The Center for Feeling Therapy

Domain XVI · Historical, discredited & harmful · Joseph (Joe) Hart, Richard (Riggs) Corriere · 1971 · Los Angeles

What it is

The Center for Feeling Therapy was a residential psychotherapy community in Los Angeles, founded by the psychologists Joseph (Joe) Hart and Richard (Riggs) Corriere after they and other therapists left Arthur Janov's Primal Institute. Its stated idea of change was that people had become cut off…

Format

• The phases below are a working structure for the psychotherapist; session number and length follow the client's needs and the setting.
• Origins (early 1970s): Hart, Corriere and other defectors from Janov's Primal Institute found the Center in Los Angeles in 1971.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Aftermath (1980s): nearly a decade of lawsuits and licensing proceedings.
• Reintegration, advocacy and follow-up. Goal: family repair, peer support, optional complaints or legal steps, and the clinician's own professional duties. End with a planned taper and an open door.
• The Center for Feeling Therapy was a residential psychotherapy community in Los Angeles, founded by the psychologists Joseph (Joe) Hart and Richard (Riggs) Corriere after they and other therapists left Arthur Janov's Primal Institute. Its stated idea of change was that people had become cut off from their "true" feelings and that breaking down socialisation and psychological defences would let them live from those…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• special status, flattery or devotion from clients.
• self-punishment, or minimisation of harm to others.
• spikes in symptoms or suicidal thoughts after exposure (see 4.4).
• the client hiding disagreement to please you; build in explicit check-ins.
• retraumatisation during proceedings; schedule extra support around hearings.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.