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Primal pathophysiology

1977; Elsevier BV; Volume: 21; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0022-3999(77)90017-4

1879-1360

E. Michael Holden,

Infant Health and Development

Primal Pain was first described by Dr. Arthur Janov in his book The Primal Scream published in 1970. Primal Pains are physical and psychological pains experienced by infants and young children. These painful events remain registered and coded in one's brain and body, and produce the physiological correlates of neurosis and psychosomatic illness. The Primal formulation asserts that psychosomatic illnesses are the direct result of unintegrated pain from childhood. We believe that psychosomatic illness would not occur in the absence or relative absence of childhood pain. Stresses in the present of one's adult life may precipitate overt clinical illness but the cause of the response pattern in the illness is determined in early childhood. There are physiological correlates of neurosis which are measurable, and conversely, physiological changes which occur as neurosis is reversed in Primal Therapy. In our research we have measured the vital signs and occipital brain wave voltage in the electro-encephalogram (EEG), before, during and after Primals. Also, there are several long term studies in which these parameters have been recorded over time. A Primal is a vivid psychophysiological re-experience of a painful event from infancy or childhood. It is a two phase response pattern which starts with an increasing symphathetic nervous system crisis. This rises to a peak, and is followed by a parasymphathetic recovery phase. The vital signs are markedly elevated in the first phase and, in a completed Primal, fall to below-baseline values at the end. In the first (“pre-Primal”) phase one is suffering and experiences a crescendo of involuntary panic. This reaches a maximum level, and at that moment one re-experiences the early painful event. The cognitive component of the memory is usually visual, but any sensory modality may be included in the recall. At the end of a Primal one is slightly euphoric, lucid and profoundly calm. Over many months in Primal Therapy there are progressive decreases in EEG voltage, pulse rate, blood pressure, and core body temperature, and psychosomatic ailments. The decrease in vital signs and EEG voltage in Primal patients over time offers evidence that Primals are capable of resolving childhood Pain. In our research we have distinguished the Primal response from the physiological changes occurring in exercise, abreactions, and incomplete Primals. These findings allow us to quantitate neurosis in measurable terms, and provide an objective means of following one's course in Primal Therapy. Some case histories of Primal patients with psychosomatic illness are presented, and discussed in terms of the general principles illustrated.