Tuesday, April 22, 2014

On the Rationale for a Diagnosis


There is an article on attention problems in the NY Times (April 13/2014. “Idea of a new attention disorder spurs research.”; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/health/idea-of-new-attention-disorder-spurs-research-and-debate.html) There is the claim of an entirely new diagnostic category: Cognitive, Sluggish Tempo (CST). The brain seems not to be active enough to focus and concentrate; another facet of ADD.
 So what is wrong with that? A new category? Everything is wrong with it. .

First of all the diagnosis should inform us, not simply describe. So OK the person’s mind works slowly, does that help tell us why? Which brain is sluggish and where? The same can be said for ADD. She can’t pay attention. OK. Anyone on the street can make that diagnosis: He muses; she seems too active, her mind is racing and she cannot sit still. So what? Is that indeed a separate category? In what way?

Description alone is not a proper diagnosis. The bacteria below infection is. So if I say, he sweats, has a high continuous fever, shakes and often seems to chill that is still a description; not a diagnsos…….no cause. If I say he is depressed, that is not a diagnosis; it is a description. What is depression? What is behind it? Oh, I see, he seems sad and down, has no energy and moves in labored fashion; is that any different from what the ice cream vendor could say about him? I doubt it. If we find that the vendor’s description parallels the doctor’s, throw them both out; no, save the vendor’s.

And there is then the other type of error in diagnosis. “His locus ceruleus is too active and there is an anomaly in his hippocampus”. In short, he is only a bunch of neurons and some seem deviated. No connection to his life, now or previously, no human touch; pure neurology. What’s wrong? It is a diagnosis in a vacuum. The same for biochemistry. We are not just cortisol; we are humans who respond to EVENTS with changes in biochemistry. No event, no real diagnosis. Unless we really do live in a vacuum.

And how about psychology?

Yes we have made all the diagnoses and see that the brain runs too fast and with far too high amplitude……he is therefore “”. And once we are certain of our diagnosis we rush to give drugs that are proven to slow down the brain? And they do achieve that and the person is far less anxious.
I forgot to ask, does he have a history? Traumas, lack of love, etc? Was there a key traumatic experience? Was there a trauma at birth or during gestation? When we have no frame of reference on the human level we are wandering in the dark, acting on half truths. …seeing only part of the brain and only part of the human.

We need a diagnosis, especially in psychology that is more encompassing; that goes below the obviously observable. That really explains and tries to find origins. It is not enough to find medicine to ease anxiety without ever knowing what it is and how to deactivate and decouple if from pushing our brain so hard. Until we do that we are forever in danger of recidivism; of it coming back again and again so long as the cause remains intact.

Worse, so long as the primal source remains intact there will be a need to drug the symptom and that is partially what this discussion is about: drugs for symptoms. Big Pharma at work. They have no incentive to find causes and put themselves out of business; so long as they dominate research and medication we become the losers. The source is what provokes the symptoms into life. The problem is that the source and origins are imprinted and can stay for a lifetime. And that is not just in the brain; the cells are found throughout the system, which is why cognitive therapy is lame against early imprints. It is not just ideas; it is in the lungs and kidneys, in the heart and blood vessels.

Let me tell you about a sluggish brain. In my earlier books I describe 2 kinds of birth; sympathetic nervous system dominance due to child successfully struggling to get out; and the parasympathetic birth where there was no possibility to move through the canal easily—a blockage. This describes the active person with an active brain versus a slugish person with a sluggish brain and that works more slowly….the sympath versus the parasympath. This is a complete systemic event and is not limited to brain function.

 There is more: a mother taking drugs or painkillers or tranquilizers while carrying can produce a down loaded baby who is very sluggish; I have seen it so many times during relivings. And that same mother drinking a lot of coffee or cokes can up load the baby and make him hyperactive. It becomes imprinted as a normal way of life, first for the mother and then the baby. The baby begins to adapt to his environment, which in this case means either too much stimulation or too little. It becomes “normal” and he adapts accordingly. So “sluggish” has very early effects. And a diagnosis needs to include that possibility.

 Oh my! Did I mention that this new diagnostic category is supported by Eli Lilly? That means financial support. They also pay him for speaking tours. It is good for them that a diagnosis requires drugs, but not so good for us. We need a real diagnosis not supported by drug companies.
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7 comments:

  1. PaulApril 22, 2014 at 11:12 PM

    Hi,
    Isn't it difficult using language to 'de-scribe' actual situations?

    Am I being disingenuous to say most, ALL words are labels / symbols for something else?

    No I'm not and I'm not trying to make a case for 'categorization' etc etc. Except of course I am; how could I not? Anything I put into words can become a judgement can't it? (Particularly if I have a point I'm trying to make).

    I feel what rankles is the way these 'diagnostic labels' work as 'carriers' for commercial assumptions, which is the point you make Art. Without Primal Theory these labels can only be marketing props to satisfy a repressed audience (who will purchase 'cures' the same way they purchase the weeks groceries). But now that I know something of Primal Theory these labels mean so much more to me than they do to other people who have little or no comprehension of originating causes.
    I think it's going to be impossible to dispense with categories and labels because in communication with each other we will need a point of reference, a word, a starting point from which to extrapolate (in reverse evolution) the causes. Such is the nature of repression. . . very few, if any of us will 'know' until after the damage is done and then we are faced with 'presenting symptoms' and the need to put a word on them.
    Art, having been so immersed in Primal for so long it has become inevitable that commercial interest will be so irritating to you; and when I go to the Doctor it will be irritating to me that she is likely to be trying to categorise my symptoms and finding the correlating drug so that she can get me out of her surgery and back to work. Ding Ding ! Next Please!

    Paul G.


    ReplyDelete
  2. Arthur JanovApril 23, 2014 at 10:39 AM

    An email question: "I keep asking this question yet no one replays to me. What about the actual damage to the brain in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or FASD?? It's not JUST emotional…..the brain dysfunction is also physical."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Arthur JanovApril 23, 2014 at 10:40 AM

    And my answer: Of course there is damage. Everything I have written points to it, and above all, you yourself know the answer. art

    ReplyDelete
  4. PaulApril 24, 2014 at 11:16 PM

    Hi,
    recently in the news there was the story of Peaches Geldof who tragically died suddenly and without any obvious cause whilst actually caring for her small children. She was found dead with the little one close by. They've put her in the ground now, in the same cemetery as her mother Paula Yates.
    Somehow I feel this story relates to that of Mick Jaggers girlfriend.

    Peaches was a proponent for 'attachment parenting' and had recently spoken about her relationship with her mother. In particular she described how at 14 years old, when her mother Paula died, she had to just "carry on as before" going to school the next day as if nothing had happened. . .

    How very English is that?

    So, they are doing a toxicology report to see if she poisoned herself. . . But I can't believe it was suicide because she also regularly spoke about the joy her children had brought to her. . .

    "Sudden Death Syndrome". . . Straight away I am thinking this must have repressed trauma as the cause and what better family dynamic than 'showbiz' to demand on the child (or adult) the keeping up of appearances and the inevitable pushing down of real feelings?

    It's unresolved grief that killed Peaches and it could be unresolved grief that gets me or my son. . . or any one else for that matter.
    Don't keep your losses to yourself for the sake of appearances. . . Grief is better out than in.

    Paul G.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PaulMay 1, 2014 at 12:25 PM

      Hi,
      It's beginning to look like Peaches overdosed on heroine. . . Just like her mother Paula Yates.
      History has this uncanny way of repeating itself.

      Paul G.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousApril 25, 2014 at 1:21 AM

    "When we have no frame of reference on the human level we are wandering in the dark, acting on half truths. …seeing only part of the brain and only part of the human."

    Exactly. I myself seeked out a frame of reference from the beginning of my interest in psychology. But I'm a freak by today's standards, and that frame of reference is no longer the game, as it seems, in the modern psychology world. It's all just "chemistry" now. But is it? No!

    Andrew Atkin

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownMay 6, 2014 at 5:37 PM

    Dear Dr. Janov.

    If I remember correctly, the graph of a birth sequence is like a sine. At the beginning, there is a rise of the blood pressure and the body temperature. If a successful birth occurs at that point, we may have a sympath personality.
    If not, then the vital signs drop very low, leading to a parasympath person.

    My question is:
    …is there any chance that, in modern society, people are born with a straight line of their birth sequence, without those peaks (either max or min points)? Meaning no dominant nervous system?

    And one more thing. I am a parasympath and I know too well the lack of inner motive and sometimes the fact as if something invisible has drained all the energy from my muscles. But I assure you, that my brain is very active. Sometimes so active, I could assume I have ADD.

    - Yannis -

    ReplyDelete

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Quotes for "Life Before Birth"

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Bailey Endowed Chair of Animal Well Being Science
Washington State University

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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.
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Editor