Saturday, September 7, 2013

On the Imprint: Its Role in Psychotherapy


It seems that by now in Science, we have a good idea of what the imprint is about. Something I did not know about 50 years ago when I first posited the concept. The reason it is so important is that it determines personality, illness, whether we are constipated or not and many other facets of our lives. It is now an established fact in human development. I will explain but let me first say that once we understand the nature of the imprint we understand that no basic change in personality can take place in therapy without altering the imprint.

So what is the imprint? It is a memory, an ensemble of all the circumstances surrounding a key adverse event; a memory of an early trauma encapsulated. It is not just a “memory” in the usual sense of recall or actively going back to consciously retrieve something forgotten in the past. It is an event sealed-in biochemically forevermore and it affects us forevermore. It drives our behavior and the kind of sickness we will suffer from, will be get Alzheimers disease or cancer? The imprint may be able to answer those questions. And you cannot get there from here; you cannot willfully try to retrieve the memory because “willful” is the opposite of what is needed. One needs to let go of high level cortical processes and descend down the levels of consciousness where the imprint exists. And there we find that we cannot reach out to it because it is encapsulated, surrounded by aspects of the methyl chemical group, which helps encase it and make it unreachable. In effect, it is methylation that is heavily responsible for the imprint and its enduring affects. To retrieve the memory we need to “live” on the level of its existence for a time, use the right brain to lift it toward conscious/awareness, and bit by small bit integrate parts of the memory into the brain and the entire system. Thus, we need to de-methylate the memory. Until we do that there can be no profound change in anyone despite all claims to the contrary, notwithstanding. Not meditation, not cognitive therapy, not mindfulness or hundreds of other nonsense approaches that ignore neurobiology. And, I might add, that ignore evolution; how the brain evolves and what levels of the brain are holdovers from our animal history. No one can make real change when two-thirds of our brains are unacknowledged. We have the tail and the feet but we still don’t know what it is; how can we treat it?

Yes, one might add but this is just a theory. Yes but a substantial one with much research and therapeutic years behind it. And for over fifty years we have not seen any substantial change in patients until they descend down into the levels where the imprint exists. It is the deep unconscious and it has not been seen or observed in any way because it is out of contact with our intellectual brain. It is the province of the shark and chimp brain; the province of non-verbal behavior.

There are easily several hundred current research studies on methylation, acetylation and phosphorylation that describe how imprinted memory reroutes the brain. How it changes brain circuits. Do we really think that changing our perceptions, rationales and attitudes can alter those basic processes? Research says “No.” There are chemical processes that help open up the memory system and others such as with methyl that closes it down. But once locked-in, it lives on and experience does not change it. The evolution of the genes has been rerouted. Epigenetics reigns. That is crucial; experience cannot change it. That is why we cannot love neurosis away or exhort it to change, or plead and beg for it do something “healthy.” Its ineluctable road is already paved with bumps and crevasses. We are destined to travel them unconsciously. We could say in this sense that our lives our predetermined.

Let me give you an example. We see a patient and we do not know why he is so hyperactive, cannot sit still and cannot concentrate. How do we now what’s wrong? We won’t until we know what events at birth or in the womb transpired to fix this affliction in the system. Was the mother on coke, both kinds? What she very active and nervous throughout her pregnancy, especially since her husband left her. Was there a war going on? Was she depressed or was she given heavy drugs to hurry birth along? Hundreds of questions that need answering. A therapist can say, “I’m not interested in the patient’s past; it is her present that counts. Yes but the present is very dependent on that past. This is too often a rationale to simplify therapy but it is simplistic, at best. How did the pregnancy evolve? We know that bickering parents often produce allergic children. Should we ignore the gestation period? We know that a carrying mother takes drugs it has a profound effect on the later drug taking of the offspring. Should we ignore that too? We will never know the true causes of adult cancer and Alzheimers disease without know the patient’s history. So what on earth does paying your attention to your breathing in mindfulness therapy do to the imprint? What does it do to prevent serious disease? Nada!

So how can we understand mental illness with 2/3rds of the brain missing? It is a practice with one arm tied behind. In my clinic with many hundreds of patients over fifty years of primal I have seen what a carrying mother’s heavy smoking does to create severe mental illness. It happens too often to be a chance affair. Or the mother’s drug taking and how it affects later drug use in the offspring. Karen Nyberg’s research, which I quoted in my other blogs, is instructive. There is a heavy correlation between the two. We must change the imprint and begin to reverse the memory and its impact. Our research will tell us more about this. How on earth can we understand anorexia without knowing about the research (Roberts and others) on early trauma and later eating disorders? The research states that it is largely due to epigenetics. And key epigenetic changes take place very early in our lives that alter fetal programming and the evolution of the fetus/baby. Let us not forget the critical window where those events are engraved for a lifetime. That is where we therapists must go; to that window where trauma was impressed into the brain and whole system. If we do not, then we cannot understand anxiety states in our patients or ADD which shuts down focus and concentration. It is not here and now; it is there and then that must be our focus because there and then determines here and now, to a great extent. If we exclude there and then we will not know that later eating disorders are often caused by the nutrition of the carrying mother. That has been confirmed by numerous studies. Let us take off our blinders and look at the whole brain. And above all, the whole person.

We need to make clear that we need to change consciousness in psycho-therapy, not just awareness. Too many therapists conflate awareness with consciousness. Consciousness encompasses many layers of brain function not just the neo-cortex. It is all levels working fluidly together that form consciousness. Awareness is but one level trying to do the work of all layers.

72 comments:

  1. if there is anything that is encapsulated it is the actual traumatic event. the hurt. the feeling of near death. everything else, including methylation, stress response, blood pressure, hormonal status... everything that is not a total immersion in true first line life situation - can change... adapt, cope, react to actual present situation affected of course by that traumatic event. and all the therapies in this world was, are and will use this fact to prove their effectiveness. there always will be a therapy that will affect some aspect of imprint expression which is a combination of many present circumstances influenced by the original context. but out of original context. now and here the imprint is anything and treated with anything. it exists encapsulated only in that past context. now and here, there is no outside instrument that can isolate it. no proof. neither about that imprint exists or that it is gone. just a jungle of disguise... that science helps us explore with this new means... forever... normalizing this and that... until the nature does it's normalization and make a fertilizer out of us.
    consciousness is intimate and can't be fixed from outside. the will must be intimate. organic, alive. whenever i talked much about my intention about doing something i didn't do it.
    we first do and then much later learn how to somehow put it in words, explain it...
    that is why we need consciousness. to do, to survive.

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  2. we must let the imprint reign. then epigenetics won't have to. it will be moved from the throne. gently. non violently. naturally.

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  3. it only seems that we are predetermined. the imprint supports the unpredictable.

    we are not predetermined in a sense that we are doomed. there is a cure an it begins not in primal room but much earlier. before we even know that there is someone who can help. in a way we are predetermined to heal too. in disease lies the seed of healing too. nobody knows what is going to happen next and it is a basic condition for survival. we must have some of that at least in our physiology in order to survive through the day.
    we are more or less predetermined for unpredictable. for what we don't know. for the next moment.
    it is for a patient to chose what is good for his life outside primal room. you can't force the healing. and who knows what is therapeutic. nobody. the therapist is there to welcome the patient whenever he feels to come. maybe after the biggest mistake the best decisions can happen.
    the therapist counts on this unpredictable predetermination. the only thing reliable for the therapist is that he doesn't know what is going to happen next. so he can unreservedly be and care with the patient in the present moment.

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  4. so, the role of the imprint is to reign. not by fear or force but freedom. by consent of every level above it to let the boss express himself and leave them, stop intruding them, molesting them... and be a good king.

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  5. Art,

    "two-thirds of our brains are unacknowledged"!

    "In effect, it is methylation that is heavily responsible for the imprint and its enduring affects. To retrieve the memory we need to “live” on the level of its existence for a time, use the right brain to lift it toward conscious/awareness, and bit by small bit integrate parts of the memory into the brain and the entire system. Thus, we need to de-methylate the memory".

    How can we believe that graduates conceptually shall recognize the child in them when the academic formation is a result of not recognizing the child itself?
    It must... occur a disaster for them for making it possible!

    The meaning of methylation may be something they can not defend against... but it will take very long time for them to admit it. There are a number of academics around the world who will defend their position more than acknowledge science... it when science looks into the academic formation as quackery... quackery because we know better today!

    One thirds of brain are used to not acknowledge what is in the other two-thirds... and academic brains working at high pressure in order not to acknowledge it. So to getting them unemployed through a legal process that scientifically proves this... it must be of greatest priorietet to make them to understand what suffering is... as they then will suffer.

    A possition as academics must be of an strong pain-reducing effect... when the reason for the academic formation aimed at it.

    Frank

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  6. Hi,

    the idea that consciousness is a complex solution of instinctual sensations, emotional feelings and neo-cortical thoughts and paradigms is not new. The problem as I see it is that as Art has said:

    "When you leave feelings behind there is no end to the bullshit you can concoct".

    Feelings, the limbic system, seems to be in the middle. Below is the brainstem and above is the neocortex. Does this mean that our feelings, the limbic system is a pivotal point ? Like the tiny hole joining the two ends of an hour glass ?

    Without feelings there is only an indirect view of the organism. All we perceive is 'behaviour'.

    This observation of behaviour is dangerous; it's theory without feelings and worse people steal the idea of the imprint to explain behaviour without really acknowledging the pain and terror driving that behaviour.

    The feelings I talk about here are not just the 9 deadly passions (anger, pride, deceit, narcissism, avarice, fear, gluttony, tyranny and sloth) and the feelings of love, euphoria, abandonment and loss and many more. The feelings I talk about are the subtle 'connections' that enable us to be acutely sensitive to detail, to our own and others needs and to fulfillment of needs. These are so subtle as to be almost indescribable but their absence makes us crude and ineffectual.

    Thus the majority of us, particularly sympaths like me can (without much empathy) observe and judge others. I think it must have been very frustrating for Art over the decades to see and hear charlatans hijack Primal Theory in this way to 'enhance' their own repertoire. . . And then to fuck up neurotic people even more than they already are.

    Paul G.

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    1. Hi,

      It's really ironic, what we call passions and feelings are really just the external manifestation of more or less connected pathways.

      I'm beginning to experience my passions / feelings as 'resonances' pushed by forces internal.

      I wonder what it is like to be entirely free of trauma ? I mean, as an analogy, I once did some martial arts and I know a few who took that quite some way. They all say that they became acutely aware of the intent of others prior to the others knowing it themselves. This is not telepathy, nor is it merely foresight. What it seems to me is that we are potentially extremely sensitive receivers and transmitters of fine energies and when there is no 'blockage' there is real consciousness of this. . . but when we are neurotic we are shut down to a greater or lesser extent. That fine sensitivity is thwarted by the imprint.

      Paul G.

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    2. When I first started on my journey I read some books by an Australian Therapist who said she always marveled how many of her patients with schizophrenia etc were very perceptive and would often pick up how the therapist felt. Alice Miller describes in "The Drama of being a child" how a child learns to guess the mood and feelings of his Mother. After all one would learn to guess how a tyrant was going to react so one could get away or maybe become fawning. I have often found over the last few years that I could almost sense someone's Soul. It sounds arrogant I don't mean it like that, but it's almost as though one can feel someone's pain. Is this empathy or something else. Something that a hurt person needs to develop.

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  7. you say "nada"!

    but imagine this scenario:
    parents expect the baby but they are bickering every day. they are aware that bickering is not good for them, their relationship and the baby.
    what would be your advice to them?
    - to not do anything about it because it won't change anything anyway
    or
    - to try to find the way to function better as a pair, as parents.. and individuals?

    let's just assume that primal therapy is not an option.

    what to do? does it matter for the fetus?

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    1. Hi,

      For three years I've been writing a childrens story about an 11yr old runaway boy whos parents are always bickering. . . it's got everything in it (including his girl friend from over the road and all my pseudo friends in disguise, and some excellent mentors invented and real). It's taking too long to write as the feelings in it are dependent on my release and realisation of my own anxious bickering parents childhood stuff.

      Any way, I will finish it and give it to my children and friends; what friends? This is one of my ways to try to DO something. Maybe I'll even get it published. Perhaps I should value my own writing skills more and then get more done more often for the sheer pleasure of 'invention'. It's a cliche but sometimes one does indeed need to give oneself 'permission' to follow a whim.

      I just got to the stage in the plot where the 'parents & friends' are beginning to realise the errors of their ways but cant help themselves act out a rescue mission. . . It's genuinely funny, makes me chuckle any way, the previous chapter makes me cry and my daughter hold her breath in anticipation. . . whatever next?

      Paul G.

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    2. Paul,
      i think you are making proper connections. you are more and more open to new things. like your daughter. maybe it is not too early to write about how you are already changing. does it show and how, if it is showing? in another book maybe )

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  8. i just now recall the advice Richard gave to Frank when he felt so irritated about his baby crying:
    "if you feel irritated try the cognitive approach"...
    it still sounds a valid advice to me.

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  9. I am an adult with a child's brain as formed to understand alia!

    My beliefs limiting all my possibilities against my opportunities! I am bound to be a marionette because I never got the opportunity to look at myself but to suffer!

    I am imagining myself all of psychiatric and psychological processes it depending on my own problems to seek intellectual response... answers without feelings to explain it with.

    When the child in me desperately trying to escape the pain and I as adult try to explain myself... it is just to imagine the result... escape in a task as academics!

    I have no personal benefit of my schooled knowledge... why I am relegated in a system to be a cog in the machinery!

    I am an adult with a child's brain as formed to understand alia!

    Frank

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  10. And how much of that bickering is actually about the Parents past. My Parents spent much of my childhood warring with each other and dragging me and my sister into it trying to get us to take sides. I remember shouting "Why don't you get a divorce" when I was a teenager. I don't think either of them had any idea about how much of their unhappiness was down to needs from childhood.

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  11. In search of sentences... we try to understand something in order to prevent a catastrophe within us... if we cannot solve the problem of what only understanding does so is man's days numbered!

    "The discovery of primal therapy is the most important discovery mankind has made in any area" because it solves the problem about us... to only using 1/3 part of the brain!

    To feel and be communicating with the outside world must be of ecstasy-like experience! Getting the dimension of existence fills loss of the lost perspective and we get the life we so richly deserve... but to ignore what needs to be done to get there... would be the greatest mistake humans ever could do... we are there now in a sentence... it through our daydreams with consequences of life absent!

    We have a Copernicus-problem today because we are constantly prevented to give light to the science that primal therapy presents!

    What shall we do with the 2/3 brain that does not work for its intended purpose? It prevents us from living in a fully functioning brain... how would reality look like together with the remaining parts? It is of greater interest than the newly discovered "multiversity" we live in. A multiversity that we cannot possibly assimilate without the absent 2/3 of the brain and of which interest would it then be? Meanwhile... we have time to exterminate each other through the sophisticated instruments which the discovery of the multiversity further requires!

    Graduates who work under great pressure to maintain their cognitive ability is a threat to humanity... without being attributed it!

    Frank

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  12. The unknown solitude!

    I think that you love me... but I have no chance to meet you there... I can only meet you where my needs are as a child... that after having gone through a brainwash... which made it impossible to feel what love would have meant to me… my solitude was cemented forever!

    Frank

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  13. An email comment:
    "Please explain more about the nature of the imprint itself? Also I have noticed in talking to mock therapists that they talk about emotional expression devoid of a connection to any sense of need as "healing". My opinion is that without a sense of the desperate need connected to the "feeling" there is no real connection. Am I correct? Am I partially correct? Am I totally wrong? My experience tells me need must join feeling and its conscious release to higher centers of the brain or it's not a primal or "healing experience". "

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    1. An my answer: You are right. I have a major discussion of the imprint to be published next week in the World Congress of Psychiatry, and I will serialize it in this site in 2 weeks.

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    2. Hi,

      well yes, then you have come up with the essential description of the 1st line. It IS need.

      Satisfaction of need IS survival, at the brainstem level. Above that is feeling on a higher wavelength and again, still higher is the neocortex, with it's very intricate expression (so seductive too, a real buzz).

      If this very intricate expressive capacity is not connected (anchored) down to feeling and NEED (1st line) then indeed it is concocting. . .

      Art, I hope you have found a way to anchor down your discussion for WCP so that it really resonates your readers, into their 1st line, somehow you gotta do that thing with feeling words. Or they won't get it with the 'facts' alone. . .

      Paul G.

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    3. Paul

      Primal therapy key to feelings!

      Feeling in words is what would have been said at the time when the feeling was shut down! The words that we actually use today in the meaning of what thoughts are capable as defense against feeling... why we suffer!

      Frank

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    5. World Congress of Psychiatry.

      There's gotta be a way to resonate your potential subscribers / readers of this discussion paper by referring them to their own 1st line imprints.

      Nobody really refutes that mamalian life (including birds) imprint themselves through relations with parents and that there is such a thing as good parenting and "not so good parenting". Nobody refutes this today.

      The imprint in gestation is the issue isn't it? So it's not so much about good parenting as actually understanding the connection between that vital developmental period in the womb and later onset of disiease. It's not just parents that need to know, it's the doctors and nurses and midwives and social workers etc etc.

      Could you challenge these subscribers readers directly by encouraging them to consider / remember their own gestation and childhoods? The basic point is that far more disease emanates from the imprint than has been accepted previously, and so the statistical likelihood of anyone getting ill later is higher, far higher than previously estimated. Any one, including these WCP subscribers / readers could be the victim of imprinted trauma, later in life.
      Few if any are exempt. This is what the statistics show. Also people have to take into account a much larger group of people who don't survive gestation, infancy, childhood or teens and these are also likely victims of traumatic imprints. What percentage of us actually go unscathed into old age ? Not many.

      Paul G.


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    6. Frank, in a way you write like a child. In your every sentence there is a disturbing trigger. you often remind me that something started to happen around age of 11 or 12... not necessary traumatic but to some degree conspired the misery, desperation, hopelessness, depression... or some nasty form of anxiety. something that changes the game, changes the way we see the world. violently ends the childhood. like some kind of self that can observe itself rises and start to analyze, to suppress, to take over the power. but also can crack badly. probably the 1st and 2nd line gating gets under pressure in that period and there is a formation of this all encompassing, slow and heavy brain.
      and time starts to fly...
      i don't know if young child can be depressive, for example. this new brain uses it's size and connections to rule. an absolutistic dictator that is really a fool an not very informed guy that we only see on TV. moving him violently from the throne is dangerous and will only produce another kind dictatorship. where i'm going with this letter? too far for not very well informed guy.
      Frank, i too admit that i often don't read everything you write, not in first wave. But you do make this writing place more complete. And less a writing place only.

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    7. Hi Paul,
      it is almost like a race...
      intervention or prevention. who is going to get first?
      it is not natural. not fun.

      i bet on individuals. therapy. the indefinite. the fun, yeah!

      is the gestation period the one we can successfully fake the calm and LOVING environment for the health of fetus? teach mothers how to feel, how to eat, how to digest, choose the partner?? it is limited... it is like in therapy, not enough, but it is better than nothing. much better i guess.
      Ah.. will i ever settle my thoughts on this subject?

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    8. My understanding is that the human baby when born is not half as developed as say a chimp baby. The chimp baby is able to grip and climb about which when we are born we patently cannot do. We are still a featus in many ways and are probably born at the stage we are so we can adapt to the environment we are going to live in. This is the reason why humanity has colonised the world. I would argue that in some ways we have speeded up evolution. The human baby has to evolve once it has been born (and was probably doing so in the womb)so it can perhaps adapt to a slightly different world to the one it's parents grew up in. If one considers that over thousands of years man has moved through many different temperatures and landscapes is it any wonder it's babies need to be quick adapters and therefore quick thinkers. Is that not where conciousness comes in. It is the pinicle of evolution. It is a means of speeding up evolution for every generation. Whereas a fish may take thousands of years to adapt we don't need to. Thus to damp down conciousness with a negative imprint our species is going backwards towards to our less evolved ancestors.

      Perhaps there is a positive Imprint?

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    9. in a way, with present state of consciousness what separates prevention from intervention is a thin line. thin line of regulations and actions that we don't really understand. i don't know about the whole world, but generally it is probably much easier for adults to identify with a child then with fetus. the pregnant mother can help the fetus to communicate itself. but if mother has an activated imprint then it gets complicated for everyone. how many women are attending this congress? how influential are they? they could see some meaning in statistics. they could start the new era in prenatal, perinatal.... care.
      Art, do you receive more feedback from them? The men could catch up later.

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    10. planespotter,
      i think that the fact that adult humans have the opportunity to welcome a very helpless being, but very well equipped for communication, as their child is a richness in their relationship, in their lives. ability to connect and fulfill the need of an infant for whole year before it can even start to walk or starts growing teeth is really promoting a better understanding of life for everyone, and it is a joy to do. this is human strength! an advantage.

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    11. Hi Vuko

      I agree, but how many parents can do what you say? So many leave a baby to cry out "it can learn to self sooth" or smack a child for being naughty so confusing it with hypocracy from an early age. Also how many Parents don't realise how long a child needs that love and communication. The fact that womb life and the first years are important, a child does not actually seperate physcologically from a parent until about the age of 5 or 6 and only then gains full self awareness of his or her own existence as a seperate entity. Damage can be done for years and years building on initial damage early on.

      Too many parents expect love from their child and become resentful and irritated with them when they don't. My own Mother describes my sister as a selfish little Madam simply because my sister does not love my Mother like a Mother. How can she?

      Finally I contest your "Art, do you receive more feedback from them? The men could catch up later." I think that is rather sexist and not a little patronising to suggest that men can catch up later. I don't know a single man who is "allowed" to express his feelings or opinion about child care etc. This is the woman's role as far as the women I know are concerned and frankly this is about power. God forbid any man who actually tries to suggest anything alternative. The fact that many women tend to be able to communicate better than men (or think they can) means that damaged hurt women can tell each other that their control of their husbands and children is right for society. After all how many men who hate women, actually harbour real hatred and fear for their own Mothers (and if they could express it may lose the hatred for other women) and yet to even suggest that is the case is now dismissed as sexist and anti women and face approbrium and rejection.

      It always makes me really cross that women rightly have fought for equality (which I whole heartedly support) and yet some women then think it is reasonable to disparage and undermine men. This makes them no better than the Patriarchs they fought against.

      I went out for supper with two friends this week. They have only been married for about a year and yet she spent the whole evening grumbling about her husband in front of my wife and I. She has been a drug addict in the past and still drinks like a fish but nags him to stop drinking.

      I think quite a few women use the fear that many men hold deep inside for their own mothers to control those men and shut them up. They seem to think that they have a right to tell men who to be and how to act and yet turn round and suggest "Doctor heal thyself" and they really don't like it.

      I don't think this world will ever be right until both sexes understand themselves. This means that women have to recognise that "Mother knows best" is actually not true much of the time and has been distorted by millenia of religion, methalisation, negative imprints and other misinformation and delusion.

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    12. Hi planespotter,

      I have always maintained that women and men are able to live and communicate with the same consciousness. As a human I have some experience of relating with other humans (of the other sex) who agree. We get on and 'speak the same language'.

      But I think that neurosis and the imprint 'reduces' and twists consciousness into two different forms of awareness chiefly based on an unhealthy view of differences in the so called 'natural' abilities and behaviours of each of the two sexes. These so called 'natural' features are largely circumstantially produced, ie: the conditions of impregnation, gestation, birth, nursing and managing the home environment vis a vis men doing their outdoors thing produces a totally contrived appearance and totally contrived perception of the the 'other' sex. Behaviour is mistaken for actual differences.

      Thus a false genre is developed and a false perception is maintained. This falsity becomes the 'backdrop' for our act outs and so our act outs are always either masculine or feminine in tone.

      Somehow, for example in my culture in my city women are perceived as illogical, capricious, manipulative even and prone to spacial incompetence and men are perceived as aggressive, too intellectual, driven and not child friendly etc etc.

      There are psychology research programs which "prove" these differences too. But because these researches only measure affect / behaviour all they are doing is compounding the prejudice. I mean, I'm not convinced about this thing about spatial awareness, that women can't reverse cars or tell 30 centimeters from 12 inches etc etc. . . I think these differences are nearly all neurotic affect, not gender affect.

      I have seen my ex reverse our 35 yr old Landrover and trailer (reverse lock) into a tight space just as well as me and on the bad days I cant even reverse our tiny runabout into the same space big enough for that rig. I can be just as incompetent as the opposite sex.

      Women in particular say "oh, I can't do that" and conveniently a man can. The same with child care or cooking, a man says oh, I can't do that and so each re-enforces the stereotype the other believes in. Of course physiologically we differ and of course it is true that boys love to play with toy trucks and girls love to play with dolls and the statistical research evidence is overwhelming that these differences are there from birth or before BUT. . . What we are after is a consensus in consciousness between us, not a comparison of differences.

      The only thing that seems to dissolve the false search for a compromise in 'differences' is Primal theory. Once one understands the source of pain, trauma and the nature of the imprint one needs not compare behavioural differences between the sexes, all one needs to do is Primal.

      Paul G.

      (PS: but I do agree that women can be incredibly capricious, even as much as men, worse sometimes, it's just that the women and men who are like this are so primarily because they are neurotic).

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    13. Hello voko!

      I can not help Google translate Swedish to English as a little child:)

      As I wrote a few months ago... I feel that Art's blog is the best school ever created... I learn something new every day!

      If you have not followed what I wrote... I can understand your post. If I am eleven years old or in the womb for what i expresses on the blog... I am not the one to tell at the time... if it triggers your own memories... I'm just happy!
       
      If you between the lines understand what I write then I have succeeded in my purpose... and actually ... I believe that if we succeed in turning Art's sentences after our own experience so maybe it may be good for others!?

      If I sat here and was happy with my life... I would probably do something else!

      What I want by being present here on the blog is to learn as much as possible to introduce Janovs primaltherapy into the Swedish society as soon as possible!

      I see Art's work to be a crucial point to make a revolution possible in a world that is about to go under in the bud for what suffering regards. Sophisticated sentences from one eleven year old... do not you think:)

      "But you do make this writing place more complete. And less a writing place only". Tack så mycket.

      Your little boy Frank.

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    14. planespotter,
      i think that general and not specific attributes of women gives me reason to generally trust them.
      especially because of my possibly stronger gating system, if you know what i mean.
      regarding sexism: until the next genetic or epigenetic fast and efficient advanced and progressive (r)evolution i don't see why i shouldn't be a bit sexist.
      Paul,
      i like your word "dissolve". more then fight or avoid... the dissolve process could leave
      what maters. collaboration and complement. the most complex and most enjoying there is.
      guys, most of my letter got unsaved after long and late night hours writing...(
      i'm soo tired so i will only thank you for your comments.

      an you too google child!
      try to write short sentences.. i like to learn from your lines. it will be easier for google to translate maybe. i wonder how you read. how you do therapy? you don't talk much i guess.
      it is past 4am...
      an hour for the short version! sorry...

      it is almost dawn and right now my general opinion seems so unimportant. thin air.
      can't fight, gotta sleep...





      Delete
  14. What affects the epigenetic process at differences in the cognitive activity?

    The process of the intellectual capacity has its source in what the content of cognitive activities does to hold back pain! Being academics against be disinterested in their work has important implications for how well "embedded" the intellectual ability becomes!

    The epigenetic process of developing a persistent blocking factor against the limbic system in the case of become an destructive academic is alarming... you have to be very much intellektual to suppress what the limbic system leaking of emotions... throughout the neocortex becomes available for intellectual processes and killings around the world can continue in an escalating pace.

    The epigenetic change in the process to become more intellectual is significantly higher around academic than in those who are disinterested in their work... it due to the leakage from the limbic system is larger... the limbic system speaking a different "language" to the one who is unimpressed.

    The epigenetic process that the disinterested goes through are more in line to to reconnect emotional connection!

    The limbic system and neocortex are related by blocking electrochemical processes as creating epigenetic blocking changes... that to be immutable without the primal therapeutic process !?

    Frank

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  15. Part one

    This below... in an academic cognitive process where vitamins and correct food can affect mental health! What a tragedy... they have forgotten how feelings affecting methylation... something outside of an academic cognitive availability!

    Frank.
    Nutrition and Mental Health: Professional Issues and Ethics

    ________________________________________


    The Methylation Cycle
    The second Key. So far we have reviewed some specific supplements that help relieve depression. We discussed each in isolation. But we haven't talked about that second Golden Key yet. This Key brings many of the puzzle pieces solidly together, making things simpler. It explains why certain vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients can reduce depression.

    What is this concept? It's called the Methylation Cycle, and it's a rather complex topic. Fortunately, we can vastly oversimplify it and still gain all the understanding we need! With the goal of simplification in mind we now present ...

    A Mickey Mouse explanation of the Methylation Cycle. As we have seen, the body makes different neurotransmitters out of particular amino acids. To do this, it usually changes the amino acid slightly. It does this mostly by sticking one or more methyl groups onto the amino acid. This is called Methylation.

    A methyl group is one carbon (C) atom with two hydrogen (H) atoms stuck on it. The result looks a bit like Mickey Mouse -- a big round thing (the face) with two smaller round things (the ears) at the top. The body can't make methyl groups out of nothing. So it has to have a supply of these units to work with. The Methylation Cycle is the body's way of supplying these methyl groups. The diagram below is a simplified view of the Methylation Cycle. Let's see how it works.

    From A to B. The Methylation Cycle carries methyl groups around the body like railcars on a circular track. Because the track goes around in a circle, we could start anywhere. But let's start at the bottom, at point A. There a methyl group is attached to a molecule called SAM. The SAM molecule carries the methyl group to the place where it will be used -- point B. When it gets there methylation happens. Methylation is just a word meaning that the methyl group is popped off the SAM molecule and stuck on an amino acid to make a neurotransmitter.

    From B to C. What happens to the SAM molecule when the methyl group is taken off? When the methyl group is gone, the molecule is not SAM anymore. It turns into a different molecule called Homocysteine. Now we've moved from point A all the way to point C.

    From C back to A. Here's where things get tricky. The body normally recycles Homocysteine back into SAM -- from point Cback to point A. A new methyl group is added to turn the molecule back into SAM again. Then the cycle is complete. The molecule goes round and round -- A-B-C-A-B-C-A-B-C, etc -- carrying methyl groups where they are needed. That's why we call it a Cycle. But that can happen only if there's enough of certain vitamins and nutrients around -- vitamin B12, folic acid, and a nutrient called TMG. These things enable the recycling. They have to be present, or the Homocycteine can't be changed back into SAM.

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  16. Part two.

    A depressing shortage. So what happens if the required nutrients just aren't there? Look at the diagram to the right. The Homocysteine doesn't get recycled. Instead, it simply piles up at point C unchanged. Big dollops of it accumulate. Because Homocycteine isn't being changed back into SAM, a shortage of SAM soon develops. And when there is a shortage of SAM, not as many neurotransmitters are made. So soon there is a shortage of neurotransmitters, too. The shortage includes Serotonin and Norepinephrine, those anti-depression neurotransmitters. A "chemical imbalance" -- the very kind the antidepressant ads talk about -- has appeared. The individual gets depressed.

    Insight! Now we see why deficiencies of specific vitamins and minerals can lead to depression. The shortages tied to depression are of the very nutrients required to keep SAM circulating. When they aren't there, the SAM dries up. That's why supplementing with those vitamins and minerals can help with depression.

    Why SAMe works. Understanding the Methylation Cycle also helps us understand why the supplement SAMe can help relieve depression.

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  17. Part three.

    SAMe is a special form of SAM designed to be taken orally. Taking SAMe increases the available supply of SAM in the body. That leads to increased methylation, and so to increased production of neurotransmitters. It quickly revs up the methylation process to bring neurotransmitter production back up. That can quickly relieve depression.

    SAMe doesn't help with recycling Homocysteine, though. That substance continues to build up. Even so, supplementing with SAMe can provide a band-aid solution. It can power up methylation until something can be done to bring Homocysteine recycling back to normal.

    The real fix. If SAMe is just a band-aid solution, what's the real fix? The only way to restore the Methylation Cycle to normal is to provide adequate vitamins and nutrients to recycle all the homocysteine that's lying around. Is this hard to do? Not at all! The individual just needs to take therapeutic amounts of vitamins B-12, Folic Acid, and TMG. There is no particular hazard associated with use of these supplements. Improvement may take a couple of months, but that's how it's done.
    Is this the end of the methylation story? Hardly. There are weighty ethical issues at play here. One of them flows from this fact: Neurotransmitters are not the only things impacted by poor methylation. It's a basic process that affects the functioning of the body in multiple areas. Low methylation levels are associated not only with depression, but with cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and several other serious health problems. Some of these can be debilitating and/or life-threatening. For example, high levels of Homocysteine have been associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Many experts think Homocycteine itself is toxic. Others feel it's just a marker for poor methylation. But either way it signals trouble. High Homocysteine levels need to be fixed, not covered up.
    Suppose our client's depression is rooted in poor methylation. Her health is already impaired. In this case an antidepressant medication will at best cover up the symptom. It will do nothing to improve her methylation. Failure to address the basic problem may well lead to a further decline in her health. In some cases it will lead to serious health problems.
    Our clients rightly regard us as experts in mental and emotional dysfunction. Are we providing the best service when we fail to recognize the true source of our client's suffering? Do we have a responsibility to gain a basic understanding of methylation, this common cause of depression? Can we conscientiously participate in covering up a serious physical problem by masking symptoms with antidepressants?
    A second ethical issue relates directly to our responsibility to provide effective treatment. If a client is suffering from depression due to inadequate methylation, it is unlikely that counseling or psychotherapy (or pharmaceuticals, for that matter) will provide lasting benefit. Are we on shaky ethical ground when we provide services we have reason to believe will not be very helpful?
    NOTE: For purposes of our discussion we have drastically simplified the Methylation Cycle. We kept the basic idea, but eliminated all the messy details. In fact, we left out most of the steps in the Cycle! If you're interested, you can view a more realistic diagram of the Methylation Cycle here. Readers who wish to go beyond our "Mickey Mouse" presentation may find the following book helpful.
    Further reading: For a more complete -- but still pretty simple -- exploration of the topic of methylation, read Craig Cooney's book Methyl Magic: Maximum health through methylation. Book is out of print, but used copies are still available at low cost.

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  18. Hi Frank,

    what do you mean: "The epigenetic change in the process to become more intellectual is significantly higher around academic than in those who are disinterested in their work..."

    and also: "limbic system speaking a different "language" to the one who is unimpressed". . .

    and finally: "The epigenetic process that the disinterested goes through are more in line to to reconnect emotional connection"!

    If what you mean is that an obsessive academic fixation (like the difference between information and knowledge) is an obstacle to feelings then I agree.

    I have noticed the academics (and I can also be one of those occasionally) can get seriously into "INFORMATION". . . Information is academic capital, it is also chess pieces for a game of "I know more than you".

    It is a projected control trip. . . a defense against closer friendship and intimacy.

    But I think also one can be very stuck in ones head and perhaps intellectualised without ever being a proper academic. One can always make academic observations for example. These are nearly always useless and infuriating; like small talk and chit chat and condescending references. IE: neo cortical conceit !

    So easily done when one is confronted with the suffering and problems of "others". Those 'unrefined plebs' etc etc.

    Paul G.

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  19. Hello Paul!

    After birth!

    The scale for what blocking means... is related to the pressure we are exposed to in order to perform answers... which keeps us away from suffering... which is the question about becoming more or less intellectual

    Yours Frank

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  20. We need to look into the room where the need for love is waiting ... the limbic system

    When we as children are forced to deny the need for love through physical absence... then we escape to neo cortex instead of stay in the limbic system where love is home!

    We are now for what neo cortex can perform in an intellectual process... it for whatever emotional needs means... means from a leaking limbic system.

    An electrochemical process in opposing to what real love would have meant is a fact... it with consequences of methylations to block physical emotional reactions and we are at a process of epigenetic changes in the long run for a permanent condition for survival!

    How can we expect someone in the room for what neo cortex alone can convey to perceive this?

    Frank

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  21. In order for the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly to take place within the pupa, the caterpillar begins releasing enzymes that literally digest nearly all of its own body. What’s left inside the chrysalis is mostly just a very nutrient rich soup from which the butterfly will begin to form.

    It was thought until very recently that the caterpillar was completely converted to goo, excepting certain special cells necessary to create the butterfly body parts. This idea has recently been debunked with researchers at Georgetown University proving that moths retain at least some of the memories they had when they were caterpillars. For this to be the case, at least some of their memory storing neurons must survive the enzyme digestion process. Further, these neurons must somehow be incorporated into the moth or butterfly’s brain, which is quite a bit larger and more complex than a caterpillar’s brain

    Scientists believe the age of our planet does not correlate with the time needed for the evolution of the common butterfly, or any other animal for that matter. Somehow, animals on Earth must have evolved at an incredible rate; a speed that defies the physical laws of trial and error. Perhaps the answer lies in Epigenetics. How much of our evolution has been random, and how much has been guided by extra-terrestrial 'software'? How much software can we find in simple bacteria? Life is amazing.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Richard, yes life is truly amazing,

      Evolution is not linear but has many streams and they intertwine, thus accelerating some things and decelerating others. I like the theory of adaption to changing environs. That explains simply how and why some lines of evolution get nowhere and others are accelerated. It's not just accidental but coincidental. Synchronous even.

      Yes, synchronicity is the word and the meaning is that there is more going on merely than 'accidental knocks'. The whole biosphere is alive. The tectonic rocks and oceans and atmosphere have involved and evolved many many thousands of times and our 'goopy' interiors are a subtle tiny manifestation of this incredible life force turning over and over on our amazing planet.

      Yes, epigenetics could explain the speeding up of certain lines of evolution but I'm not a specialist and would not know where to begin to really grasp the details. I barely get the basic idea that the histone layer is some kind of buffer to protect the original genetic material as it splits and reforms. Methylation being one of many chemical processes in the cell. Perhaps evolution is riding on the back of epigenes ? Perhaps it is the adaptive nature of the histone / repression function that is the basis for evolution. I just don't know, I'm not a specialist in this field. I can only speculate.

      Paul G.

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    2. it is interesting... but do we have to know all this ever changing scientific facts that we are bombarded with to say that life is amazing? do we need to hear how complicated, connected and intelligent cell is? no.
      we "just" need our feelings back. and we don't have to say or hear how amazing it is. we don't need 21st century science and technology to "enlighten" us... to survive and enjoy.

      science can produce fascination but it is a gossip effect. time always proves it wrong. often with dear consequences. and it is not the science fault. it is the disconnection from what matters, what causes, what support life... absence of organic connections that no technological tool can make for. not science alone, not technology alone, not awareness alone, not legal system alone, not any form of "extra"... alone.
      what about "intra"? what about extra-intra?

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    3. Hi Richard

      Yes the imprint is part of what creates evolution.Could the imprint be both positive and negative? If a human beings character is the result of it's experiences in the womb, early years and teens to a lessening extent then so much of this can be considered an advanced evolutionary tool which has made us so successful (and a plague). A baby is born to continue adaption and learn to interact with it's fellow humans in the environment they live in. A number of years ago New Scientist published a wonderful map showing how human beings moved round the globe. We went via the coats very often as coasts and sea food are pretty similar right round the world.

      On another note and slightly off topic (though still to do with memory) I have just been listening to Zadie Smith on Desert Island Discs. She talked about her childhood being dominated by her waring Parents. She also spoke about how she thought she did not have many early memories but once she had had children she found she did have memories of being held and cared for when very young, when she was changing nappies or smelling Bongela which is a teething gel. She comes across as a wonderful great person. This rather backs up my feeling that when a woman does become a mother she becomes aware of how she was treated as a baby and child and so if she was treated badly she could easily have retreated (not that I am saying Zadie was) into a semi madness as she tries to avoid dealing with early pain and give out what she thinks is love. This so sums up the Mothers in my family and the Dictatorial Mother that Alice Miller discusses in Drama of being a Child. I can imagine a Mother feeling overwhelmed by her early negative memories fighting to come to the surface as part of the caring process and her brain almost becoming a mush. How to deal with this? Become hard and dictatorial. They think they are being kind and doing the right thing which is so sad. This is where I disagree with Art. I think he often cites war and a Father leaving for example as reasons for a Mother being stressed. Sure those are good reasons. However I think this is dealing with a symptom and avoiding the cause. Primal Therapy is about dealing with the cause. Why does the Father leave? Driven off by the screaming and shouting for example and not recognising his own desperate need for love from his early years and expecting his wife to provide the kind of love his Mother should have done. I do not blame these women because they do not understand what is happening. Sadly however society accepts that this kind of behaviour is acceptable which patently it is not. If a Butterfly has memories from it's time as a catapillar, then this seems far more likely. To fight shy of seeing what is often the cause of much mental illness is to avoid the issue and the cause ie a lack of love in the womb and afterward.

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    4. Caterpillar soup: I wonder if those remaining unconscious neurons send signals into the soup.... giving instructions to all those free-floating genes so they know exactly how to express themselves. Perhaps the caterpillar's memories will affect the structural form and behaviour of the butterfly-to-be. Maybe it's a two-way communication; the free floating cells send signals to the intact neurons as the entire soup methylates in response to changes in the environment outside of the cocoon.
      Some caterpillars add bits of dirt and bark to their cocoons to make them more camouflaged. How did they learn to do that? Nature wants some of those neurons to remain intact inside that caterpillar soup. Memory seems to be a very important part of high-speed evolution.
      We don't need to know any of this stuff but it would be nice if Harvard University would remember that the brain is part of an amazing network that evolved over millions of years, instead of chopping bits out and expecting it to work.

      Delete
  22. hi vuko, MercurialRythms & planespotter & others,

    I havn't been able to reply directly to your questions and comments about books and writing because just recently I have been experiencing some strange external challenging events which have really shaken me to the core.

    Somebody burned out my Landrover just after I kitted it out as a camper (spare mobile room for feeling in down quiet country lanes, up in smoke). My son is suffering badly and I appear to be making things worse so I have to move out. . . And to cap it all my daughter is starting not to want to stay over. It's all turning to shit again but I'm not letting it get to me.

    Anyway, thanks for your responses and I have looked into those books and yes . . . but for now I am starting my first carpentry project this year, which will pay for repairs, moving house and all those f*****g debts.

    You are all wonderful people who give me hope.

    Paul G.

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    Replies
    1. Hi,

      and no sooner do I despair and write it all down (and press send) but the insurance company engineer has called me with an offer I will not refuse; which will pay for the damage, more or less. Also, in tears and each others arms my son and I are getting somewhere with the little one and now perhaps I don't need to rush into an 'exit mode' so veraciously. . .
      I am fed up of my act out but it seems external life quite likes it, external events do conspire in the wave formation of it. Do any of you lot out there experience this conspiracy ? I don't believe in conspiracies but they seem to believe in me. How paranoid is that ?

      Paul G.

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    2. Hang in there Paul. We are thinking of you in your string of bad luck. Can't imagine what moves people to destroy things while the rest of us are trying to improve our lot. Stay well, Sheri

      Delete
    3. Hi Paul

      Life's a Bastard sometimes!!!

      With regard to experiencing how external life likes an Act Out perhaps that is because so much of Society is based upon Act Outs! You are just fitting in perhaps! Every Friday night millions of people Act out by going to a bar and "relaxing". It is so difficult to socialise in any other way half the time.

      Good luck and glad to hear the Land Rover is being paid for. Sounded like a great escape vehicle!

      Delete
    4. Thanks Sheri, another car got done in the next street on the same night, so I heard. perhaps it wasn't personal. . . . The problem with having been in a leadership role for a decade or two is that when some people find out you have fallen off your pedestal (ie: have become redundant as role model or leader), they take opportunities to "put the boot/ stick the fork in").

      I have found that this can happen on such an incredibly subtle level of social "interaction" that merely the perception of it on part of the 'pricked' is also the trigger for it on part of the 'pricker'. Thus society has found a way to make Primal Pain into social control through the guilt of perceiving pain at all. "Show me pain and I'll hurt you more".

      It's not a conspiracy but it is an advantage to deny pain and exploit the pained.

      Paul G.

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    5. Hi planespotter,

      - "Society is based upon Act Outs! You are just fitting in perhaps"! -

      Well I feel this is very true. . . and it's why those of us making real connections absolutely must shrink from some aspects of ordinary life and consequently feel even more bereft for ridding oneself of the unnecessary.
      Also as we change inwardly, the way we usually "fit in" becomes changed and others expectations get challenged. They don't like it. Maybe they find a reason to discard us and freeze us out.

      I am up against a community (so called) of new agers who have all fallen into the latest 'cognitive belief' craze and these people seem not to need anything at all. . . . . . . . they seem to have completely discarded need and believe themselves absolute masters and mistresses of their universe. . . They seem so sure of themselves and always have glib suggestions and remarks available to deflect the actual facts of our condition.
      I think there's a 'turning point' in Human feelings, a point at which one makes enough real connections to become convinced of the real self and unconvinced of the false one we constructed 'automatically' in the face of terrifying and devastating un met need. This is a dicey stage, where the need to act out externally has reduced but still remains yet the conviction (belief) with which we did it has almost entirely waned. A lonely place filled with tension between the false and the real self.

      I sense that we must get this inner struggle sooner or later, those cherished beliefs fall away and repressed pain remains, raw and hurting and wanting out.

      Paul G.

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  23. science opens new windows for us, but for our health the ultimate window we must look is the most personal one. reliving the intrauterine life maybe won't give us the answer to the question "why?" (there is no research paper there) but will change us nevertheless. it will be the ultimate healing and prevention. after those experiences we will change faster and more reliable than the science do.
    patient may feel lost sometimes but after some time in therapy he does see the direction of change, he knows himself more and more, what is real and what is not... inside. that is the basis of every science. these are the truths that are the true solid foundation for life. for support and exploration of it.
    outside science alone can't touch this. just like outside religion alone can't.

    ReplyDelete
  24. how can we be truly open and curious if we constantly hiding something from ourselves?
    something within us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vuko I couldn't have said it better. Such a short sentence that says so much. Thanks.

      Delete
    2. you are welcome!
      actually this sentence or similar sentence is probably more than 40 years old.
      back then Art understood less but for me there was much sense in what he wrote.


      Delete
    3. Hi ,

      The first insights into a truth are often the most enduring.

      Paul G.

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  25. What is a cognitively positive meaning host as relief for suffering?

    As alleviation of suffering... cognitive seen... can sentences... thoughts just live up to for what they are at the time they were necessary for defense... was necessary in the process to relieve suffering... to subsequently... later developed in our home and on to universities to a level of academic education for the same purpose... to repress as defense from feelings! How does that sound?

    That we technically substantive learned to assert intelligence for the creation of a car engine and the atom bomb is "yet" nothing more than a human tragedy as only benefits the destructive force that cognitive sentences in defense against suffering processes up... the meaning of life as a defense for survival more than to live... if not we would have been in another state for our life!

    The pressure... the intensity from the limbic system that tells about the need... first tell about suffering... suffering due to pain... suffering-causing confusing electrochemical processes intellectually explained as symptoms and we processed into neo cortex in defending purposes.

    We must first “get past” suffering"... that in a process of underlying physiological changes to reach the experience of the need of a loving mother... the need as has to face a crazy mother... not an easy task!

    The need of the mother has nothing to do with how crazy she was…it is and was an obstacle that created the need of her... a crucial obstacle. The need developed a physiological process triggered by a crazy mother as we now cognitively try to avoid... the "need" has so become a physiological process because it disrupted the natural life-affirming composition!

    If there would have been a loving mother all the way so would "need" neurotic dime transactions not occurred... "need" is a result of a unnatural childhood! As humans are we otherwise in a process with each other and it is far from what we express as a need today.

    Word is today an incomplete phenomenon to explain the human existence... phenomenon for their incompleteness!

    Needs is physiologically seen a process of electrochemical content relevant to mate during slightest friction... and all for what that means to expressing it intellectual.

    Intellectually... we may do not dare to face what foregoing represents... because it causes methylation reactions ... clashes that we experience as a discomfort... a discomfort for its electrochemical composition... compositions… a methylation opening channels to the limbic system without having the tools for what the content contains!

    For a primal therapy task... this maybe is something for academics because it triggers the neo cortex to relieve suffering for its intellectual complex meaning... as may result to experience what there is in the limbic system! But they might just go crazy for lack of what primal therapy offers!

    Frank

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  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  27. Hi MercurialRythyms,
    Thanks for that. . . I have seen 'If 'many times and for me it never gets too jaded; I'm not ready for another viewing yet. . .

    I used to ride a 650 Triumph recklessly and dauntlessly around English country lanes and now I search out little folds in the land with my Landrover to hide in for a night or two. Looking up at the stars and snuggling down in my land boat.

    I hear it's easier to do this in just about every other country than the UK. . .

    Paul G.

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  28. Hallo Vuko
    I don't think you have been at all sexist and I'm a woman saying it. In fact, it's pleasant to read something encouraging from you as the needle on the record appears to be stuck at times in some of the comments about my sex on this blog. It's refreshing and it makes me feel good. Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Anonymous

      I suspect that you may be referring to some of my comments perhaps.

      I refer you to Wikepedia's description of sexism. "Sexist attitudes may stem from traditional stereotypes of gender roles and may include the belief that a person of one sex is intrinsically superior to a person of the other."

      I do not believe I am superior to women and nor do I expect women to think they are superior to me. I felt Vuko's comments about men catching up was patronising and sexist which was unfair. I think that when one sex is stereotyped by the other that is wrong because so many people of each sex are good.

      There are many sexist men and there are many sexist women.

      I can only talk about my experience of some women in my life. Women who scream, shout, hit and bully. Women who emotionally black mail and are unable to to discuss feelings without resorting to violence. Women who castrate the men in thier lives, bully thier children into being who they expect them to be and then think they are being kind and loving. Most of the violence in my family comes from women and I have been the victim of this as has my wife who is not like that.

      Alice Miller was accussed of being a stuck record for stating why so many people were troubled and ill. Art has been accussed of this too. Sometimes someone is s stuck record because they have reached a point where they see a situation and speak as they see. I have been speaking about some of the women I have met. I know some great women. Sadly none in my family. Alice Miller wrote an essay called "Are women as violent as men" in which she described that much female violence was visited upon children. It did not make her popular with feminists. After she died the essay dissappeared from her website. Is that honest?

      I have talked about my bullying Father or my wife's Bullying Father. I could talk about my Aunt who paid for her Son's therapy but only if he came back into the family fold. When he said he wanted some time to himself she stopped paying. That is bullying, plain and simple. The very same cousin told me he thinks she abused him when he was younger. He is so hurt he has attempted suicide twice and she cannot see how damaging her approach is. The taboo of female sexual abuse is still widespread and so abuse is far less reported. My Mother abused me. I suspect she has abused her Grand Daughters. These women are just as guilty as the male abusers in my family. Just as manipulative and perhaps more so. Sadly however if some women can't see that they are not all these Earth Mother carers then as far as I am concerned they are just as bullying as some men.

      What right do women have to divest themselves of having to look to themselves and see how damaging some of their sisters can be just as us men have rightly been expected to do by women.

      What about the Mothers who strap suicide vests onto their little boys so indoctrinating them into thinking those kinds of acts are right. Who is more guilty? The men with the Kalashnikov or the women who encourage them? Both.

      If SOME women have not got the guts to face this kind of abusive behaviour and simply hide behind the old mantra that men are worse than women then they have not reached true concious awareness of their faults as well as their many positive traits.

      Why stand up for someone simply because they are of the same sex. Vuko says many interesting and pertinant things on this website. I just don't think that comment was particularly constructive.

      Both sexes can be as good or as evil as the other. It's that simple.

      Delete
    2. Hallo planespotter
      I agree that extreme cruelty is possible from men and women. I never suggested otherwise. What you have so frequently done is to generalise a philosophy from your particular family history as if it applies to everybody which it doesn't. It is based upon pure assumption on your part which makes it hard for me to believe or accept your oft- repeated argument that women are cruel. I know they can be. However sons and daughters have known terrible violence and also rape from fathers and brothers, for example but there aren't many women on this blog basing an argument against the male from such a presumption on this blog. Your opinion seems somewhat prejudiced against women so that Vuko's harmless spontaneous statement was taken as offensive by yourself. It wasn't! You want, I think, everyone to believe that the woman is a monster which women often can be but, planespotter, it is based upon your own past experiences, which do NOT apply to everybody! Everybody on this blog has had a unique childhood. We all suffered misery and pain but we haven't based a whole philosophy about it. We understand this. It seems to be your need to make a big thing out of your individual memory and this in itself is a possible defense.

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    3. Hi Anonymous

      I do not and have never believed womankind is a Monster and I would not be so stupid to build such a predjudice. I have in the past stated that I can only go by my own experiences but have also read many books which tell many other peoples stories that obviously are different. I respect and am very interested in the stories that people tell on this blog. One of the few good pieces of advice my Father gave to me was to read a book because it would give another persons view of the world. That saved me I think, plus the internet. I will also point out that he did'nt ever think my views about the world were worth much.

      I try very hard not to tell anyone on this blog what their problems and unmet needs are. I may ask a question or propose something but I always respect what I read. I may offer some challenging views of my own. I have put my own family up here because there may be others who may find it interesting and may prompt an insight of their own.

      I was not offended by Vuko's comment as you seem able to tell me I was. I was simply pointing out why I felt she was wrong to lump all men together and suggest that we are incapable of the same level emotional intelligence as women. I was surprised by her reply in which she said that why should'nt she be a little sexist until the next jump in evolution in men which rather proved my point I think.

      I have been aware that what I say may be contentious. I have tried to always say SOME women because as I would not wish be so stupid to condemn a whole sex. I have often used capital letters to emphasise that point as you have in saying my experiences do NOT apply to everyone which I would never presume to think.

      If you read many of Art's books and blog pieces it seems to me that he suggests that many people are driven by unmet needs and trauma. That is the basis of Primal Therapy I think. Does a mass murderer know why he is murdering. Does a young Mother know why she beats her child? No to both those questions.

      I now find myself with you telling me what my needs are with very little if any understanding of my life or my experiences. I would not presume to tell you what your needs are as how would I know. Would you consider this to be similar to the therapists that Art is always talking about who think they have a right to give a patient insights about their behaviour?



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  29. You know Anonymous lets cut to the chase.

    I love women. I see so many wonderful beautiful intelligent fantastic women every day. I was not confident with women when I was younger. I did not have enough sex with many women when I was younger. I did not even know when a woman fancied me when I was younger because my bloody Mother was so fucked up herself and was disappointed with with me because she could not see how her beatings and lack of love caused me to feel so inadequate. Now I see when a woman fancies me and Boy it feels bloody fantastic. I love it. I lap it up. THANK YOU ART AND YOUR TEAM!!!! I enjoy how my body feels when it happens. The flood of endorphins that runs through my body. I can now love my wonderful wife and appreciate how bloody sexy she is. How many beautiful warm passionate women did I miss out on because of the castrating women in my family. There are generations of people who will not exist because of my stupid fucking Mother and my dickless Father. Yes I talk about my bloody family. So what F**king what. I hope that someone will learn from it. Maybe some young man who is feeling lonely and cut off from women will read what I have to say and get in touch with Art and his team and get in touch with his powerful masculinity and have some bloody fun.

    Every day I see women desperately running round looking for approval from each other when in actual fact they are simply looking for approval form their own Mothers but blame men instead. Look at the fashion industry so riddled with insecure people buying clothes like there is no tomorrow simply so they can feel good in themselves. Many men struggle with life because their Fathers are bloody critical of them but how many women talk about how critical their Mothers were of them. I don't know any. Stockholm Syndrome one and all.

    Women hold the future of the world in their arms. Until men can bear children that is the way it's going to happen. That is nature which we can't get away from.

    I love women, I respect many women, I fancy women, I thoroughly enjoy women's company. Check out "Girls Talk" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fpW1thGues which I have always loved.

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  30. Hi planespotter,

    I could have written that myself. But you did. . . Actually I have this bee in my bonnet about it all and have tried to write stuff but you said it for me. Better than I . . . Actually I'm in tears now.

    I mean, this has made you angry, or given you the opportunity to be angry and I could point out that is something people can trigger in another, it's sometimes referred to as baiting.

    I feel you've been baited and when this happens to me (by either men or women) I also become infuriated; INCANDESCENT . . . Sometimes the baiter then can stand up and shout loudly: "LOOK WHAT A PROBLEM HE'S GOT". . . and then the angry one has to sit down and feel foolish and stuff his anger back down again.

    I had a man do this to me in my workshop one time too many. He had been in some kind of CBT / Rebirthing therapy and got worse and worse and worse. He said to me "but I thought I'd stopped doing that". . . All innocently. . . As if I had wrongly accused him of something.

    I feel baiting others is such a vindictive defense because it very cleverly makes the victim feel completely exposed and totally to blame for feeling anything at all. Aaaand the more you burn up with rage the more the baiters chuck fuel on your fire; laughing at you.

    It's really cruel and I wonder why some people persist doing it. . .

    Paul G.

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  31. Hi Paul

    Thanks for your comments and compliments.

    I take your point on baiting disagree that I have been baited. Bullied and emotionally blackmailed yes. I was suppossed to shut up and I would argue (though I may be wrong) stop exascerbating some pain in another person with my comments and views. Bullies need to be stood up to. I did'nt feel exposed but felt that I needed to fully express how I felt. I was angry and should I bottle that up or say how I feel. Sadly many of us are never allowed to say how we feel.

    Many people in pain find comments which perhaps press bruises from that pain difficult to deal with and so would wish the person to shut up rather than deal with the pain. I appreciate that such a person may be in pain but on a site like this where discussion is about pain there may well be comments which do press unaknowledged bruises in others.

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  32. And how does circumcision contribute to the imprints? There were times, when circumcision was done routinely on most male newborns in USA. Won´t there be big, harsh imprints - lots of pain (physical and psychological), fear, distrust and anger from that? I have watched lots of videos from the youtube-chanel bonobo3d, there you can see, how people try to become conscious of this subject, which must have inflicted their lives since birth.

    ReplyDelete

Review of "Beyond Belief"

This thought-provoking and important book shows how people are drawn toward dangerous beliefs.
“Belief can manifest itself in world-changing ways—and did, in some of history’s ugliest moments, from the rise of Adolf Hitler to the Jonestown mass suicide in 1979. Arthur Janov, a renowned psychologist who penned The Primal Scream, fearlessly tackles the subject of why and how strong believers willingly embrace even the most deranged leaders.
Beyond Belief begins with a lucid explanation of belief systems that, writes Janov, “are maps, something to help us navigate through life more effectively.” While belief systems are not presented as inherently bad, the author concentrates not just on why people adopt belief systems, but why “alienated individuals” in particular seek out “belief systems on the fringes.” The result is a book that is both illuminating and sobering. It explores, for example, how a strongly-held belief can lead radical Islamist jihadists to murder others in suicide acts. Janov writes, “I believe if people had more love in this life, they would not be so anxious to end it in favor of some imaginary existence.”
One of the most compelling aspects of Beyond Belief is the author’s liberal use of case studies, most of which are related in the first person by individuals whose lives were dramatically affected by their involvement in cults. These stories offer an exceptional perspective on the manner in which belief systems can take hold and shape one’s experiences. Joan’s tale, for instance, both engaging and disturbing, describes what it was like to join the Hare Krishnas. Even though she left the sect, observing that participants “are stunted in spiritual awareness,” Joan considers returning someday because “there’s a certain protection there.”
Janov’s great insight into cultish leaders is particularly interesting; he believes such people have had childhoods in which they were “rejected and unloved,” because “only unloved people want to become the wise man or woman (although it is usually male) imparting words of wisdom to others.” This is just one reason why Beyond Belief is such a thought-provoking, important book.”
Barry Silverstein, Freelance Writer

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 goes wrong, 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