PRIMAL THERAPY

Primal Therapy is a natural therapy pioneered by Dr. Arthur Janov in the late 1960's. It is based on his hypothesis that neurosis is a disorder of feeling. Janov postulated that we are born beings of need: we need to be fed, kept warm, allowed to develop and grow, and nurtured in many differing but specific ways.

If we are denied any of these needs for any length of time then we hurt. If the denial is strong enough then we switch off that need, that is we bury the hurt feelings that ensue. In this way we erode our capacity to feel, not only the bad but also the good feelings. The process involves the original creation of the unconscious mind and marks the dawning of symbolic behaviour and the creation of neurosis. In Primal Therapy clients are helped and guided to feelthese original traumas for the first time.