Janov's primal therapy is best known for the "primal scream" we mentioned above that some patients let out when they confront the pain they have suppressed for so long. Primal therapy encourages a repeated cathartic release of pent-up feelings. During the first three critical weeks of therapy (which normally cost in excess of $2,000), the primal therapist is on call twenty-four hours a day for a single patient. The patient is isolated for the first week in a hotel room, without TV, cigarettes, alcohol, sex, or companionship, and has daily therapy sessions with the therapist that last from two to three-and-a-half hours. Patients then spend six to twelve months in a primal therapy group. Janov has been criticized for his apparent desire for public charisma and for capitalizing on advertising hype. He tends not to reveal in writing details of his procedures in therapy and will share his professional secrets only with initiates at his primal therapy institute. Comparatively few therapists have had this special training. However, many therapists offer what they claim is the equivalent of primal therapy, which they call _intensive feeling therapy_. They have the same format for therapy: isolation in a hotel room, three weeks' exclusive attention to each client, and the resulting high fees. _Applications of Primal Therapy_ Primal therapy has been used to treat these problems: * chronic depression and anxiety * compulsions * phobias * drug addiction * problems of homosexuals * marital problems Like bioenergetics, primal therapy is best suited for individuals who have repressed or pent-up feelings they have not found ways to release. {165} It is important to bear in mind that primal therapy is initially one of the most expensive therapies, since it devotes exclusive attention to each client at the beginning of therapy. It may not be the therapy of choice for more verbal, intellectual clients who want to develop an understanding of themselves beyond an experience of catharsis. IMPLOSIVE THERAPY _For people with phobias._ This emotional flooding therapy was developed by Thomas Stampfl (1923- ). Stampfl was trained as a clinical psychologist at Loyola of Chicago and was influenced by both psychoanalysis and the psychology of learning. Early in his career, he became convinced that clients with phobias tend to reinforce their fears by automatically avoiding what they fear. He developed an approach to help people face the situations, feelings, or memories they most fear.