Friday, October 21, 2016

Suicide is Painless Repression, Despair and the Relief of Reliving Near-Death Feelings (3/5)


As I have written "à maintes reprises", many times over, we respond primarily and firstly to apparent problems in the present, and later to inner links that are awakened by those current problems, such as job losses or divorces. Those repressed traumas are ready to fire and when those links fire together they become wired together, solidified. That is the process I call resonance. The body and brain are busy reacting to what happened decades earlier during womb-life and birth. Those are the events we continually react to because of their remoteness, something that occurred when we were vulnerable and easily and heavily impacted. This is not only my hypothesis. Within the past 20 years, there have been literally hundreds of studies verifying the importance of early imprints, how they last a lifetime and alter our systems. Imprints lay down engraved memories that show themselves when we are alone, in a weakened state or otherwise too open to events.

That is what I believe may have happened to L’Wren Scott in those moments alone before she took her life. She must have had an inkling, a deep down unease and hopeless feeling that would have warned her. It was all hidden inside her, pushing through her weakened defense layers and making her feel so hopeless and “down,” despite her current surroundings. Being alone for a short time can set it off. It can first set off, “I am all alone and no one to hold and comfort me.” Just a few hours alone with no one nearby can do it. Remember, small things can set off huge feelings. If she were left alone and neglected by her parents very early on, the connection to despair of the past it becomes clear. She probably had no idea about imprints or deep-lying trauma/memory. That is the reason our theory is so important, so that people who are suffering can be aware of what is going on inside and understand where their despair and suicidal thoughts come from. This may avoid needless deaths. How tragic and unnecessary all this. And now you understand our mission: not money nor fame, but the lives of us humans. We all have a basic right to a full-length life.

The Way In Is The Way Out

You may wonder why a privileged and wealthy celebrity can’t find distractions for her despair. Why doesn’t she run away or go to parties and “take her mind off of it?” She cannot; the imprint confines her. She lives within that primordial memory and cannot imagine or think about other solutions. There were no alternatives originally, thus there are none now while awash in the imprint. And the imprint forces her to remain on the same route all over again. Her hopelessness (depression) is all-consuming. She cannot stray outside its bounds. The stabs of depression she suffers are reminders of the mounting memory that periodically surges upwardly toward awareness.

There is no way to know now exactly why she killed herself. But a clue to her motive can be found post-mortem, in the manner in which she chose to kill herself. Scott had just about everything in life; although she was in debt, she lived well and lived high with Jagger. Yet she took the trouble to go through the machinations of hanging. Why not take the simpler “way out,” with pills? Though some will find this hard to believe, the answer goes back to the very beginning of life: the way in is often the way out. The same imprint that produced deep hopelessness at birth – the root of depression – is also what likely led to her to choose hanging. I am not familiar with the circumstances of Scott’s death, but I am not limiting my discussion only to her. This applies to all of us.

The fact of the deep imprint also can lead to hanging for if she were strangling on the cord she is most likely to repeat the act. It was the closest she came to death and the trauma and its consequences remain. Fifty years ago, I wrote about methods of suicide and I noted that they followed the deep imprint. Being strangled on the cord would lead to hanging. Being suffocated in the womb might lead to gassing oneself. Being mangled at birth might end in jumping off a building or in front of a train. A mother drugging herself might be duplicated in suicide by an overdose of pain-killers in the offspring. Thus, the imprint, now embedded, searches out its duplicate, like most act-outs. And act-outs follow the imprint closely because there is a sense of approaching death early on, and it follows by approaching death now, where death is the final relief from this catastrophic imprint. That is also an imprinted memory – final relief. It is the final denouement of the imprint.

Recent research has confirmed the link between the nature of trauma at birth and the manner of suicide chosen in adulthood. In a study published in the journal Biology of the Neonate, K. J. S. Anand and associates state that in a number of suicides by violent means “the significant risk factors were those perinatal events that were likely to cause pain in the newborn.” (Anand & Scalzo, 2000). In other words, suicides will often choose a method that reflects the prototype of their birth experiences. Why? Because each prototype requires its own conclusion. For a neonate strangling on the cord, further strangling would have ended the agony. Those drowning in amniotic fluid at birth may opt for death by drowning. Those who received a massive dose of anesthetic at birth may take an overdose of barbiturates, or they might gas themselves in their garage. And so on.

I remember one patient who saved up dynamite; having experienced anoxia at birth, he was going to put a stick to his head and blow his head off so that he wouldn't have one second of pain and hopelessness. He laughs at that now, but at the time it spoke volumes of his desperation. Another patient was obsessed with jumping off a building. During her birth by Cesarean, this person had felt wrenched into space with nothing to hang onto. Another patient, battered and squeezed at birth, obsessed about jumping off a bridge, head first.

I found this was almost a universal law: we attempt to die in the way our birth was threatened. Those memories, that of trauma during gestation, last a lifetime and lead to same attempt years later to die in the way it might have happened at the beginning. In other words, as the memory of the early trauma rises, the memory of the early result mounts as well. Thus early strangulation may lead to the same course of action with the final denouement; death. The logic of the system. It is confirmation of the imprint and its lifelong effect on the system. It drives behavior ineluctably. So the imprint includes the probable outcome – death. We need to consider suicide as another form of act-out. It channels behavior despite exhortation and encouragement; the sense of approaching death. What is often articulated for those who have no idea about the imprint is, “I don’t want to live anymore.” And even that is not fully articulated; it is usually a vague thought or sense. It is often not, “I am in so much pain I don’t want to go on.” It is just a vague sense of hopelessness and helplessness that leads to an attempt. It all remains vague and aleatory, a constant rumination inside of a black cloud descending.


Anand, K. J. S., & Scalzo F.M. (2000) Can adverse neonatal experiences alter brain development and subsequent behavior? Biology of The Neonate, 77(2), 69-82. Print.

26 comments:

  1. Autumn Leaves in my Twilight Years

    I read with understanding / satisfaction your summaries and analyses. I am one of the proofs, for your idea, that Primal Therapy / Evolution in Reverse is potentially leading to a delayed freedom for us, who by survival reasons, due to traumas before, during and after birth, were forced to repress unbearable pain for decades. My understanding / satisfaction was slow in coming (≻30 years) because it took many visits back in time to sequentially re-live my 48 hr birth trauma.

    Putting words on my journey back into my world of emotions and repressions has been difficult. 300 blogs in recent years have only marginally managed to penetrate the complexity evolution had billions of years to organize randomly. However, this does not prevent me from seeing and understanding the patterns and repetitions that my eventful neurotic life has been full of. Changing environment / culture / language, family, work and leisure activities, when I had just managed to establish something seemingly satisfactory, was only marginally motivated by talent. My caprice has very much been an effect of early imprints. My birth lasted about 48 hours, during which I was obstructed, stuck, squeezed, choked, anesthetized and turned and pulled out "ass first." But I came out and I have never lacked inconvenient alternative challenges to deal with to reverse the trend...

    My birth complexity complicated even my suicidal thoughts until Tegretol (Carbamazepine) anesthetized them. I never could figure out a way to end my life. All the suicidal ideas I came up with felt wrong and it ended, every time, that I gave myself another chance. Even in my dreams I have, for the most part, found a new resort when the agony was the greatest. Fate had ironically, that my mother's exaggerated interpretation of a biblical advice to "give birth with pain," that my management career was dominated by assignments as change expert.

    As a retiree, I have the satisfaction of historical experiences of my pain and my life pattern, then I, now, am slowly taking me into the world of music and try to adapt myself to my tenor saxophone and interpreting blues scales. If I could turn grand mal seizures into negligible anxiety attacks, I will hopefully one day get Autumn Leaves to sound right. My life pattern speaks for me .... although I am late.

    Jan Johnsson

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-arN8RqqBIQ

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    1. Jan,

      Talk about bringing back childhood memories! Love that song. And I love the tenor sax, the way its sound hits me. I've listened to my share of Coleman Hawkins, but much more of Ben Webster and Lester Young. Enjoy your efforts with the song. No doubt you'll do it justice.

      Kip

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    2. Want to add that I've started becoming conscious of my birth (and before) fairly recently, in my mid-50's. Consciousness is coming in bits, sometimes just scrapes. As you mention, being trapped, squeezed. Suffocated. Being “dulled down”/subdued (anesthesia). The urgent need to move/get going/flee/escape. The physical components of the memories have been strong, and it’s been these physical feelings and sensations that’ve been leading me to consciousness on higher levels. Unlike you, I’m not retired yet; rather, I’m in a high stress profession, so it’s been a bit challenging to deal with the all this, but manageable so far. I can relate to the freedom that comes from consciousness.

      Kip

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  2. Do we know how long it will take for each of us to go through primal therapy before any opportunity for it to become the revolutionary process that it is?

    Maybe I should start with the question how many are there who are convinced that primal therapy is the right method to CURE psychological complications?

    There is only one thing to do for us and it is to start up for what is needed around the primal therapy! We do not have time even to ourselves if there is to be any chance of success. Obviously we can fall back and just be care about ourselves and that is obvious in itself the only possibility to our own life... but then we are alone... have we succeeded then... yes?

    I heard recently how a professor spoke about primal therapy "it will never be established in Sweden"! Is he afraid?... did he get anxiety for what it would mean to him if that were the case... if primal therapy would be established in Sweden? Yes it is obvious... he evolved a defense without any limits to what he could do to quiet the introduction of primalterain! That's what we have in front of us.

    Is the question of science around the primal therapy yet to weak... diffuse to be a case to be proven its science?

    Are we afraid like the professor who spoke about primal therapy... that it will never be established in Sweden? I mean to make a similar statement tells us of nothing more than ignorance and about anxiety... anxiety that puts a spoke in the wheels of science and letting the quackery continuing to burn people at the stake when science comes closer!?

    Resembling this not the scenario we have lived and continue to live by our inability to organize a revolution... a revolution absolutely indispensable?

    I do not think we need to be burned at the stake... but it is likely to be perceived as so for those who need to take a step down... a step away from a professional title to possibly feel the consequences of it... an experience of life and death absolutely necessary for what caused them to become a professional!

    Who is standing for the defense against a revolution to a healthier life? The victims are hopelessly innocent and can impossible know! They will be hopelessly chasing their demons... without perceiving that this is what is happens! Is there any who are responsible? Right... that is where the beginning is! The law is written to deal with those who do wrong!

    Frank

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    1. Frank,

      There will be no Primal Revolution, and Primal Therapy is established in Sweden since the '70s.

      To change a society takes more than a lifetime. Those who oppose PT today will be replaced by new generations. 150 years after Darwin, in some schools in the USA, the biblical Genesis still has to be taught parallel to the Evolution Theory in NATURAL SCIENCE class, as if religion were a subject next to math, physics, chemistry, and biology!

      Our missionary efforts are basically useless, Art, me and many others, have worked for 50 years trying to affect the systems, the politicians, and the psyche health care sector. You know the result.

      The reforms will come slowly but surely with each new generation, but not in our lifetime.

      We can only care for those next to us, if, if they ask for it.

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  3. But what about trauma after birth and continued trauma
    Multiple fathers, surgeries.
    Mental illness in family lineage.
    Suicide in lineage. Primal therapy cant fix that. I went into therapy fir months with emotional pain. I left with another surgery during therapy. There are some thimgs primal therapy cant fix.
    Abandonement. Abuse . Physical surgery.

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    1. Mark, We can fix the feeling associated with the trauma. I had continuing traumas and did get over a lot. We do not do magic but Primal Therapy is powerful. art

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  4. Yes i know. But surviving peritonitis at four, again at sixteen and again at 31 during therapy.left its toll on me.
    I had tubes in me keeping me alive. I dont want to relive that ever again. Ever. Having your guts ripped open and put back in you is hell. I was given last rites. All i recall was doc saying no go and dont look back. I lost every earthly possession. Now i seek spiritual answers. You are brilliant and like tesla ahead of your time. Feelings preceed thought. I get that. I
    Had three dads growing up and was abandond alot. Even after all that i msnaged to go after my dreams , wirking in media as a cameraman and filming presidents, the ricj, famous and powerful and going to peru to climb maccu piccu. But youre right, the feelings of making it or feeling important never arrive, feeling empty. I ususlly have a deep seated terror that never goes away. Having survived physical death three times, i have come to the conclusion that there are sime things primal therapy cant fix. As brillisnt as it is. To this day i canr be alone. I wouldnt make it. Even when with ithers i feel alone. trauma never leaves the mind and body. And while i search for answers spiritually im all too aware that usyslly is a defense as well. So what to do...pt isnt the answer and god?...yes pt is powerful and yet years ago i felt it to be a bit of a racket like est, tho im sure its better now...at some point i just git fed up with pt and wanted to leave abd experience life. God knows the therapists there at that time were as helpful as mud after i had my surgery.
    So what to do...i sadly sought attention thru my work in tv and no matter what famous world leader or motivational speaker or guru, it was never enough and no one cares. Seeking importance and significance surely is exhausting. I respect and admire you as a person that defines simple psychological brilliance. But i fear some pain never goes away. Ive been diagnosed with mdd and ocd and i fear i have schizophrenia. Due to loss of parents and trauma. Who treated treats you?....its like in theology...who do the top theologians go to seeking theyre answers to god. The world is a disaster imo....and why relive pain over and over and over...i guess it never goes away....i ended up in a psych ward as a 5150...they tried to get me on anti psychotics...i left. They made me worse...what to do. I fear im not gonna mske it. I lost my mom to od on pharma drugs, i dont want to mske the same mistake...

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    1. Hey Mark, I understand you. Yours was out of the ordinary. Life has its limits and you have gone beyond that. So I wish you the best. art

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    2. MArk I have similiar fears to yours. I've gone throught few surgeries. Two times almost lost my life, I had fucked up childhood and many times I asked a question is it too late for me? How much damage person can take?

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    3. Where there is life there is hope. art

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    4. Hi piotr...
      Yes. I have sheer terror. All. The. Time.i died physically three times. Art is right, tho i disagree with him. To a degree. Pt is not the answer to life. I tread on delicate ground here by suggesting there might be hope in the 'spiritual'
      Life. my middle name is thomas. Hence doubting thomas. You might consider the gospel of christ. I have seriously. Do i doubt. Yes. But i have yet to read anything to compare in drscribing the human condition.and suffering...but arts answer above is corrrct.

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  5. I also had a father that studied primal therapy. He didnt undergo it though. He got his phd in psych and was greatly influrnced by you. Unfortunately he did a number on me and was rsther insane and into the occult. Very dark person. So ive had trauma coming from all sides...ans hence very learyvof psychs. And psychiatrists. Now in not sure who or whst to trust. Feelings only?

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  6. I also had a father that studied primal therapy. He didnt undergo it though. He got his phd in psych and was greatly influrnced by you. Unfortunately he did a number on me and was rsther insane and into the occult. Very dark person. So ive had trauma coming from all sides...ans hence very learyvof psychs. And psychiatrists. Now in not sure who or whst to trust. Feelings only?

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    1. only with someone who understands feelings and can be trusted. art

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    2. I thought that wouldve been my dad. A phd in psych. Did his dissertation on pt. Never did it. I did for six months. But even then i did not entirely trust therapists and got sick anyway. I kinda bet everyone in the pt community secretly wishes u were their father

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    3. Mark, I wish ME could be my father. art

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    4. Just read summary your book beyond belief. Well i guess my suggestion to read the gospel would not be appropriate given what you believe about belief systems.my apologies. I guess we all look to something to explain the unexplainable

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  7. Oops having problems with technology and may have pressed the publish button accidentally before I finished writing ......so as I was saying.....

    Even if I can't see my way to feeling completely happy I can at least let myself feel the want for it. How sad not to even be free to express the need for more from life . Surely we can at least allow ourselves the expression of wanting more.
    To me a wasted life is just as tragic as death. Oooow makes me shiver!
    I'm going to look death in the face and say ' your not going to creep up on me, not before I've felt what I need from life' !

    Your blog about suicide is a reminder to me of the importance of quality of life and feeling the need to ask for better and more from life.

    Thanks
    Katherina

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    1. Katerina, I see what you mean and I am happy for you. Stick with it. Life is not always easy. art

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  8. -Art

    How can I get to feeling zone? Lets assume that I recently masturbate, it is is some kind of relief, but as you told it creates grooves right? Let's assume that I am doing this for years, is it too late for real feelings?

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    1. Piotr, it is difficult for me to answer questions like that. What we advice our patients to do is to watch movies that make them cry, or listen to music that make them cry, watch photos of you as a child, anything that brings your to tears. art

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  9. Art
    Sorry for so many posts today. Yesterday I watched Alice in chains videos, I thought about Layne Staley. He have got money, he had empty house and logically could feel his pains. He died alone by overdosing heroine.

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    1. Piotr, All this terrible sadness and so many who are so lost. art

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  10. Thank you Frank Larsson!
    Thank you for saving my life by introducing me to Primal therapy.
    Primal therapy has helped me get my life back together, something I Wouldn't of been able to do on my own.
    Primal therapy gave me the knowledge I needed to turn things around.
    My diagnosis was post traumatic stress syndrome.
    Thank you for the patience you showed in helping me. You took great care of me and were always there when i needen you the most. Then the day came when you had taken me as far as you could, helped as much as you could, all that was left was to wish for the best and hope that I could do the rest on my own, but you were never too far away!
    I learnt how to be my own therapist, I had to, if I was to make it on my own.
    It was life or death of me!
    It's going well for me now, unfortunatley it´s not going as well for Swedish psychiatry, who have no shame in trying to undermine the treatment and importance of primal therapy.
    Swedish psychiatry should be ashamed of their knowledge regarding primal therapy and need to realize their they're playing with other people´s lives.
    Thank you again Frank, you are a true friend.
    True friends are important, without them, without our community and the social contact we need, then we all suffer.
    An unnecessary suffering!

    Aida

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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