The Primal Scream

In the mid-1960s, the course of Arthur Janov's professional life as a psychotherapist changed in a single day. During a therapy session, Dr. Janov heard, "an eerie scream welling up from the depths of a young man who was lying on the floor." Janov came to believe that this scream was the product of some unconscious, intangible wound that the patient was unable to resolve— an event the psychotherapist coined " Primal Pain." Janov subsequently devoted his professional life to the investigation of that underlying pain and the development of a precise, scientific therapy that could mitigate its lifelong effects. First published in 1970, The Primal Scream challenged all existing forms of therapy of its time by presenting a new approach to psychotherapy— an approach based on Janov's theory that neurosis is caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma.