Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Ken Rose on "Life Before Birth". Part 6/6


KR: Yes. We're gong to wrap it up, but I want to say something here, most of us to greater or lesser degrees have been wounded, have been traumatized, either a little or not such a little, and we pay the consequences of this, and there's really not much that can be done about it in our short of undertaking a very difficult therapy, which some people do but most people in practical terms cannot. Like many people, I had a difficult birth, and I knew who my mother was and she smoked cigarettes and she had an unhappy marriage, and I know that I have suffered my whole life from the life I spent inside my mother and as a consequence of the reality of my family that I was born into, and I just want to say that even though I joined the 99% of humanity who suffers from difficult life circumstances, just understanding how all this works and understanding that there are reasons that we are anxious, or depressed, or strange or tormented to different degrees in different ways. I probably could be saying this in a lot better way but I'm kind of just blurting it out. I'm just making the case that just knowing this or understanding it is very helpful and that is just my testimony and it helps me a lot to understand who I am and how I got this way, and the plusses and minuses of living and ordinary life as a human being in the 20th century in the 21st century. I just wanted to say that.

JL: Yes, I think you said it splendidly, I think what this book does is forces you to sort of look at yourself, and look at yourself differently and really start to think back to those earliest experiences and your mother's pregnancy and think about how you are as a person what your personality... what is derived from and who you are as a result of very early experiences, and I think that's a very illuminating and also, I think in a sense curative experience, just knowing, just having that knowledge allows you to better understand yourself and kind of who you are.

KR: Yes, my mother was anesthetized at my birth, I was anesthetized and I'm a mess. I've been a mess my whole life.

JL: But, again, I think as Dr. Janov writes, we didn't know a lot of things fifty years ago, and behaved the way we did because of the knowledge we had at the time, what was available and I think one of his points is that, that knowledge is different now, we know different things, so we have to start to chart a new course for psychotherapy and a new course for the whole practice of pregnancy, and how we treat pregnant women and help them have the healthiest birth experience they can.

KR: We can do much better going forward and we can give our new children and their new children much better lives. That’s pretty great!

JL: That’s the hopeful way, I think to end, for sure!

KR: I really thank you so much for coming and talking to us.

JL: I appreciate it, it was really a true pleasure and hopefully I’ll hear from you again soon.

KR: Hopefully we did a descent job serving Dr. Janov’s heroic work.

JL: Yes, I think you did, and I appreciate you sharing your own experience.

KR: All right, we’ll talk again, thank you, thank you thank you…
Jeff Link, Chicago Illinois, the editor of “Life Before Birth” I’m sorry I don’t have the book, how our womb life rules the rest of our lives, like it or not, that’s not the subtitle, but like it or not, what can you do? It’s hard, it’s painful, it’s horrible, and there it is, what can you do? You might as well eat it. You’re going to eat it anyway, and eating it is OK. If we were going to live forever, then we’d really be screwed up, forever. But, we’re just here for a few decades, and if we can move this thing along, if we can provide our children with a much better head start a much better prognosis for a relatively pain free life, or a relatively trauma free life, this is stupendous achievement, and something to be very excited about and proud of, I think, and I hope you do too, and I hope that you’ll investigate Dr. Janov’s work. New book is called “Life Before Birth,” and you know that’s what we’re here for, we’re here to improve… if we do have a future while we’re here, we might as well make it a better future for our family. It ain’t about us as individuals, it’s about us as a family among other families, among all other families. I hope we’re getting this, thank you for listening.

That was Jeff Link, the editor of “Life Before Birth,” by Arthur Janov

 
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32 comments:

  1. PaulSeptember 24, 2015 at 2:35 AM

    Well Art,

    If the editor of your book can say that about himself then I can say this about myself:

    I am experiencing a long drawn out collapse with symptoms which are changing dramatically over time. I have very little 'control' over these symptoms and I wish I had a proficient therapist to 'sit' with me and tease out the (so called) "Right" insights so that I can move on more consciously. . . But like billions of others, I don't. I therefore am faced with continuing as I am OR with powerful drugs prescribed by people who would NEVER NEVER NEVER admit in a thousand years that they too might be repressed or damaged. . . After all (you can imagine them saying): "If I were repressed, I would know about it". . . I tried some of these drugs and they just made me worse.

    I daren't even talk about these 'symptoms' I am getting for fear of 'recriminations' and the ever present WARNINGS of Abreaction. . . OK ok ok ok ok! ! ! I am sick to death of the "Right Advice". . . I am what I am and there's no words or 'actions' that will make a blind bit of difference. Well, except this education I am getting. . .

    Aand now I am told about Dr Holden who started evangelising God to your patients whilst self primalling. . . Well, I'm NOT evangelising anything. Not a jot of any opinion about jack f*****g shit do I 'advise' to any one. Except one thing. . . I am experimenting on Facebook and what I am discovering is that after 55yrs I am still trying to find a family, a peer group, a clan to be with because those I arose out of simply are not there for me, NO matter how much I am there for them. . .

    I am a puppy whimpering and running around barking up the wrong tree. . .

    I really don't know where I would be without this blog. I am NOT dependent on it; I think I was. . . But not any more. At some point you will no longer be able to keep up your efforts on this site and you are not to worry, I am just fine and dandy with the 'symptoms' (that are changing over time) and the amazing EDUCATION I have gleaned from this effort of yours. This education is beyond material value, it is not possible to put a price on what I've learned, nor is it possible to put into words how on this Earth I use it and what "insights" I gain as a consequence. . .

    Some insights defy putting into words. Art, may you spend the rest of your days assured you have added a substantial quality to the lives of some of those who never could attend your center as well as to those who did. I see very little difference IMHO; there are all sorts to make a world and each and every one has their own insight.

    Paul G.

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  2. KatarzynaSeptember 24, 2015 at 6:51 AM

    Dear Arthur
    What do you think about Peter A. Levine and his SE?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PaulSeptember 25, 2015 at 12:02 PM

      Hi Piotr, I ask that question too. . .

      Paul G.

      Delete
  3. beachcoast7September 25, 2015 at 1:48 AM

    Well...what can one do? Every "system" is different. Some try to make the best out of what has been handed to them. Maybe we know a lot more now , which is great progress, but in today's world, there is also a lot of unnecessary distracting interference. So to me, besides dealing with a difficult birth, one has to also deal with what's out there now. If one cannot get primal therapy, for some reason or another...sometimes maybe one should "just concentrate on a simpler life more"(I don't know what the answer is for some because like I said...everybody's system is different in a way, but I do know that I am thankful for the research that has been given to people who have been unloved at birth or experienced birth trauma, shock, etc....
    Dr. Janov has revealed facts about primal therapy, unloving childhood, birth trauma, shock, etc... that more people should pay attention to.

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  4. beachcoast7September 25, 2015 at 1:59 AM

    Sure it's easy for me to just write what might help, but it is a really sad situation. People suffer, I know, they have suffered from in the womb ...onward. Those who didnt experience the suffering to me, most of those people have absolutely no idea what one thinks or what one goes through just to be "normal...connected". We try the best way we know how. We "carry on," to what helps us at times, admidst the cruel laughs and judgements by others...but some just have no idea....pure unfeeling ignorance.

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  5. PaulSeptember 25, 2015 at 2:31 AM

    Hi,

    I have been having repeated small insights into why 're-living' is very likely the only way that the imprint can be 'reversed/healed'.
    First of all I see that our thinking brains desperately try to find solutions to problems as if they are all 'out there'. . . Thus we can turn our attention to the methylation/acetylation process inside us and think up many different possibilities of how to undo this. Chemically. This is such a good example of the reduction function of mentation. . .

    Art has banged on endlessly about how only the patient knows. . . Only the patient can tell; again this can all be interpreted as 'Out There' in the therapists mind, or the laymans. But we aren't just talking about methylation or acetylation but also ALL the myriad 'complexities' that surround this key chemical thing. A patient can't possibly hope to hand over responsibility for their de - methylation to any one else because this myriad is only really navigable by the patient hirself. . . There are more than merely a few 'switches' that need to be thrown. Later, I expect scientists, epigeneticists will begin to describe many of them and to show how de-methylation can only really belong to the patient because there really is NO OTHER way back than by the patient trawling through their history (experientially) in reverse order. Every one hates absolutes in a relative world. It's considered churlish to be absolutist but I personally can't see how the traumas can be re-integrated/ de -potentised; how the 'set points' normalised in any other way than through re-living because there could not possibly be a magic gun that shoots some high tech bullet to "Undo The Imprint". . . Though I'm sure many many people are already wasting time and money on this kind of research. Of course it could be possible for some 'inventions' to help, to speed up the process, to 'narrow' the margins of error. . . As there always are in human endeavour. But we have to face up to the fact that with trauma there can't easily be a direct and simple solution that the patient can rely on or hand responsibility over to another with.

    Paul G.

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  6. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2015 at 4:12 AM

    Art: this is again of topic but important to spreading the primal message so I hope you won´t mind.
    As you know, I have an mail list to which I put out regular infoarticles exposing the truth behind the many scams and corporate cons of our age, eg vaccinations, water fluoridation, microwave comms (WiFi/masts/mobiles, DECT etc), meat, fish, dairy, cereals, big pharma, vivisection, the cancer racket, the arthritis racket etc etc etc. There are about 20 people on my list, and several have children of various ages, ranging from one to 14 years. I know all of these people and parenting varies from well informed & intelligent to excruciating. If you are still intending to write a piece on how and why to raise children I would like to use it as an infoarticle. The articles are also passed on to university professors and journalists. If anyone wants to subscribe to my list, email me at bettybabes@live.com.pt Gary

    ReplyDelete
  7. Arthur JanovSeptember 25, 2015 at 4:52 AM

    Piotr, Send again, I cannot find it. art

    ReplyDelete
  8. vukoSeptember 26, 2015 at 5:17 AM

    for me big part of Ken’s interview is listening to his voice. maybe that is one of the reasons why reading this transcript is like reading new information. and I am amazed again how he pulls it off and make it through the interview while I am anxious he will fall apart. Listening to him after the stroke is not the same experience. the painkillers do the job well. But again there is courage in him! It is encouraging to listen how he shares his confusions and fears with friends…
    Psychiatric profession helps but in these conditions I see primal psychiatry could help a lot more! Ken needs someone familiar. I can imagine wonders if he had/has a familiar primal therapist help through the recovery. Many gates get weakened during and after the stroke. Temporary loss of memory… personality changes…
    When I listen to mr. Rose maybe I hear some cultural differences too. But at the same time I hear a man that I could open myself to more than many others. That we share the similar shaky womb world. a world that can be expressed bot not at wish and not with someone incompetent.

    just my impression.

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    Replies
    1. Arthur JanovSeptember 27, 2015 at 1:12 PM

      Vuko, I agree. I did not know he had a stroke. Where did you learn about it? art

      Delete
    2. vukoOctober 3, 2015 at 2:20 PM

      i speculated about how during the stroke many gates gets weakened... is it a trauma for the brain? it is life endangering event. i witnessed the effect of aneurysm bursting in subarachnoid region. it is dramatic. i don't know what it does to a gating system. maybe not much in this acute phase. but, again it is probably a major challenge for the brain. an alarm that calls for reaction...

      two days ago i was listening to a prominent vascular surgeon answering to what can be done to prevent the formation of aneurysm. of all lifestyle changes i think he accentuated to quit smoking. the goal is to slow the deterioration of function of elastin inside the blood vessel walls that happens naturally at older age. what was shocking to hear is that all the elastin production stops after birth! all the elastin we will ever have is produced during nine months inside the womb?

      Delete
  9. vukoSeptember 26, 2015 at 6:32 AM

    maybe it doesn't take great courage to feel. just right methodology and environment. the feeling will come naturally. it is not some heroic achievement. feeling is never heroic. but i don't know much about it. for me heroic is something beyond my capability. something to admire. but for those who do it it is not so much to brag about, i guess. we are all heroes within our circumstances.

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    Replies
    1. Arthur JanovSeptember 27, 2015 at 1:11 PM

      Vuko: Absolutely. art

      Delete
    2. PaulSeptember 30, 2015 at 12:38 PM

      vuko,

      -"we are all heroes within our circumstances"-. . .

      If only a majority of people really knew this perhaps we would refrain from expecting certain 'leaders' to act out heroism on our behalf. . . or letting them carry on like that.

      Paul G.

      Delete
    3. vukoOctober 4, 2015 at 4:23 AM

      Hi,
      I think neo cortex is made to be a higher leader. But it is disconnected. Just like our leaders are from us. These leaders organize in hierarchy of manipulations based on false information. Based on lack of information. Based on need to be disconnected. Based on disconnected neo cortex. Based on addiction. This disconnected leadership is also helped by our “smart” (of course THEY are) devices that we carry in our pockets and wear on our skin. Fast spreading of bad leadership. It is epidemic )).

      But education is not a problem. Most of parents who were educated in Sumerhill decided not to do the same with their children because they wanted to spend more time together. Education is natural when it is connected. It is hard to manipulate the connected ones. She will easily accept to correct if wrong. High academic achievement is not bad per se.

      Instead of hoping for a better leader, better future, we need to remove the need for disconnection. Safety. That is what a true leader knows it is necessary. Proper methodology. To see what is going on and help others see it for themselves. To be connected with environment and help the natural process of healing. To expand each other views. Each other education, why not. A lot of education is behind the paper that will be published in October. It could be proved wrong in coming years. And that is the beauty of it. In careful and relaxed atmosphere of good leadership, education is not dangerous. I hope.

      Leaders with their instructions, advices, their informations are good for this and that. But if it doesn’t serve consciousness it could be even dangerous. If it happens all form above we remain lost, disoriented. And addicted to more of bad leadership. Bad leadership is addictive by definition. I think future could bring improved institutions. Improved leadership. More precise, more accurate, more "scientific" or whatever the future religion will strive to. Perfected global solutions for a more balanced world. More normalized. Better. But for who? For what?

      Delete
    4. Arthur JanovOctober 4, 2015 at 2:01 PM

      Vuko: Good Blog. art

      Delete
    5. vukoOctober 5, 2015 at 3:47 AM

      bad leader is controlling the bad news. so they can trigger the disconnected people's anxiousness. then they come with the solution that prolongs the addiction to their bad leadership.
      good leader does not own or control the bad news. and so she doesn't offer solution. but knows how to help people to see what is true bad news. then every addiction is cured.

      big difference.

      but if we make the bad news an objective fact, does that mean that it becomes treatable from outside intervention? does the objective measuring of disease opens the door to yet another clumsy intervention?

      Delete
    6. PaulOctober 5, 2015 at 5:08 AM

      vuko,

      I like your post.

      Paul G.

      Delete
  10. PaulSeptember 26, 2015 at 5:01 PM

    Hi Art,

    ever the studious pupil I trawled this from 7 posts ago:

    -"That phrase that you write, ontology recapitulates phylogeny, is incorrect. There is no such thing.

    This idea also called Haeckels law, or the biogenetic law, was developed in the 19th century, and reflects antiquated views of evolution and also biology. There is simply no such thing. It was disproved by a scientist by the name of Walter Garstang, who said of the law, a house is not a shack with an addition, thus heckling Haekel. A famous quotation from the history of Science.

    Evolution is a very conservative process, and it retains structures of past evolutionary forms, but that does not mean a recapitulation of evolution is what were are seeing.

    There is a different process, called Paedomorphisis, that better accounts for what is being seen. Paedomorphisis is the retention fetal characteristics in adulthood.

    This process is probably responsible for the prevalence of culture in our species, because it means that genes, don’t regulate our adult behavior to the degree they do in other species"-.

    - So Art, I may be completely out of my depth here; but what seems important is the way the brain has this 'three tier' structure. That there has been a sequential development from brainstem to limbic to neo-cortex and that trauma gets laid down most dramatically in the 1st stage, the critical window. Subsequent development becomes skewed because of the way later stages grow out from earlier structures and reflect the imprint. . . A physiologic history book in the brain.

    The point your commentator made is surely about the false hypothesis of assuming that the human organism as a whole develops as if it is a facsimile of the history of mammalian evolution, which is obviously a very simplistic stretch. But surely it is also not the point. Because the point of Primal (which your commentator mentions worked for him) is not about the way your skeletal/muscular system has OR hasn't evolved similarly or disimilarly to the evolution of mammals as a whole group, BUT that in general our PSYCHOLOGY has. . . So, is this observation by your commentator actually just an interesting red herring? ? ?

    I have noticed that people love to set up STRAW MEN even when they don't disagree with the basic premise. . . (?) (!) I do it myself sometimes and it's very infuriating because it doesn't really add anything to the central discussion; could you clarify this because it is interesting but I'm out of my depth. . ?

    Paul G.

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    Replies
    1. Arthur JanovSeptember 27, 2015 at 1:09 PM

      Paul: I have seen in Primals the exactly replication of evolution. art

      Delete
    2. Arthur JanovSeptember 27, 2015 at 1:10 PM

      Paul: very well put. art The brain is a history book and if we don’t read it and understand it, it will bite us in the ass, and make us sick. art

      Delete
    3. PaulSeptember 27, 2015 at 2:26 PM

      Hi rt,

      Sometimes Art you have such a crude way of putting things, but isn't it true that sometimes without the crudites the soups doesn't have any texture. . .

      Paul G.

      Delete
    4. PaulSeptember 27, 2015 at 3:37 PM

      Hi Art,

      So basically, your reference to the 'generic phrase': -"Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny" is specific to brain / psychology, NOT to the whole evolution of mammalian brainstem / skeletal / muscular structure. You don't have to answer this. . . It's a simple semantic issue; neither do I or any other humans. Simply speaking: Anthropology, Sociology and Psychological departments continue to debate words whilst missing the point. . . There is a thee tier structure to our human psycho/physiological make-up, which is sequential. . . 1 to 2 to 3, and back down: 3 to 2 to 1. . . It's not rocket science, but it is worth repeating. . .

      Paul G.


      Paul G.

      Delete
    5. PaulSeptember 27, 2015 at 3:56 PM

      Hi Art,
      Another old point,
      we discussed the possibility, many moons ago, that access to 1st line stuff may occur directly, as long as there wasn't too much 2nd &/or 3rd line pain, or that it had been worked through first. . . Or such 'words', and this might aid resolution of later stuff. The point I'm aiming at is that there cold be in your system a kind of "Up / Down" access process, a kind of 'bi-polar' presentation/ interpretation which is prevalent to the way our descent allows re-integration. . .

      Paul G.

      Delete
    6. Arthur JanovSeptember 28, 2015 at 1:52 AM

      Paul, ooh so intellectual. Wait til Oct 17 for the publication of my major paper in the World Congress of Psychiatry, and you will have an answer. art

      Delete
    7. PaulSeptember 28, 2015 at 4:41 AM

      Hi Art,

      I'm not really an intellectual; I'm just a little frightened kid inside clutching at straws. . . As we all so often do when desperate for 'buoyancy'. . .

      Paul G

      Delete
    8. Arthur JanovSeptember 28, 2015 at 8:36 AM

      Paul, you are so right and I am so wrong. art

      Delete
    9. PaulSeptember 30, 2015 at 1:58 AM

      Art, I never want anyone to be 'wrong'. . . And I'm suspicious of people who are 'right', most of all myself.

      I get nervous about being right. . . I used to 'love it'. . . But now I just don't know. . .

      Paul G

      Delete
    10. Richard AtkinSeptember 30, 2015 at 3:22 PM

      Art it is really great to see that you are still progressing with your important work despite your age. I don't know of anyone else who is anywhere near as sharp and productive in their nineties. And I know your work MUST continue to develop properly after you are gone. I hope others can see what feeling has done for your health. So important!

      Delete
    11. Arthur JanovOctober 1, 2015 at 6:19 AM

      Thanks Richard. I do hope the work carries on. Don’t forget to read my piece on epigenetics coming out Oct 17 in the World Psychiatric Assoc as published by Activitas Nervosa Superior. art

      Delete

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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