Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!i2pn.org!i2pn2.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: nyarlathotep1@hotmail.com (Norbert)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: Primal Therapy F*cked John Up
Date: Sat, 31 May 2025 12:32:13 +0000
Organization: novaBBS
Message-ID: <48818d69c4e7a0822fb3499ba06cef46@www.novabbs.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Info: i2pn2.org;
	logging-data="2687525"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@i2pn2.org";
	posting-account="jHSG7cE2S9tCiwNMo3DGhaiamUtTAcQZosSD3d15Pig";
User-Agent: Rocksolid Light
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 4.0.0
X-Rslight-Site: $2y$10$IKQRcOF.VLfTDpouGXGYa.TbObhS9HO0AO.HCqLUTD5XmM5GpFCKu
X-Rslight-Posting-User: 6048208f8e4825d9cf9eefdf20568224fc305389
Bytes: 3045
Lines: 38

The basic assumption of Janov's purported scream therapy is that people
are full of pain that they have repressed, and that this pain can be
purged through screaming, leaving the patient stable, healthy, and free
of addictions.

I contend it's all bullshit, and the case of John Lennon proves this. 
Post-Janov, Lennon was immersed in heroin and nicotine as ever.  The
interviews he gave were full of anger and paranoia towards former
friends and colleagues.  The music he wrote -- namely, that of Plastic
Ono Band -- was primitive to the point of childish; it is infantile. 
It's as if Lennon forgot all the effort he had made as a young man to
drive the Beatles to the top.  He has forgotten how to write real songs.

The lyrics of POB are all about how screwed up, delusional, and
infantile he was.  "My Mummy's Dead," sung to the tune of "Three Blind
Mice," contains the line "I could never show it," with the "it"
presumably referring to the pain he felt upon his mother's death. 
However, one needs only read Pete Shotton's book to see that Lennon did
show his pained response to his mother's death in his own way.

Janov had Lennon deluded into believing he had "repressed" all of his
pain.  This was contemptible of Janov, who I suspect merely delighted in
the financial benefits this outspoken and famous patient would bring to
him.  Many of Lennon's pre-therapy songs are about his pain and
confusion.  They are full of emotion.

What exactly is repression, anyway?  It is the notion that a facet of
the mind pushes traumatic experiences into the unconscious, where the
repressed emotions nonetheless continue to plague the person.  Is there
a scientific basis for this?  No.  See, e.g., Frederick Crews's article
"Revenge of the Repressed" for a thorough analysis of this subject.

Primal Therapy hurt John in yet another way.  May Pang wrote in her book
Loving John that a cold, angry Yoko vowed to get back at Lennon for his
cheating with her.  "I've been through primal therapy with him," Yoko
hissed, "I know his deepest fears."

Janov is yet another of the crackpots Lennon had become susceptible to
through his excessive LSD intake.