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The Primal Scream (1970) is a book by Arthur Janov Ph.D, the inventor of Primal Therapy. It is subtitled, 'Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis.' Some editions of The Primal Scream featured Edvard Munch's painting The Scream on the cover. See, for example, the 1977 edition published by ABACUS. This edition does not reproduce the entire painting, focusing on the screaming figure at its center, holding up its hands to its head.

The Primal Scream contains an introduction, twenty one chapters, two appendixes, a bibliography and an index. ^[1]

The introduction, "The Discovery of Primal Pain," describes how Janov heard what he considered a remarkable scream from one of his patients, a twenty-two year old college student, identified with the pseudonym Danny Wilson. ^[2] Janov likened the scream to what one might hear from a person about to be murdered. ^[3] Janov suggested that the scream could 'change the nature of psychotherapy as it is now known.' ^[4] According to Janov, despite the fact that neither his patient nor he himself could see the sense in such a childish act, he asked Wilson to call out "Mommy! Daddy!". ^[5] After some reluctance and hesitation, Wilson followed Janov's instruction. ^[6] As a result, Wilson became upset, had convulsions, and finally uttered a loud scream. Following the scream, Wilson declared that he could feel. ^[7] Janov claimed that several months later he tried the same procedure on a thirty year old patient, identified with the pseudonym Gary Hillard, who also screamed. ^[8] Janov wrote that he and Hillard were both shocked by this, but afterwards Hillard gained insights and seemed to understand himself. ^[9] Janov said he developed Primal Therapy as an outgrowth of his explanations of the changes he observed in his patients. ^[10]

Chapters

1. The Problem
2. Neurosis
3. Pain
4. Pain and Memory
5. The Nature of Tension
6. The Defense System
7. The Nature of Feeling
8. The Cure
9. Breathing, the Voice, and the Scream
10. Neurosis and Psychosomatic Disease
11. On Being Normal
12. The Post-Primal Patient
13. The Relationship of Primal Therapy to other Therapeutic Approaches
14. Insight and Transference in Psychotherapy
15. Sleep, Dreams and Neurosis
16. The Nature of Love
17. Sexuality, Homosexuality, and Bisexuality,
18. The Basis of Fear and Anger
19. Drugs and Addictions
20. Psychosis: Drug and Nondrug
21. Conclusions. ^[11]

Chapter 17, 'Sexuality, Homosexuality, and Bisexuality' deals with homosexuality as one of its main subjects. Janov compared homosexuality to drug addiction, identified it as a neurosis, and denied that homosexual acts are sexual, insisting that they are a denial of real sexuality. ^[12]

The two appendixes are titled, Appendix A: Tom, and Appendix B: Instructions for New Primal Patients.

Appendix A: Tom deals with the case of a patient Janov called Tom. It was included in a separate appendix because Tom's treatment was the subject of a documentary about Primal Therapy. ^[13]; Appendix B: Instructions for New Primal Patients contains seven instructions for primal patients.

Criticism

Wiki's Primal Therapy Criticism section includes some sources that are specifically critical of The Primal Scream.

Debunking Primal Therapy is a website that has several pages dealing directly with the claims made in The Primal Scream, including links and quotations of relevant in-print material.

Notes

^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 15. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 10. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 10. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 10. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 11. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 13-15. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 302. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 397. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

Books

Janov, A. The Primal Scream (1970) ISBN 0-349-11829-9

[1] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 15. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[2] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[3] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[4] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[5] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[6] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 9. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[7] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 10. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[8] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 10. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[9] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 10. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[10] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 11. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[11] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 13-15. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[12] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 302. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

[13] Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. pp. pp. 397. ISBN 0-349-11834-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

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 * [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primal_therapy#Criticism Wiki's Primal Therapy Criticism] section includes some sources that are specifically critical of ''The Primal Scream''.
+*[http://www.DebunkingPrimalTherapy.com Debunking Primal Therapy] is a website that has several pages dealing directly with the claims made in ''The Primal Scream'', including links and quotations of relevant in-print material.
 ==See also==
 *[[Psychotherapy]]