primal scream therapy

noun

: psychotherapy in which the patient recalls and reenacts a particularly disturbing past experience usually occurring early in life and expresses normally repressed anger or frustration especially through spontaneous and unrestrained screams, hysteria, or violence

called also primal therapy

Examples of primal scream therapy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Brackett discusses primal scream therapy and the art of kabuki as influences on the Plastic Ono Band and gives Ono long-overdue credit for collaborations with Lennon. Jessica Ferri, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2022 Fresh off months of psychologically excruciating primal scream therapy, the album lay bare the psychological wounds that had been left to fester during the final days of the Beatles. Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE.com, 3 Nov. 2021 And in the early days following the Beatles’ split, no one seemed more willing to discard their legacy than Lennon, who was learning to purge his personal demons through primal scream therapy. David Gambacorta, Longreads, 25 June 2019 Over the weekend, Arthur Janov, the psychotherapist who created primal therapy, otherwise known as primal scream therapy, died in his home in Malibu, California, reports Margalit Fox at The New York Times. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 5 Oct. 2017

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Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of primal scream therapy was in 1971

Dictionary Entries Near primal scream therapy

Cite this Entry

“Primal scream therapy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/primal%20scream%20therapy. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Medical Definition

primal scream therapy

noun
: psychotherapy in which the patient recalls and reenacts a particularly disturbing past experience usually occurring early in life and expresses normally repressed anger or frustration especially through spontaneous and unrestrained screams, hysteria, or violence

called also primal scream, primal therapy

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