Dr. Arthur Janov's Primal Center
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Full Description of Online Continuing Education Course  OL107

Twists and Turns - The Deviations of Sex

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Text by Dr. Arthur Janov

OutlineContent DescriptionOverall ObjectivePractical Outcome Objectives


Outline

1.  General theory of the relationship between early pain and sexual deviation, including repression and dislocation of function

2.  The difference between real need vs. need for symbols

3.  A first-person narrative of history and treatment of person with a sexual deviation

4.  Tracing deviation backwards toward its origins

5.  Treating deviations and perversions with primal therapy

6.  Physiological factors in repression and reliving
 

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Content Description

This article presents the thesis that sexual deviations comprise an adaptation of behavior driven by unmet early needs, particularly needs involving love and closeness.  Unmet early needs force repression, as a matter of survival, while the tension of the unmet need remains.  Because sexual arousal brings forth excitement and intense feelings, sex gets blended with feelings of extremely high valence stemming from unmet needs.  The latter feelings, however, are not consciously experienced in their true context, because feeling them directly would be too painful.  Instead the person experiences deviant sexual interests and impulses - which are idiosyncratic symbols of unmet needs - unaware of their origins.

The article includes a lengthy case study, with a first-person narrative of an individual with a long-standing "taping up" fetish, who uncovered its origins through primal therapy.  The article describes how primal therapy works backwards from the deviant sexual interest toward the repressed feelings that have fueled it, following the vehicle of feeling.  In the author's experience, deviant sexual interests are reduced as the patient is able to safely feel the unmet needs that led to the deviation.
 

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Overall Objective

Convey how a sexually deviant person's motivation is a reaction to early deprivation and pain - particularly the early deprivation of love or closeness.  Convey why insight or cognitive therapy may have no effect on sexual deviation, or else just alter the individual's symptomatology, leaving the tension behind the deviation intact.  Explain the therapeutic significance of safe, conscious feeling and reliving.
 

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Practical Outcome Objectives

1.  The student will better understand the significance of history in cases of sexual deviation, and thus better understand clients or patients who engage in sexually deviant behavior.

2.  The student will better appreciate the significance of early need, and what may happen when early needs are deprived or denied.  This should leave the consumer with a better understanding of psychological development.
 

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PRIMAL TREATMENT, TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER
209 Ashland Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Phone: (310) 392-2003
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