Janov stated that neurosis is the result of suppressed pain, which is the result of trauma, usually trauma of childhood origin. According to Janov, the only way to reverse neurosis is for the neurotic to recall their trauma in a therapeutic setting. Janov contended that the neurotic can thereby re-experience their feelings in response to the original traumatic incidents but can now express the emotions that at that time were repressed, thereby resolving the trauma. Janov believed that there is only one source of mental illness (besides genetic defects): imprinted pain. He argued that this unitary source of neurosis implies that there can be only one effective cure: re-experiencing. Janov described "Pain" as the pain that does not hurt because, as soon as the person goes into it, it becomes simply feeling. Most of the suffering is in the blockage or repression, not the Pain itself.
Needs Janov believed that much of the pain of childhood is the result of needs going unmet. Drawing from earlier psychologists, he described his take on the basic needs in his books. "Our first needs are solely physical ones for nourishment, safety and comfort. Later we have emotional needs for affection, understanding and respect for our feelings. Finally, intellectual needs to know and to understand emerge." Janov asserted that when needs go unfulfilled for too long, pain is the result.
Consciousness and repression In primal theory,
consciousness is not simply awareness but refers to a state of the entire
organism, including the brain, in which there is "fluid access" between the parts. Using the
triune brain work by
Paul D. MacLean and adapting it to Primal Theory, three levels of consciousness are recognized in Primal Theory. The following table summarizes some of the fundamental ideas and terms Janov (J) has used as well as conventional terms used in general and scientific papers. • Janov described defenses as the agents of repression that protect the system from the catastrophic Pain of unfulfilled need. When referring to Pain or defense the word
line is used instead of
level;
e.g. first-line Pain = early trauma imprinted in the brainstem usually involving physical injury, third line defense = intellectual defense. • The brainstem has also often been referred to as the reptilian brain as it is the structure which mammals have in common with reptiles. • First-line imprints occur before intellectual abilities, such as the use of verbal language, have developed. They are at the level of pure sensation and visceral (or gut) reaction. The brainstem is capable of processing the most primitive emotions of rage and terror, and these can be experienced very early in life. According to Janov, Primal Pains are imprinted in the lower brain first, then later the limbic system, and still later intellectual defenses are formed by the cortex simply because this is the sequence of neurological development. The therapy therefore occurs in the reverse sequence: "There is no way to go deep without first going shallow." In primal therapy, medication is prescribed for some "overloaded" patients, so they do not overshoot into first-line pains that they are not ready to feel, thereby allowing them to feel the more recent pains first.
Origins of neurosis Primal theory contends that many or most people suffer from some degree of
neurosis. This neurosis begins very early in life (especially in the "critical period"—birth plus the first three years) as a result of needs not being met. There may be one or more isolated traumatic events, but more often, it is a case of daily neglect or abuse. Neurosis therefore may begin to develop at birth, or even before, with first-line Pains. Subsequent Pain is thought to be added on top of previous pain in what is called "compounding" the Pain. Throughout childhood, more elaborate "defenses" develop, as the early unmet needs keep pressing for satisfaction in symbolic, and therefore inevitably unsatisfying, ways. ==Format and process==