Arthur Janov

Early life Arthur Janov was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Boyle Heights, a low income neighborhood east of Downtown L.A., populated mainly by Jews, Latinos, and Slavic immigrants. He received his B.A. and M.S.W. in psychiatric social work from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his Ph.D. in psychology from Claremont Graduate School in 1960. He was also on the staff of the Psychiatric Department at Los Angeles Children's Hospital where he was involved in developing their psychosomatic unit.

In Janov's view, the repressed pain of traumatic childhood experiences eventually produces an emotionally damaged adult.

Janov wrote that his professional life changed in a single day in 1967 with the discovery of what he called "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 what Janov considered repressed memories and feelings.

Janov's primal therapy became a cultural phenomenon in the 1970s and 1980s along with his work The Primal Scream (1970). In response, Janov stated that "We take no salaries and no profits and have not in years. We have paid several hundred thousand dollars for research to maintain our scientific integrity. We fund therapy for those who cannot afford it".

Two important bands formed in the early 1980s, Tears for Fears and Primal Scream, took their names from Janov's work. The influence on Tears for Fears is strongest on their first album The Hurting (including "Mad World" and "Ideas as Opiates," which is named for a chapter in Janov's Prisoners of Pain) and in their No. 1 single "Shout" from Songs from the Big Chair. The band eventually met Janov in 1986 and became disillusioned with him and his work.

Personal life Janov was first married to Vivian Glickstein in 1949, but they separated in 1975 and divorced in 1980 so that he could remarry. For several years, Janov suffered from a throat disease which limited his ability to speak. At the time of his death, he was living in Malibu, California.

Works The Primal Scream (1970) - (revised 1999) The Anatomy of Mental Illness (1971) The Primal Revolution: Toward a Real World (1972) The Feeling Child (1973) Primal Man: The new consciousness (1976) Prisoners of Pain (1980) Imprints: The Lifelong Effects of the Birth Experience (1984) New Primal Scream: Primal Therapy 20 Years on (1992) Why You Get Sick, How You Get Well: The Healing Power of Feelings (1996) The Biology of Love (2000) Sexualité et subconscient : Perversions et déviances de la libido (2006) Primal Healing: Access the Incredible Power of Feelings to Improve Your Health (2006) The Janov Solution: Lifting Depression Through Primal Therapy (2007) Life Before Birth: The Hidden Script That Rules Our Lives (2011) Beyond Belief: Cults, Healers, Mystics and Gurus – Why We Believe (2016)

Janov in media The Inner Revolution (1971 / 85 min) A personal account of primal therapy by Gil Toff. Primal Therapy: In Search of the Real You (1976 / 19 min)) A Canadian documentary. Primalterapi: vintern 1977 (1978 / 130 min) A Swedish 3-part documentary by Gerard Röhl. Arthur Janov's Primal Therapy (2018 / 45 min) An associative view by Ulf Kjell Gür.