Is the Primal Dream Over? An Insider Investigates Janov’s Primal Therapy and Asks What the Psychotherapy Profession Should Learn from It by Colin Feltham

Colin Feltham, now an Emeritus Professor of Counseling in the UK, was a patient in Arthur Janov’s primal therapy in 1978 to 1979. Lured by the hyperbolic promises in The Primal Scream (1970), touted as the (only) cure for neurosis, he went to Los Angeles for the ‘real thing’, since Janov warned against so-called mock primal therapists. Like many others, he was sorely disappointed by this expensive therapy. Applying scholarly analysis, investigative zeal, self-disclosure, and some humor, Feltham pores over Janov’s claims critically in this important book. Did primal patients really recall vivid emotional traumas from early childhood, birth and womb-life? How did Janov develop his therapy from 1967 until his death in 2017? Did confabulation play a large and unrecognised role in Janov’s construction of primal therapy? What attracted so many big names like John Lennon to Janov’s Primal Institute in West Hollywood? What explains the discrediting and near-obsolescence of primal therapy today? Professor Feltham doesn’t stop there but asks if the denigration of primal therapy masks the failures of many other, more sober and even ‘evidence-based’ forms of modern psychotherapy. Readers interested in psychotherapy generally and some of its cult-like qualities will find this book fascinating.

“The reluctance to return to the events of our youth means that subsequent generations are doomed to repeat our mistakes. Fortunately, there are people like Colin Feltham, who manages to combine the personal confession of a former patient with an exhaustive, professional analysis of the facts, thus not only revealing the true face of primal therapy, but also showing the dark sides and weaknesses that plague the entire psychotherapy field. A must-read not only for therapists and therapist candidates, but also for current and future patients.”
–Prof. Tomasz Witkowski, author of Shaping Psychology. Perspectives on Legacy, Controversy and the Future of the Field.

In this remarkable book, Colin Feltham takes the reader on a personal and psychotherapeutic journey into the quicks, absurdities, and practice of Primal Therapy. John Lennon and other celebrities were, for a while, enthusiastic supporters of this unproven and flamboyant approach. Feltham dramatically unfolds its origins, history, and its fundamental flaws from the perspective of former patient and active mental health expert. It is the go-to book for understanding the mostly bizarre craziness, rise, and fading away of ‘Primal Screaming’ and treatment.
–Stanley L. Brodsky, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, The University of Alabama

Is the Primal Dream Over? describes an extraordinary journey.  How did Colin Feltham go from being a devoted patient of the famous therapist Arthur Janov to thinking the whole endeavor was a therapeutic failure? In this deeply personal, often moving memoir, the patient-turned-professor tells us how.
–Elizabeth Loftus, PhD, Distinguished Professor,  University of California, Irvine, and Past President of the Association for Psychological Science

This important book exposes the flaws and negligence that tarnished Primal Therapy’s reputation. Janov turned a brilliant discovery into a so-called “proven” theory, prioritizing financial gain and recognition of his “genius” over genuine care, leaving many damaged souls on the primal battlefield. Notwithstanding, Primal Therapy is a method that, when approached with integrity, can unlock deep-seated emotions and foster remarkable psychological healing. The challenge lies in separating the profound therapeutic value of the technique from the controversy surrounding its implementation.
–Michelle Taja Miller, author of The Invisible Self, Broken Childhood, Primal Healing