Friday, February 13, 2015

I Pronounce Myself a Hero


Well,  Brian Williams the NBC anchor man is really in the news today, not as the anchor but as someone anchored to a strange story.  This story helps explain the value of Primal Therapy, not that he would ever consider it.  He would not consider it because he is too busy acting-out his need.

Here is a man, the leading news reader in America, watched by over nine million viewers every night and it just wasn’t enough.  Why not? Aah, therein lies the sad tale of a man gone wrong through a need unfelt.

He was famous and could not feel it.  He needed more, so he fabricated heroics—his life was in danger, he was shot down and so on ad nauseam.  He wanted to be something other than a news reader (which is what they are called in England, and not journalists).  Since he could not be a field journalist reporting from dangerous war zones, he did the next best thing; he invented his life.  Although he already had, approbation, worship, and admiration it was never enough.  He wanted admiration for what he was not,  and had not done; someone who lived a more dangerous and more glorious life.  He wanted to be more famous and more glorious than just reading the news.  He needed to be famous for putting his life in danger.  By the way,  he did that in his football career.  It was dangerous, and he was proud  on air to say that his injury during the game was something rarely seen.

He needed—admiration, love, importance; s
omething he must have lacked in his early home life.   Those needs never go away.  And whatever anyone’s reality those deprived needs dominate, always.  Why?  Because at the time those needs were at their apex, it was a matter of survival to have them fulfilled.  Nice to have them filled when we are ten or twelve but will not change the brain and its biology as it does when we live in the womb.

You can be important and yet feel unimportant to those who mattered—your parents.  That is what was imprinted  deep in the brain and biologic system; it endured and rarely changes..

He felt unimportant in the face of his very important job at the News.  Deep down that is what drove him.  First to get a great job, and then to trash it because it just was not enough.  He invented fulfillment.  Why on earth did he have to do that?  Because the feeling of unimportance gnawed away inside for a lifetime and made him act out,  as it does to all of us, despite the reality of our lives.  When we are not loved for ourselves, we feel unimportant.  If only he could have felt it and stopped the act-out in its tracks. But short of Primal he could never feel it; it was buried deep inside and not accessible.    His unconscious thought, "if I am very important they will see it and I will feel loved."  Sorry, it  doesn’t work like that. They never saw it and never will and sadly, never will you.  That is why your apology fell short.  It was another compromise with the truth because you did not know what the truth is and was. He could not say, I reinvented myself to feel important; because that notion was beyond him.

So instead of feeling his deep need, he acted-out and when caught he invented again; "I was confused and conflated the plane in front of me from my plane," or some other nonsense and unbelievable tale.  He lied again. Can you imagine?  He lied about his life and when caught he lied again about his life.  Remember the comic who used to say, "the devil made me do it"?    His excuse is not too far from that.  For all intents and purposes, his feelings are really the devil inside.

32 comments:

  1. if they fire (what a word??) the “liar”, does that make them “truer”. of course.
    media institution says no to lies. the representatives of people’s consciousness is doing the right thing while being totally disconnected from the truth and the reason why this man did it. so they burn a bonfire for the witch. a spectacle for the believers. it shouldn’t be done like this.but it is comforting that he will confess it all to Opra.

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  2. I didnt think of Brian Williams like this....What you say Art makes more sense than what I was thinking, which was that Brian Williams acted just like a child does at times (fabricating stories), and but with that in mind, it still didn't make his statements about his plane shot at less innocent to me. He has a job to do, and was extremelly well-paid for it; that fact alone, should have made him true to his job., and make him feel that the public deserves good reporting. He should set an example for people, but not as a liar. Your writing here Art is humorous. It is good, and what you are saying makes more sense now. Thanks Art.

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  3. It's not just Brian Williams who suffer this hell! My dreams of becoming something has exceeded many limits against what I ever should be able to cope with based on my circumstances. But my dreams have still continued no matter what my limits been. My suffering have finds other ways... away from the reality for what my need haunts me. My limits have been for what my anxiety and what others have allowed me to be... crazy or "wise" for what ever my life requires... due to unawareness.

    If I would have had those around me... those who looked up to me for what my madness was capable... something useful for them... then I'd also have been for what "benefit" I could act out. My luck... there was none!

    I actually think that almost everyone has dreams for what repressed needs require... it in one or another sense.

    Can we "fool" our neocortex to believe in something that is... that suffering is because of pain... it more than our need to escape overwhelms us... then we have won our battle.

    It is not Brian Williams problems... he do not know... we know...now it's our problem... if we want to change our surroundings.

    Frank

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  4. Hi,

    this whole article almost sums up that 'wrong turn' in human evolution. Instead of aiming directly at needs we conflate an 'alternative' reality to suit our denial of not meeting those needs.
    And I am absolutely no exception. Yet I am the one to be envied. . . Let me explain:
    I work in a dangerous trade, sometimes I wonder what the hell I am doing up scaffolding or teetering on the edge of a beam directing the crane driver with another one dangling close by. . .

    The craziest perceptions of all come from my bosses conflation of his part in MY business working for him. I am the carpenter but her knows carpentry better than I despite having cut no more than a few dozen or so joints in his entire career as a SAWYER. . . He speaks to OUR clients as if he knows my trade. Recently he's started referring to me as "Our Lead Carpenter", but this is only in name because I am compelled to dance to his tune in his workshop whilst he the sawyer keeps me waiting for poor grade timbers that frequently can't be used. And I'm on zero hours fixed price work. Yet when it comes down to it he is also a menace on site erections and I've asked him to let me manage the whole affair. This "borrowing of the image" of danger and skill is what money making is based on. Not the skill itself.

    People say to me "how do you get the joints to fit so tightly together"; sometimes I turn to my boss and ask him to explain. . . The sooner people take their hands out of other people's pockets the better. This 'story' about a 'story' told by a 'story teller' is no different from all the rest of societies messy attempts at sustaining its false self images and trying to turn a buck out it along the way. Fortunately I love my trade, so, it ain't me being cynical because people love the work I do to boot.

    Paul G.

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  5. I feel like I walk a delicate line with my songwriting. I write a portion of my songs as a veteran advocate to bring awareness to post traumatic stress and suicides of veterans that are higher than the usual demographic due to the nature of their traumas compounding? ( this in itself is an act-out of course)

    In spite of what's happened to me, I still feel like a fraud. Not worthy to represent these other people that suffered far more than me. This is another form of what I haven't yet resolved enough of which is feeling deeply unloved. I have felt (hopefully) enough to not to look like a fool though or to act it.

    Being aware of putting my music out there, I'm very conscious to try not to look like the "nutters" in the music and film world etc that are screaming " Please Love Me " with their egos ( and Primal pain ) out on parade. It's nauseating to observe.

    To be yourself is to create your art in a meaningful way but hopefully not come off looking like an idiot doing it. Feeling that I have enough talent to ask others to listen is another painful experience. Of course, having people respond positively does fire off the dopamine and pleasure centers of the brain temporarily making me feel loved and then I have to feel again of the past where I knew I was not.

    Ah, the tortured artist stereotype. On the other hand, I would not be "creating" at all had I not entered into therapy, so what's a poor boy to do? Humor gets me through much! Thanks for a good article Art. ( did you just feel the dopamine? )

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  6. the laws of show/see business are not yet discovered...
    sting's new show on Broadway is closed because it could not cover the expenses.
    when i accidentally read about it i thought about your production "Primal Scream".
    just be careful...

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    Replies
    1. Vuko: Believe me I am careful. The cost of our production was half of my retirement pay. art

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  7. the painter is not famous to me but the museum is and the person represented in painting is…
    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antonello_da_Messina_-_The_Dead_Christ_Supported_by_an_Angel_-_WGA0749.jpg

    what is credible? what is charisma? leadership?
    belief is a strong impuls, need to belong…
    do I like this music/film or I like to belong to a fan club. is this blog a fan club for me? symbols, dreams, representations… abreactions..
    and then I read this> http://www.haaretz.com/life/books/.premium-1.604326

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  8. Primal Therapy must be done thoroughly!
    We must believe in symptoms to trace to its cause... and not something that must be silenced at all costs!
    Can we cheat our neocortex to believe in something that tells of a truth that "only" shows itself for what symptoms limit it to... then we have gained much (believing in something that is).
    Not only deceive our neocortex... we must also be strong against what today's experts advise us to do... if we can handle it.
    If we turn to the bearer of silencing the symptoms and not the cause... so we have lost all for what tracks leads to!
    How in the world shall this let to be done? Run over them with steamrollers for what science tells about! But we must also act for what steamrollers are capable of doing... it we are far from doing today.
    Art I have learned that those who came from primal therapy long ago are the ones who put up barierer through slander and faith in God ... it's a sad story!
    We must make ourselves heard much more clearly!
    Frank.

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  9. I suffer and have suffered terribly due to I have no right to the care that helps me... for what my symptoms talks about... it when I ask for help at the psychiatric clinics in Sweden!

    I receive no financial compensation if I choose a health care beyond the scope of what is legalized and my syntom is lost for what they contain. I must further be suffering... be ashamed of my anxiety and depression!

    It's not only a tragedy in the sense that they are not knowledgeable of its task ... it's an assault it is impossible to be freed from... it with the knowledge of what science tells us about!

    A legal process is a absolutely necessary step as the profession so obstinately refuses to listen. The consequences are catastrophic... a question of life and death. The issue of life and death must be in the shadow of itself as the reactions fail!

    What happens in our bodies for what all the substances causing degradation. Is not it a matter for the law... it when the profession of psychiatry and psychology is not knowledgeable of its task?

    When substances in order to repress has burned out it self and can no longer be produced so is the slope steeply to burn out our body... and long before that. An outcry echoes in empty corridors at our Institution! We can only watch as long as the legal process is not part of the question!

    How can we make the issue heard and not least within ourselves

    Your Frank.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Frank,

      -"A legal process is a absolutely necessary step as the profession so obstinately refuses to listen". . .

      I try not to tell other people about themselves unless seriously provoked and I try not to be CERTAIN about anything except FACTS. The problem with the FACTS of repression is that SO FAR they remain tantalisingly unproven. Even if the final link between specific gene methylations (and acetylations) and actual traumatic events perpetrated by specific individuals is eventually found (doubtful), it will remain irrelevant in the eyes of the LAW.

      This so because the LAW is primarily enshrined as a deterrent. Proving a case is costly and in a public forum only ever undertaken when the costs of the 'crime' are apparently very much more than the costs of litigation. The anti smoking campaign is a case in point; and that took many decades to 'prove'.

      Ironically, nicotine is a first line blocker but the anti smoking campaign never got anywhere near understanding that 'cause'. To this day the only reason why smoking is frowned on is because there is a link between smoking and the cost of later treatment for proven negative side effects. That people smoke and inhale nicotine to block 1st line pain will be a very hard 'point' to prove indeed. Nobody is interested in causes, they are only interested in effects. That is the terrifying circular and self fulfilling negative feedback of repression. . . very frustrating to observe and even more difficult to cure in oneself. . . I should know.

      Paul G.

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    2. Alan: thanks for the heads up. art

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    3. More to come Paul!

      Do we believe in the scientific questions for what anxiety and depression are caused so too will our limbic systems make itself heard it in our neocortex! A well possible electrochemical procee to follow physiologically... but very expensive!

      It's also a question of how serious it is if mistakes are made around the primal therapy!?

      Your Frank

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    4. Hi Alan,

      Thanks, I obviously stand corrected,
      I got my information from Primal Theory, even on this blog. But it's possible I read it wrong, or misinterpreted the words in reverse kind of way. Are you saying it stimulates the brainstem? I was a cigarette addict for many decades and my experience is that it calmed my anxiety, calmed my lovelessness, my loneliness and took away my appetite. . . a cigarette was as good as a meal or even a drink. . . and as I detoxed from it I became driven by more and more desire for other drugs such as alcohol, sugar, fatty foods, and morphine type things, but maybe I am misinformed. Please put me right about what is and isn't a 1st line blocker. Possibly what I liked about tobacco was never the nicotine. . . perhaps it was some of or one of the 90 other active ingredients. . .

      Now cigarette smoke makes me feel like vomiting and caffeine makes me horribly jittery. There's a lot of people who report that. Never have I equated the two as similar in my experience. Coffee and cigarettes were the 'speedball' for me, like amphetamine and heroine. I never got into amphetamine or heroine but I tried both. I came to the conclusion a cigarette was like heroin, a cup of coffee was like speed. Too much coffee and a cigarette helped. . . too much multi tasking and a cigarette helped but coffee would fuck it up ! All the tradesmen I know smoke to calm themselves down at the point of serious complicated decision making. . . just like a little shot of alcohol or morphine or CBD.

      Paul G.

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    5. Hi Alan,

      well I stand corrected. I thought I heard Art say nicotine is a 1st line blocker but I often misread / hear stuff. I was a tobacco addict; it zapped my anxiety. I gave up coffee because it made me jittery. Consequently I don't really get what you're saying but I don't doubt you are right.

      Paul

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    6. Hi Frank,

      Have you ever had dealings in court? If not keep it that way. Do yourself a favour and keep out of the office of a solicitor. Save yourself the stigma, the shame, the cost and the blame. . .

      Paul G.

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    7. So where did I get this misconception about nicotine? Why did I become addicted to it and why did it take my anxiety and appetite away? Why do people feel calmer after smoking a cigarette?

      Paul G.

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    8. I will never go to court for anything. What you get is law. Not justice. Art

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    9. Alan: If it is not then I stand corrected too. So are you sure of what you write? art

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    10. Hi,
      My mum had mastitis when I was born and couldn't breast feed me. Long before I read the Primal Scream I worked out for myself that the reason I liked sucking on cigarettes was because I am titty starved. I suspect my mum smoked whilst pregnant with me and so tobacco withdrawal combined with titty deprivation = smoking addiction in the critical window. . . I bet that's true for a lot of other people too. That was my original point really. . .

      Perhaps the word "blocker" is incorrect. . . anything smoked will have a suppressant effect on the brainstem because the smoke will contain all kinds of active ingredients like burned sugars, alkaloids & carbon monoxide etc and these will 'sedate' to an extent (give you a splitting headache as well). Perhaps we're splitting hairs here.

      Paul G.

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    11. "Once I was blind but now I see"!

      It surprises me that you do not see... it's throught the law you exist (is permitted to exist)... acting as politicians and policymakers decide! You are part of it all the time... you breathe it and you will get nowhere because you do not question it. You're embraced the law of every sentence you express as you believe that the law is immutable!
      Are you a loser for what you yourselves are so convinced?

      Are you afraid to face the railings in court and be ridiculed more than standing up for what science proves? Well then... you have given up on what science scares established it to defend them self and we allow ourselves to be burned at the stake just like Copernicus companion... now burnt without ash is formed.

      An attempt is an attempt! An attempt is better than no attempt at all. But if you do not believe... or sees that you have enough science for evidence of circumstances... then you are excused.

      I know you live in countries where the law is designed to more governed by power and money... but it is not so here in Sweden. I have seen many cases where those in power had to "face the music" and admit their faults.

      We live in different worlds... you dare not... for all the things in the world you'll excuse can happen (and perhaps it can) at the railing in a court of law. But if you yourself become a victim then there are no limits of what you can do in sense of defense (I saw what OJ Simpson was willing to sacrifice) Now you... yourselves are not a victim now it feels not as important to stand up at the railing of a court... but those who suffer would give anything to see us standing there... if they know the sience of Primal Therapy!

      If we are not prepared to "crawl in the shit" for matters of science then the human race is in trouble!

      This is also the answer to what the next post is crying out for help without money, "the Looking Glass is Inside Out (Revised)"

      Frank.

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    12. Alan,

      this is impressive to say the least. I confess, I don't really know what I mean when I say: "1st line blocker". I have experiences of using tobacco and it zapping my anxiety. I have other assumptions, quite possibly all wrong.

      I also have experiences of smoking rollups using newspaper and other 'campfire combustibles' such as berries, leaves and twigs from oak, ash & beech trees around the campfire as an 11yr old and getting as high as a kite from the 'smoke'; not just me either. . . What a laugh !

      Why was I addicted to tobacco for so long and only three attempts over thirty years got me off the 90 different active ingredients / drug s ? I really don't know. When I got the idea of '1st line blocker' (from where ever) I realised I wanted to suck to get some high. . . or some 'relief' from starvation of 'high'. I particularly liked "Golden Virginia" hand rolling tobacco in rizlas. I'm still addicted to other things.

      Carpentry keeps me from my worst excesses. . .

      This blog helps me learn stuff. . .

      Paul G.

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    13. Hi Frank,

      -"Are you afraid to face the railings in court and be ridiculed more than standing up for what science proves"-?

      YES.

      Frank, you take the lead and I'll be your witness. But if I had a million pounds in sterling I would not launch an act out in court, nor would I ask you to be a witness.

      I can assure you that if you had a million krona you would not spend it on converting science into law that doesn't exist. . .

      My bet is that you would use the cash to set up an exoteric Primal Group to help people like us channel into the system that already exists. . .

      That's my guess. . . But if you really want to lose ALL your million krona on paying lip servants to shout at deaf ears. . . well matey, you go ahead. . .

      Paul G.

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    14. Actually Frank I really don't want to fight. It's quite simple.

      No more fighting, no more adversity, no more challenging, well except in defense, and last of all. . .

      No more litigation !

      Paul G.

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  10. An email comment:
    Thanks Art for writing.....

    Yes, but it really hurts to feel that... which is just the opposite of what he wants to feel.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love is and we can never alter or otherwise imagine it to be something else... if so then it is not love we're talking about! It's our time to be and love is lost! How do we know that? We do not know and barbarism is our lot!

    Once we "know" it... then we are in suffering... something we can never imagine talks about need of love... why religion embraced it as the fight against hell! What a disaster! We do not want to know about our own suffering because we suffer from it! Is that possible? YES!
    So... we must belive in something that is instead of what is not! Hell is the need of love we suffer when it is not in conscious awareness.

    Frank

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  12. Why we should reconsider the use of frozen sperm:

    The obvious reason is that the DNA in sperm is severely damaged by the freezing process. This fact has never been of much concern to scientists because the differences between frozen-sperm-babies and fresh-sperm-babies are "immeasurable". This "scientific conclusion" is enough to keep the politicians satisfied.

    But let's look a little closer. A sperm cell contains DNA. This DNA contains instructions on how to build and maintain the sperm cell, and it also contains instructions on how to build a new human based on the father's emotional and physical experiences (this is a recently proven fact).

    And the egg contains DNA which is programmed to create the egg and pass the mother's experiences on to the new human.

    When the egg and sperm collide, there is a problem. Neither of them want to change because they are still trying to maintain themselves according to the instructions provided by their DNA. So what happens? Well, tiny organic robots move around inside the fertilized egg, Think of them as lawyers employed to make some serious changes. These robots reset many (but not all) of the switches in the DNA so that it is programmed to build stem cells which can become any type of cell -- not just a sperm or an egg. But the robots do not reset all of the switches. Some of the switches are left on so that they will pass the parents' experiences on to the baby.

    So what is an experience? An experience, in this context, is a set of instructions; a formation in the DNA, a program written by stress hormones and love hormones, a program written by experience. A single sperm cell could contain many experiences which could influence the physical and emotional behaviour of the new human. Do we want to damage those imprinted experiences? Do we want to defy evolution?

    http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/inheritance/

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/sperm-can-carry-dads-stress-as-well-as-his-genes-1409938666

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  13. An email comment:
    "Good morning,

    Glad you're back. I thought you might be ill. Whatever the so-called experts are saying about Brian Williams is downright nonsense.

    I very much dislike the term "devil", more so now that even the pope believes that some "evil" strikes from inside a person, an evil that must be driven out. This terminology harks back to the times when peoples lived by such a belief. Every time I hear that someone is "battling his or her inner demons" I cringe at this allusion to the devil.

    There is such fear of acknowledging that the "affected" person is suffering from long-standing, unconscious injuries inflicted in earliest childhood and beyond. Nothing to do with non-existent evil spirits.

    Thank you for the blogs."

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  14. Hi Art

    Totally off topic. I have just come across this TED talk by Nadine Burke Harris about how early childhood trauma can cause heart disease and cancer in later life. She was doing a study about ADHD and realised that there were mitigating factors behind each child's ADHD.
    http://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime#t-66753

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  15. Check out the TED talk by Courtney Warren also. It reminds me of Jean Jensons excellent book, Reclaiming Yourself, and I suspect Ms Warren may have had a primal or two, herself. Nadine Harris s talk was excellent as well.

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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