it implies a certain status or acceptance of primal theory. All I wish to do here is ask the questions, and leave them unanswered for the reader to decide. Let’s look at the data:

Evidence For Claim:

 1. Arthur Janov was listed on his PhD alumni Claremont Graduate College’s Hall of Fame Alumni, year 2000 inductees page. More than 100 other past graduates were also inducted in that single year.  Most or almost all of the names listed are not actually famous, despite the title “hall of fame.” Some of the names have “distinguished alumnus” by them;  Arthur Janov’s does not. Claremont Graduate College does not seem to be accredited currently by the American Psychological Association. Here is the link: http://alumnicommunity.cgu.edu/s/221/index.aspx?sid=221&gid=1&pgid=276

Notice the alumni contribution link at the bottom of this page.

Also see here that Janov’s PhD dissertation at Claremont in 1960 was a study about Jewish identification, a worthy subject but not exactly related to what he went on to do with his version of repressed memory retrieval therapy.

2. The number of books sold to date (The Primal Scream apparently sold more than a million).  

3. Past or present fame, Janov’s institute or center has had some celebrities, and he himself was relatively famous, and he or his therapy has been referred to in popular music and the media.

Evidence Against the Claim:

 1. Arthur Janov is not mentioned once in any known current (2002-2008) college textbooks on psychology. Those checked: Biopsychology, Pinel; Abnormal Psychology, Barlow; Idiots Guide to Psychology, Johnston; Psychology, Lefton; How to think Straight about Psychology, Stanovich; Personality Puzzle, Funder; Looking Out, Looking In, Adler, Proctor, Towne; The Developing Person, Berger; Introduction to Psychology, Kalat; Understanding Motivation and Emotion, (4th ed, 2005) Reeve. (2009 update: still never seen Janov mentioned once in psychology textbooks) 

2. Arthur Janov seems not to have authored any articles in any of the more than 100 peer reviewed psychology journals that are listed in “How to Think Straight About Psychology” by Stanovich, nor in any other scientific peer-reviewed journals.  Apparently he did have one article published in 1977 in a Psychosomatic journal that appeared to be an unscientific discussion on consciousness.

3. Arthur Janov is not featured in any of the lists in the study “The Top 100 Most Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century,” Review of General Psychology, Haggbloom, et al. (2002, see below),  which was undertaken in conjunction with the American Psychological Association.  The lists were created by three different methods, one was by citations in college textbooks, another was by peer-reviewed journal citation frequency, and the third was done by survey (see the college textbook list at bottom of this page). Web-links: for a web-page with the lists and sources, see: http://edtech.tph.wku.edu/~shaggblo/tcl.htm  ; for a pdf of the whole article: http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/hs/documents/100eminent_psychologists.pdf

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               Is Janov Really a Psychiatrist? Scientific Neurology Researcher?

The blurb on Amazon.com for the book on depression called The Janov Solution , as of Sept 2007 stated:

“About the Author:
Dr. Arthur Janov, a psychiatrist and well-known author, has completed over thirty years of scientific research in neurology and psychotherapy that form the basis for The Janov Solution. In addition to The Primal Scream, Dr. Janov has authored nine other books, many of which are also best-sellers.”

This is false advertising and in violation of the APA ethics code (see ETHICS, section 5).

Here are some questions about this:

1. When and where did Arthur Janov get a medical degree to qualify him as a psychiatrist?

(he didn’t, he has a 1960 PhD. in clinical psychology does not qualify him to prescribe medications for any psychological disorder)

2. What neurological research did Janov do that was published in a peer-reviewed neurological article or textbook?

(he didn’t) 

3. And if so did this neurological peer review citations span the 30 years claimed?

4. Which books apart from The Primal Scream were bestsellers? 

5. How is bestseller defined and which bestseller list is being quoted?

6. What scientific research has Janov had published in a peer-reviewed journal?  (none as far as I can find)

7. If so, does this peer review record extend for thirty years?

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