Combining research with his observations of adult patients at the Primal Institute, a psychologist discusses the ways in which parents emotionally cripple children.
Psychologist, psychotherapist, and the creator of primal therapy, a treatment for mental illness that involves repeatedly descending into, feeling, and expressing long-repressed childhood pain. Janov directed a psychotherapy institute called the Primal Center in Santa Monica, California.
Janov wrote that his professional life changed in a single day in 1967 with the discovery of what he calls Primal Pain.During a therapy session, Janov heard what he describes as, “an eerie scream welling up from the depths of a young man lying on the floor”. He developed primal therapy, in which clients are encouraged to re-live and express repressed feelings.
Janov's patients included John Lennon and Yoko Ono.