Primal Theory asserts that unmet needs and unresolved repressed traumatic incidents from birth, infancy, and childhood remain in the subconscious mind and are compounded with subsequent unresolved traumas, layer on layer throughout life, causing physical and emotional pain and repeated patterns of dysfunctional behavior. Primal therapy provides a method by which these repressed traumas are brought to consciousness, reexperienced fully in the present, and transformed into mere remembered past history that no longer causes suffering.

Historical Context

Primal therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach to healing introduced by the American psychologist Arthur Janov in the late 1960s. Janov graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Claremont Graduate School. He worked at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital and the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and was a practicing ...

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