As time goes on and I learn more about the human condition, I have decided to share some of my thoughts on what we are all about. I will publish my reflections on this blog and every week I shall add to it, hopefully to enlarge our understanding of what makes us human.

Hello everyone,
Someone just sent me a book called "Healing Fits" by Robert Reese which explains how primal solved his epilepsy. I forgot reading it years ago and worse, I forgot writing its preface. It is a good read about how primal works. This is way back. Of those epileptics who come to us we have been very successful but I never tout our therapy as a cure for epilepsy. I think we lower the stress level to below where symptoms appear. This is borne out by our research on the stress hormone cortisol which is lowered in our therapy.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

On What Tranquilizers Do


I often talk about our internal pharmacy. When pain enters the arena our brains go to that pharmacy and order what it needs; say, more serotonin for the synapses to help with repression. What the commercial pharmacies do is produce the precise molecules that we manufacture inside our brains; and they do it because we cannot manufacture enough ourselves. I am convinced that most of us manufacture what we need in the ordinary course of life. But we know that just as the brain is developing in the womb there are traumas that beset us that cause lower serotonin set-points; that is, we cannot secrete what we need because pain (noxious elements such as a mother very anxious or who smokes), has caused the brain to use up its reserves in the battle to stave off being overwhelmed. And this sets up a permanent deficit. And then what happens is that the offspring/now adult, is also chronically anxious because her gating mechanisms are faulty; and so the cycle goes on.

There is a debate going on now about the advisability of using tranquilizers in the womb to normalize the mother’s system. There are minuses in both directions. If there is no medication given to the mother than she is anxious or depressed, and will pass it on to the baby. If we do give tranquilizers while the fetus is still in his womb-life, then that can be transmitted into the baby, as well. We are overloading the fetus’ serotonin levels with medication. There is no great solution except one: normalize the system before getting pregnant. That can be done, and we have shown in any number of studies that we tend to normalize the brain system after one year of primal therapy. This is preferable to messing with our inner manufacturing plant.

Frederich van der Veen presented his findings on serotonin to the Forum of European Neuroscience (July 2010). They gave one dose of a serotonin enhancer to subjects. They then watched sad films. Those on medication cried much less. It effectively brought down the levels of pain and opened some access to tears and the sad feelings. We are not normally low in serotonin except for trauma; and those traumas that occur the earliest in our lives are the most powerful, dealing as they do with life-and-death matters. Crying less doesn’t just mean less flowing tears; it also means less access to ourselves and our feelings. The purpose of serotonin enhancers is to numb out some of our feelings and reactions to them.

Taking shots or pills does not eliminate the pain or the churning of the system; it hides it all, making us more unconscious. But that unconsciousness can kill; what you don’t know can hurt you. Taking medication needs to be seen as a stop-gap method and not a cure.
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Posted by Arthur Janov at 9:46 AM

5 comments:

  1. Hi Art. Last night I watched a video: Insights in Primal Therapy. France constantly returned to many examples to help illustrate her points. I found it very easy to listen and understand...much easier than reading a book. Obviously it's not possible to convert that video into text. Books must be written in a style which compensates for a lack of subtle expression.

    I recommend that you try to give your documentary a similar style to the videos at primaltherapy.com. If the narration is over-scripted, it will read like a book.

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  2. Hi Art ,"those on serotonin cried less than the others2( or the like..)
    My experience with my feeling ,compassion and other "empathetic" sentiments is such.
    when I`m down after a sleepless for example I can`t f e e l very much compassion but when I am well and feeling that zest for life (my "dream-life") and hear ,read or see something really cruel, mean and devastating events occuring to other people t h e n I can feel the horror of it all !-and the conditio humana in general-by the way!
    Since I am not a "primal man" I I think my serotonin level is then h i g h ...
    Thatnotwithstanding I am still waiting for my next crying ...(6 years ago)
    Yours emanuel

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  3. Off-Topica:

    I just got this notice (below) from the main Reichian organisation, which refers to traumas during womb-life. This is the first time I`ve ever heard Reichians talking of those traumas. There is also an upcoming Time Magazine article about the topic (see below also). I thought this might interest Dr Janov and others here. I would also like to suggest that Dr Janov meet with some Reichians and Bioenergetics people for a ``summit `` meeting to try to hash out their differences, before he shuffles off this mortal coil.It seems to me that you all have a lot more in common than you might suppose. But, hey, maybe I don't know what I am talking about either!

    Marco

    Fri, October 1, 2010 8:25:11 AM Modern Research Reconfirms Wilhelm Reich's Discoveries - Time Magazine Cover Story
    From: American College of Orgonomy Add to Contacts
    To: macor22@yahoo.com


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------



    The American College of Orgonomy


    Time magazine's October 4th cover story, "How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life," reiterates what Wilhelm Reich discovered in the 1940s and 50s; that life in the womb is a critical factor in shaping the person you become as an adult. The article reports an "explosion" in recent years of literature in the field known as "fetal origins." In his ground-breaking 1948 book, Cancer Biopathy, Reich discussed the effect of the bioenergetic state of the mother and her connection with the fetus in the womb, and subsequent tendencies for emotional and physical illness.

    Board-certified Greek psychiatrist, Dr. Theodota Chasapi, will address this timely topic during her presentation, "The Roots of Love & Hate," as part of the ACO's ongoing series of Social Orgonomy talks this Saturday, October 2nd at the Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ from 3:00PM to 5:00PM. Admission is FREE thanks to underwriting support from Jack and Jean Sargent. Seating is limited and reservations are recommended. Refreshments will be served. Call (732) 821-1144 or make your reservation online by visiting http://www.orgonomy.org.

    Time magazine article http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2020815,00.html

    This presentation has been approved by the American College of Nurse-Midwives for 0.2 continuing education credits and by DONA International for 1.75 continuing education units. (The ACNM does not endorse this program.)







    This announcement was created by The American College of Orgonomy (ACO), located near Princeton, New Jersey. The ACO is a nonprofit education and scientific organization devoted to setting and maintaining standards for work in the field of orgonomy. The ACO provides information, training, and research support for those interested and involved in orgonomy. This press release is meant to inform those who may have an interest in the science of orgonomy and the activities of the ACO. The ACO is not affiliated with any website, newsgroup, bulletin board, network, service, or other media that may be reproducing this release. The ACO does not endorse any information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, or other materials transmitted, posted, published, distributed, or otherwise disseminated on any media other than the ACO's website at www.orgonomy.org. Please contact aco@orgonomy.org for information on the ACO as well as to verify the original text of this announcement.















    Forward email

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    American College of Orgonomy | . | Princeton | NJ | 08542

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  4. Art,

    To "understand" something that is tied to life-vital effects ... physiologically bound in its experience… impossible to explain in words. Words of intellectual performance ... put themselves at risk if the effects of physiologic cause leaking through at the explanation?
    This happens without reason as above explained... when we look at epileptic reactions and in all virtually phenomena we have as a method to keep the pain at site. What I mean is… it by intellectually performance can be enforced?

    In't this a problem Art?

    Frank

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Yahoo News!

Arthur Janov Suggests that Stress During Pregnancy Leaves a Distinct Cellular Imprint that Predicts Mental Illness and Serious Disease

In his new book, 'Life Before Birth' (NTI Upstream, Nov. 2011), Arthur Janov makes the case that events during pregnancy and the first years of life leave a distinct cellular imprint that predicts mental illness and serious disease.


Notice !

* Readers: Our legacy program "The Art and Science of Primal Therapy" will be available next year. It is a series of videos exploring in detail how Primal Therapy is done and the theory behind it. It is 4 years in the making.

* New articles every Thursday


Quotes for "Life Before Birth"

“Life Before Birth is a thrilling journey of discovery, a real joy to read. Janov writes like no one else on the human mind—engaging, brilliant, passionate, and honest.
He is the best writer today on what makes us human—he shows us how the mind works, how it goeswrong, and how to put it right . . . He presents a brand-new approach to dealing with depression, emotional pain, anxiety, and addiction.”
Paul Thompson, PhD, Professor of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine

Art Janov, one of the pioneers of fetal and early infant experiences and future mental health issues, offers a robust vision of how the earliest traumas of life can percolate through the brains, minds and lives of individuals. He focuses on both the shifting tides of brain emotional systems and the life-long consequences that can result, as well as the novel interventions, and clinical understanding, that need to be implemented in order to bring about the brain-mind changes that can restore affective equanimity. The transitions from feelings of persistent affective turmoil to psychological wholeness, requires both an understanding of the brain changes and a therapist that can work with the affective mind at primary-process levels. Life Before Birth, is a manifesto that provides a robust argument for increasing attention to the neuro-mental lives of fetuses and infants, and the widespread ramifications on mental health if we do not. Without an accurate developmental history of troubled minds, coordinated with a recognition of the primal emotional powers of the lowest ancestral regions of the human brain, therapists will be lost in their attempt to restore psychological balance.
Jaak Panksepp, Ph.D.
Bailey Endowed Chair of Animal Well Being Science
Washington State University

Dr. Janov’s essential insight—that our earliest experiences strongly influence later well being—is no longer in doubt. Thanks to advances in neuroscience, immunology, and epigenetics, we can now see some of the mechanisms of action at the heart of these developmental processes. His long-held belief that the brain, human development, and psychological well being need to studied in the context of evolution—from the brainstem up—now lies at the heart of the integration of neuroscience and psychotherapy.
Grounded in these two principles, Dr. Janov continues to explore the lifelong impact of prenatal, birth, and early experiences on our brains and minds. Simultaneously “old school” and revolutionary, he synthesizes traditional psychodynamic theories with cutting-edge science while consistently highlighting the limitations of a strict, “top-down” talking cure. Whether or not you agree with his philosophical assumptions, therapeutic practices, or theoretical conclusions, I promise you an interesting and thought-provoking journey.
Lou Cozolino, PsyD, Professor of Psychology, Pepperdine University


In Life Before Birth Dr. Arthur Janov illuminates the sources of much that happens during life after birth. Lucidly, the pioneer of primal therapy provides the scientific rationale for treatments that take us through our original, non-verbal memories—to essential depths of experience that the superficial cognitive-behavioral modalities currently in fashion cannot possibly touch, let alone transform.
Gabor Maté MD, author of In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction

An expansive analysis! This book attempts to explain the impact of critical developmental windows in the past, implores us to improve the lives of pregnant women in the present, and has implications for understanding our children, ourselves, and our collective future. I’m not sure whether primal therapy works or not, but it certainly deserves systematic testing in well-designed, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trials.
K.J.S. Anand, MBBS, D. Phil, FAACP, FCCM, FRCPCH, Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Anatomy & Neurobiology, Senior Scholar, Center for Excellence in Faith and Health, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare System


A baby's brain grows more while in the womb than at any time in a child's life. Life Before Birth: The Hidden Script That Rules Our Lives is a valuable guide to creating healthier babies and offers insight into healing our early primal wounds. Dr. Janov integrates the most recent scientific research about prenatal development with the psychobiological reality that these early experiences do cast a long shadow over our entire lifespan. With a wealth of experience and a history of successful psychotherapeutic treatment, Dr. Janov is well positioned to speak with clarity and precision on a topic that remains critically important.
Paula Thomson, PsyD, Associate Professor, California State University, Northridge & Professor Emeritus, York University

"I am enthralled.
Dr. Janov has crafted a compelling and prophetic opus that could rightly dictate
PhD thesis topics for decades to come. Devoid of any "New Age" pseudoscience,
this work never strays from scientific orthodoxy and yet is perfectly accessible and
downright fascinating to any lay person interested in the mysteries of the human psyche."
Dr. Bernard Park, MD, MPH

His new book “Life Before Birth: The Hidden Script that Rules Our Lives” shows that primal therapy, the lower-brain therapeutic method popularized in the 1970’s international bestseller “Primal Scream” and his early work with John Lennon, may help alleviate depression and anxiety disorders, normalize blood pressure and serotonin levels, and improve the functioning of the immune system.
One of the book’s most intriguing theories is that fetal imprinting, an evolutionary strategy to prepare children to cope with life, establishes a permanent set-point in a child's physiology. Baby's born to mothers highly anxious during pregnancy, whether from war, natural disasters, failed marriages, or other stressful life conditions, may thus be prone to mental illness and brain dysfunction later in life. Early traumatic events such as low oxygen at birth, painkillers and antidepressants administered to the mother during pregnancy, poor maternal nutrition, and a lack of parental affection in the first years of life may compound the effect.
In making the case for a brand-new, unified field theory of psychotherapy, Dr. Janov weaves together the evolutionary theories of Jean Baptiste Larmarck, the fetal development studies of Vivette Glover and K.J.S. Anand, and fascinating new research by the psychiatrist Elissa Epel suggesting that telomeres—a region of repetitive DNA critical in predicting life expectancy—may be significantly altered during pregnancy.
After explaining how hormonal and neurologic processes in the womb provide a blueprint for later mental illness and disease, Dr. Janov charts a revolutionary new course for psychotherapy. He provides a sharp critique of cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis, and other popular “talk therapy” models for treating addiction and mental illness, which he argues do not reach the limbic system and brainstem, where the effects of early trauma are registered in the nervous system.
“Life Before Birth: The Hidden Script that Rules Our Lives” is scheduled to be published by NTI Upstream in October 2011, and has tremendous implications for the future of modern psychology, pediatrics, pregnancy, and women’s health.
Editor
Dr. Arthur Janov

Become a Primal Therapist.

Please contact the Primal Center for information.
Dr. Arthur Janov

About our Therapy

Our therapy is constantly evolving. If a therapist has not had additional training in the past 3-5 years she is not up to date. The basic principles are the same but the actual therapy has taken a radical turn. It is much more precise, predictable and mathematical in practice. We have tried to tighten up what we do in keeping with current neurology and physiology. It is a constant learning experience. It is finally for the well-being of the patient who now has a much better chance of doing well. Yes, it was good before, but there is less time wasted now because the techniques are honed and the theory takes on more and more precision. We see patients from some thirty countries in the world, each with different cultures. It is up to us to continue the refining process so that the patient has the best chance of improving.

Training in Primal Therapy


We are delighted to announce that we will be continuing our training program for a third consecutive year after an exceptionally successful two years of training. Beginning September 2011, Drs. Arthur and France Janov will be welcoming back trainees from the previous years and first year trainees alike. It promises to be an exciting year as it offers a unique opportunity to learn about the first real science of psychotherapy.

The clear understanding and application of the theoretical and clinical aspects of Primal Therapy are essential in order to provide effective therapy. Citing the most current findings from the field of neurology, trainees will learn the role that the physiology of the brain plays in the shaping of mental illness. The training will thoroughly examine the scientific basis for Primal Therapy and discuss the unique clinical approaches employed in the treatment of various emotional and personality disorders.
For our first year students, the training will entail extensive work in the understanding of the basis for Primal Therapy. On the theoretical level, there will be an examination of issues that range from the nature of the unconscious to the nature of traumatic imprints and their lifelong effects on physical and mental health. On the clinical level, trainees will have the opportunity to learn proper diagnostic and therapeutic procedures as they relate to Primal Therapy.
Furthermore, first year students will be mentored by our third year students in order to ensure that the key concepts in Primal Therapy are clearly understood. There will be an extensive library of training notes and taped lectures from the past two years available as well.
For our second year students, the training will provide a unique and varied opportunity to gain more clinical experience. Through closely supervised clinical sessions, trainees will gain a deeper understanding of the various applied therapeutic methods and hone their skills as future therapists. In addition, second year trainees will have the opportunity to work with first year students thru discussion groups, tape reviews, and clinical sessions.
Our third year students will continue to hone their clinical skills through a rigorous series of didactic clinical sessions. These sessions will be video taped and will be reviewed by Dr. France Janov and our senior therapists.
Dr. Janov’s books have been translated in some 26 languages, have been bestsellers in many countries, and his theory is taught at many universities. He has combined decades of clinical practice with the latest in research. It is the therapy of the future.

To apply, please visit our website at http://www.primaltherapy.com/primal-center-application.php and select the ‘trainee’ option when filling out the questionnaire. For further information, please feel free to call us us at (310) 392-2003 or email us at
primalctr@earthlink.net

We look forward to another exiting year of training. We hope you will join us.

My best,

Dr. Arthur Janov
Founder & Director

Notice to Primal People

I think it advisable for those serious parasympaths, those mired in hopelessness and helplessness, to have a test of your dopamine, serotonin (imipramine binding) and cortisol levels. It may be that we can help normalize some of those functions while and even before doing Primal Therapy. I have found that, for example, provigil can somehow boost alerting functions and help those very down come up a bit. What we would do, in effect, is take the depressives out of the trough that I have written about in several of my books (see The Janov Solution). It helps advance the imprint a bit so that the person is no longer wallowing in pain but is given a helping medical hand to move forward. This is not in lieu of therapy but as an adjunct to it. It is certain that certain imprints are manifest not only in terms of personality but also in biochemistry. We need to pay attention to the biochemistry, as well.
Dr. Arthur Janov