Editing The Primal Scream (section)

==Influence and reception==
''The Primal Scream'' was a popular success.<ref>{{cite book |author=Laing, Adrian |title=R.D. Laing: A Life |publisher=HarperCollinsPublishers |location=London |year=1994 |page=165 |isbn=0-00-638829-9 }}</ref> It reportedly sold more than one million copies internationally,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ejas.revues.org/3022|title=Up Against the Wall: Primal Therapy and 'the Sixties'|first1=Paul|last1=Williams|first2=Brian|last2=Edgar|date=2008 |access-date=12 January 2017 |work=European Journal of American Studies}}</ref> and was read by tens of thousands of people in the United States.<ref name="Mithers" /> [[Albert Goldman]] reported in ''[[The Lives of John Lennon]]'' (1988) that Janov sent pre-publication copies of ''The Primal Scream'' to celebrities such as [[John Lennon]] and [[Mick Jagger]], and that Lennon subsequently underwent primal therapy with Janov, which provided the basis of his first proper solo album, [[John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band|Plastic Ono Band]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Goldman, Albert |title=The Lives of John Lennon |publisher=Guild Publishing |location=London |year=1988 |pages=381–2 |isbn=978-0688047214 }}</ref> According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''The Primal Scream'' "attracted wide attention in newspapers and magazines" and made Janov a celebrity.<ref name="NYTimes" /> The fame and success it brought Janov inspired many therapists who had not met him to offer imitation primal therapy, and led to the proliferation of programs offering happiness through radical personal transformation.<ref name="Mithers">{{cite book |author=Mithers, Carol Lynn |title=Therapy Gone Mad: The True Story of Hundreds of Patients and a Generation Betrayed |publisher=Addison-Wesley Publishing Company |location=New York |year=1994 |page=[https://archive.org/details/therapygonemadtr00mith/page/54 54] |isbn=0-201-57071-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/therapygonemadtr00mith/page/54 }}</ref>

Early reviews in the popular press were mixed. The book critic Robert Kirsch cautioned about Janov's "hyperbole" and "evangelic certainty" in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', but nevertheless called him an impressive writer and thinker and concluded that ''The Primal Scream'' was "worth reading and considering."<ref name="NYTimes" /> ''The Primal Scream'' was praised by the ''[[Chattanooga Times Free Press|Chattanooga Times]]'' and the ''Berkeley Gazette'', both of which compared Janov to Freud.<ref name="Kovel" /> However, psychologists immediately questioned the assertions Janov made in the book, pointing out the "unverifiability of its central claim of the existence of primal pain and the lack of independent, controlled studies demonstrating the therapy’s effectiveness".<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/obituaries/arthur-janov-dead-developed-primal-scream-therapy.html|title=Arthur Janov, 93, Dies; Psychologist Caught World's Attention With 'Primal Scream'|first1=Margalit|last1=Fox|date=2017 |access-date=10 October 2017 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Erin Shoemaker criticized Janov's ideas about [[homosexuality]] in the gay magazine ''[[The Body Politic (magazine)|The Body Politic]]'', noting that clinical studies contradicted Janov's view that girls become lesbians through being seduced by older women and that Janov did not have a clear idea of what constituted "real" behavior.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Shrink Shopping|first1=Erin|last1=Shoemaker|date=1976 |journal=The Body Politic}}{{subscription required|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}</ref> The psychoanalyst [[Joel Kovel]] argued in ''A Complete Guide to Therapy'' (1976) that ''The Primal Scream'' shows that Janov is one of several figures in the [[history of psychotherapy]] who have come to be seen as savior figures. He credited Janov with tapping a "bedrock of great emotional power."<ref name="Kovel">{{cite book |author=Kovel, Joel |title=A Complete Guide to Therapy: From Psychoanalysis to Behaviour Modification |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |year=1991 |page=188 |isbn=0-14-013631-2 }}</ref> ''The Primal Scream'' was reviewed in ''[[The BMJ|BMJ]]'' in 2012.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Primal Scream|date=2012|journal=BMJ|doi=10.1136/bmj.e696|last1=Jeyapaul|first1=P.|volume=344|pages=e696|s2cid=72690954}}{{subscription required|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}</ref>