Thursday, February 16, 2017

Why Primal Therapy Needs No Doctor

I write this is as an academic hall of fame in psychology and with years of psychology training and years of training in psychiatric social work. Plus an extra year of post-graduate internship in psychiatric social work. So I have an idea of what is involved. The whole training system needs to be junked and brought up to date with modern science. Right now, it is not a science that can make people well. It is a lot of tinkering, much of which I did in my earlier years on staff at hospitals and clinics.  
 
Now the powers that be are making it impossible to master any kind of science. They believe by adding more years of classes, and internships, and lectures, it will somehow build into a cure. I believe it will not, and just be busy work to make it look like a science, which it isn’t. The requirements for a license now are prohibitive and ineffective.  It makes students jump through hoops, which are simple impediments to learning. The most advanced of my trainees were the Ph.D candidates. All of whom failed training because they were so intellectual and had their feelings ground out of them. They could not sense when to make a move with a patient and how to do it. It became “mental”  illness for them with feelings left behind. They learned to treat patients with insights and rationales with no understanding of brain science. Worse, with no idea about the role of feelings in neocortex function, which in therapy is crucial. 
 
Making it difficult is not the same as making it understandable and treatable. And piling on more ethics courses will not help. Normal therapists are ethical, by definition. The failures were the ones who were unethical, trying sometimes to be the patient’s friend and pal, instead of his doctor. 
 
So what do we need? A feeling therapist, first and foremost. Then a minimum of brain science, then some biochemistry to see how neurosis works in the body.  But the tool is the therapist and he has to be sensitive to the patient’s feelings and needs and his deep-lying imprints. I have confirmed that over fifty years of training to see who can treat and who cannot. It is never the people in their head who can help and cure; it is those who are connected to their feeling centers. Just the opposite of today’s training in psychiatry and psychology. I am poster boy #1. What I learned almost never helped me do therapy and certain never helped me understand what a cure involved. It never help me get to my feelings; they were mostly afterthoughts. For 100 years now, it is still about insights and reasons and explanations.
 
So what is wrong with that? An outside doctor can never tell what is inside a patient because he learns from his system, above all.  As feelings come up, he is informed what forces he has been hiding and what has driven him all these years. No foreign expert can do that because the expert and the only expert is the patient. For the patient, it is a crime to rob him of his epiphanies, his sole discoveries and his new ability and power to change himself. He  knows what upcoming feelings can be approached, and what feelings must lie quiescent for the moment.  He knows what feelings can be overloading and produce the deadly abreaction. And if an outsider pushes him, what he gets too often is abreaction because an outsider cannot know when the patient is ready for the descent into the lower depths of the brain. And that is what we don’t need ,well trained intellectuals who cannot sense what the patient can take and cannot take. 
 
If we can off our narcissism for a minute and make psychotherapy patient centered and not doctor centered, where he is not the owner of the domain of the cognoscenti but also a learner of the human condition, then we see no need for the phalanx of specialists who know everything about this symptom or that, but nothing about the internal life of the patient. We then have a cabal of those who ignore deep history of the patient, deep history of his very early key life and the history, not of his intellectual development but that of his emotions. We need to study the whole human, not in the booga booga Holistic Therapy sense, but of the dynamic interactions of all of his systems, not the least of which is his brain. 
 
I think  that is what training and supervision in the Primal world is all about, and after many decades we do get neurochemical change. We do get cure, as I define it as in behavior and in medical normalization. That is a lot but I cannot deny the results we get, and today they are awesome.  Remember, a tough school does not necessarily mean a good school. It is just tough; a school for masochists where upon graduation they hand you your diploma wrapped  in a sculpture of your neo-cortex, with testicles hanging and with a note: good luck.  

35 comments:

  1. Yes Art!

    How can you talk someone into something as all of the time... all of the time to stay alive are talking himself out of what he has to understand? He's a perpetual motion machine to its task of denying what happened to him!? Ask me I know... to be silent in that sense is to go to the encyclopedia of your self!

    And furthermore... a professor of neuropsychiatry at the karolinska institute have found that ADHD has to do with a brain structure and it apply to all of whom has the symptoms. The brain are smaller in those with symptom. But not a word about why this structure has arisen. I am convinced that the structure has genetic causes... and on the genetic causes depends on lovelessness why the structure has changed over time.

    How can I be so oblivious of myself that it becomes a question of danger to my life to get there... without it must have arisen physiological complications... I am convinced about it.

    They have locked the drawer and simultaneously thrown in the key. That's how hard it is to talk about lovelessness as a reason with someone who does not feel.

    And furthermore... they'll give all mothers anesthetist who has just given birth to their child in order to detect birth defects in mothers! What can I say? There rests a "devil" in all who understand more than they feel the consequences of what they do.

    Your Frank




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    1. Frank,

      -"They have locked the drawer and simultaneously thrown in the key. That's how hard it is to talk about lovelessness as a reason with someone who does not feel"-.

      So true.

      Paul G.

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  2. I can't see how a psychotherapy such as yours, can be taught in academia. I say it is impossible.

    The only way someone can become a competent or expert therapist in a psychotherapy such as yours is to begin as a client.

    The individual has to be a person, has to be the "damaged goods" like we all are here on this forum, and go through the program and be cured. I can't see any other way.



    And (although I have not watched your videos) I even question how a person can learn from videos?


    David

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    1. You are so right. I was a patient at the start and still am as you can read. I was really damanged goods but I am no longer. Thanks for the astute perception. Art

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    2. Hi David & Art,

      Many therapeutic training systems recognise this and require the students to be in therapy too.

      Primal Theory can be taught in an academic way and needs to enter the world of academia as an acceptable and proven neuropsychological reality. This will eventually happen because the mass of epigenetic evidence gathering is continually pointing toward early trauma as a single cause of later disease. The academics won't be able to ignore this indefinitely.

      Even academics can grasp the idea that students for training to become a therapist need to be in therapy. It's not unusual. Even academics recognise the difference between psychiatry and psychotherapy and many accept the IDEA that feelings are as important as insight. All that is needed is more promotion of the Legacy.

      The fact that most academics see other people as the object of their observations and never themselves, is entirely beside the point. They may 'avoid' adequate self reflection but also at the same time see the need for others to be emotional. Intellectuals are like that.
      In the past the academics could easily get away with the presumption that feelings ARE the problem and assume that because they don't feel much themselves, then they themselves have no unmet needs. Academics will always perceive themselves as a 'breed apart'. But they cannot and will not deny the truth of other people's feelings for much longer. The real problem now lies firmly in the courts of the political health policy makers who certainly will continue to insist that 'problems' are a moral issue and require 're education of the CBT variety to 'cure'.

      But even the political policy makers will eventually be up against the epigenetic evidence as more and more research leaks out into the world and people find out they need to be better parents and better parents BEFORE conceiving.

      None of these ideas are particularly 'new' or radical. . . What is radical is the idea that there really is a cure for serious neurosis which shares the same theoretical basis for PREVENTION. Everyone knows that prevention is better than cure.

      It's just a matter of time and pushing the Legacy.

      Paul G.

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  3. Well said, it reminds me one of your old posts: "Forget what you learned about therapy".

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  4. I only know, because, I have been there, ......done that.

    My path has been similar, even more difficult, because of many functional disorders (handicaps). Learning disabilities, cognitive disorders, dyslexia and more, like I have mentioned before. It is almost like playing golf with one arm tied behind your back.



    I began by eliminating all the ways that did not work. I did all the booga booga, sorcery, and shamanistic type therapies. Nutrition and body chemistry balancing too. I tried all the religions and their ways. I read 100s of self help books, and new age, too. All to no avail. I was actually getting worse. That took me about 30 yrs. I did it until it almost killed me. I became an expert at what does not work.

    Then, long story short, one day in 1997, I was contemplating suicide. But at the same time, I did not want to do it. I knew I was insane. My mind did not work. I had difficulty finding my way around my own house, and doing the simplist of every day duties. So I decided to say a prayer, while sitting in bed almost crying. I simply said: God, I want my sanity back.


    Then miraculously I was led to something that worked, and very long story short, little by little and one thing leading to another, a few months later, I found an old therapist (close to 80) who did PTSD therapy over the phone.

    He gave me two sessions over the phone one Sunday afternoon. One at 1 pm and another at 4:30, each lasting about an hour and a half.

    When I got off the phone after the second session, I went to put my shoes on to go to the store at the back of my condo to get some milk (leather men's slippers size 8.5) and they would not fit. I was really puzzled. But I forced them on and they were so tight that I thought they would split, but they held up, but gave me an instant splitting headache. I rushed to the store, got my milk and returned and kicked my shoes off with a sigh of relief. Next day, I tried to put my shoes on again and the same thing happened. I was more puzzled. So, I had no choice but to go and buy new bigger shoes. I had to buy size 10 shoes.

    It was not until 6 yrs later, that I wrapped my mind around all what happened and realized that as a result of the beatings my dad gave me, in my childhood, they stunted my growth.

    And the therapist was so good that as a result of the therapy, something was released in my brain, which caused my feet to swell up instantly, then grow to size 10. I also grew in height, from 5'3 to 5'5.

    And at the same time, again, long story short, I have been led to the greatest minds in the world in the field of healing. And I have been getting better and better since. I estimate I am about a good half way better.

    Before, you can become a true expert in what does work, you have to become an expert in all the ways that do not work.

    And the problematic thing is that you cannot talk to the average person, about these things, without getting into trouble. Not even mainstream psychologists and psychiatrists.

    They have no clue, what the truth is in this field.

    They think they know, but they do not know.

    They only have opinions and beliefs, which are not worth the time of day.

    Not knowing the difference between a fact (the truth) and an opinion (or a belief) is the cause of most conflict and most of the world's problems.

    A belief is a confession of ignorance. So is an opinion.

    The truth is nothing more or less than the right answer to any problem.

    That is what is meant by: Only the truth will set you free. Only the truth will solve a problem.

    Therefore: Seek the truth in all things.

    And through the ordeal, in my own way, I have become a very good PTSD therapist.

    It takes one to know one.

    Calm seas, do not a good sailor make.

    Every cloud, every misfortune has a silver lining.

    Everything man has ever truly learned, has been by doing everything the wrong way first, by trial and error, by the making of mistakes and the spilling of blood.





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    1. Before you become a therapist for PTSD, have you sussed out the real causes and treat them? Careful. Art

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    2. Thank you for your reply, Art.

      But, I don't quite understand what you mean?



      Your academic vocabulary and thinking sometimes goes over my damaged and self taught brain.:)

      (But,don't get me wrong, at the same time, I appreciate the challenge and opportunity. :) )

      Please explain what you mean by:

      "have you sussed out the real causes and treat them?"



      David

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    3. Suss in England means have you looked into. Art

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    4. Part one:

      It is not always necessary to always know the real causes of every disease or disorder. But it helps if you do.

      You primarily have to know the mechanics of how they are caused, and the techniques on how to find it and what to look for and how to resolve them. This only comes with study, experience and time.

      In other words a therapist primarily needs to know the principles or laws of cause and effect, and how they apply to this subject. The therapist needs to know the mechanics of how a case is constructed, how it works, and the mechanics of how to take it apart or how to resolve it.

      Primarily a therapist only needs to know enough examples (enough different disorders) to get the "idea", .....to get understanding of the mechanics of how disorders are caused.

      Once a therapist KNOWS (understands) the mechanics well enough, there is no problem that cannot be resolved (cured).


      (I digress for an important aside comment: ....That is if the client REALLY wants the problem solved. There has to be a full hearted "want to" on the part of the client or patient. A patient who throws himself in front of a therapist and says “Ok,doctor fix me.” is not honestly ready for therapy.

      They are a disaster looking or waiting for a place to happen.

      A higher state of existence, a higher quality of life, requires the appropriate or respective attitude, character and life knowledge.

      People fail in any endeavour for only one reason and that is for the lack of the right knowledge to solve the problem at hand.

      Like I said before, there is no incurable disorder, there are only incurable people. Some people have not suffered enough yet. They have not hit bottom, or hit bottom enough times. )


      I return:

      But at the same time, like in any field of endeavor, the more knowledge and experience a person has, the easier it is. A person never stops learning. I am sure you yourself are getting better every day, and getting more and deeper and clearer understanding, new revelations even at this stage of the game.


      You explain the problem well in your words in your yesterday's blog, .........btw: you do have "a way with words", you certainly are a wordsmith:

      I quote you from: My Life: Practicing Primal Therapy

      Posted: 18 Feb 2017 12:00 PM PST:

      In a way our therapy is simple: find the basic biologic need and relive how it was not fulfilled. But Oh My! It is so much more than that. Those needs are sequestered by a labyrinth of defenses and are difficult to find. First we need to deal with how the need is ramified as to be unrecognizable. We have to find ways to dig out the essence of the feeling. The complexities became, duh……complex. Neurosis dies hard.

      End of quote.

      Delete
  5. An email comment:
    "
    The entire field of psychotherapy flounders because it is shielded from the truth. Ditto the entire world.
    When you see a small child screaming as s/he is dragged angrily along a busy street, and nobody even raises an eyebrow, you are looking at immense trauma occurring. That child will have lost so much of her real self, her natural, effortless empathy. And she will become someone who will later witness other screaming children, and dogs tethered permanently, their pained cries clearly an expression of their natural lives completely robbed from them, and somehow, she will do nothing.
    Because the more of your real self you lose, the less you feel not just for people, but for all sentient beings. Just because we cannot "read" animals, does not give us the right to assume they do not feel just as we do, yet the whole world does assume this, which is why we now have the most colossal holocaust in the history of this planet going on daily, which we perpetuate by eating the charred corpses of 1 billion animals daily, half of which have lived miserable, tortured existences and terrifying deaths.
    I submit this could not happen in a feeling world. And that is the whole problem: A - Z.
    Non feeling just creates stupidity & craziness, which, being everywhere, is unrecognisable as such.
    My chosen work - or to be more accurate the work that chose me - is fighting for animals to have equal rights and freedom from humans to live as nature intended. Yes that´s right: equal rights. Why should humans be the only species of the thousands which exists to have the right to live and live decently? But that IS the way we have made things. Having lost their own true nature, neurotic humans have lost respect for all that is NATURAL: the natural world, the natural lives of animals, natural diet, natural healing.
    The enslavement, torture, and murder of billions of non human animals is the best subject matter to use, in my opinion, as an example of what neurosis does to humans. If it were not for neurosis impelled speciesism - ie the self given right of humans to do what the hell they want with non human animals - the 1 or 2% of the global population currently with varying degrees of the unspeakable horror of animal abuse worldwide would be 100%.
    Neurosis infects everything by severing the natural empathy between all sentient creatures. Moreover, it replaces it with its opposite - sadism & violence - and in my opinion, that lurks below the surface of nearly all of humanity, once the false veneer of niceness is stripped away.
    I´m referring to BULLYING. Parents BULLY children, and generally only guilt and social conditioning act as brakes to its grosser manifestations. With animals, SPECIESISM lets bullying off the leash....it once did with black slaves....the horrors thereby inflicted by allowing neurosis free rein are unbelievable.....factory farms, vivisection, hunting,zoos, permanent dog tethering....
    I see bullying ruling all social relations too. People follow bullies, and in groups, when an "alpha" bully is confronted, it is astonishing how few people stand for real justice, how many attack and blame the victim, or the one confronting the bully, the excuses found for sadistic victimisation of the bullied..."whinger", "troublemaker", "lighten up" etc
    Sound FAMILYar?"

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    Replies
    1. Hi. your writing is extremely easy to read....you are obviously very developed in the language part of your brain. I can also see the hatred in you....it's like you want to lash out at everyone. I think it is the "bully" in you. I don't mean that as an insult. I mean there is a bully in every person who has sustained never-ending oppression from another bully....the only difference with the victim is his strength and his fist-line reaction to a threat, which he can't control. Some "bullies" punch and kick in anger, and others spend weeks carefully planning some kind of hidden revenge.
      The reason I am saying all this is to make one simple point: vegans and vegetarians are always accusing meat-eaters of being unfeeling monsters, and this does nothing for your cause. As a vegan, I can still appreciate the delicious texture and flavour of meat, and the fullness it adds to any meal. I have prominent canines among my teeth, and a never-ending need for protein, omega 3, vitamin b12, iron etc.
      Before we developed a huge range of nutritious plants (tomatoes were small poisonous berries, bananas were mostly seeds in a pod) our bodies rewarded us for eating meat as it supplied us with many of the nutrients required for growing...well...meat.
      Of course we don't need meat anymore, but it is arrogant to suggest that people are evil for giving into their carnivorous desires. I am in the process of developing a mushroomy, beefy flavoured mock meat to satisfy a REAL NEED for soft, chewy, mushy textures in the mouth. it's just a casual hobby that doesn't take up much of my time. So far I have perfected the flavour, but the texture seems a bit fatty like the worst parts of an oily KFC drumstick.
      I agree that people would stop controlling animals (as much as possible) if they were more feeling. But I suggest that your hatred is more of a reaction to the pain you have endured, and you are projecting it onto meat-eaters among others. Never a good thing for vegetarianism. And I know that I sound arrogant by writing this... I apologise in advance. I am not good at writing without sounding arrogant... I am too blunt because I am unfeeling. I am vegan for ethical (mathematical) reasons - not because I care.

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    2. I meant to say first-line reaction not fist-line

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    3. What ass did you pull this out of? Art

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    4. Art,

      Re: Bullying parents:

      "I´m referring to BULLYING. Parents BULLY children, and generally only guilt and social conditioning act as brakes to its grosser manifestations.


      That is so well observed and said.

      You put words to something that I have not been able to.

      I needed that perspective.

      Bullying parents (mind controlling parents) are so common.
      Many homes are like cults. My dad certainly ran his home like a cult, and an abusive one (a physically punishing one) at that.


      A child will never rebel, if the parent did not do something wrong, by commission or omission first.

      There is no such thing as a bad child, only bad parents. it is impossible.

      We are all products of parents, a conception, a gestation, a birth and an upbringing.

      If you have problem with the product, you check with the factory for the cause of the problem.

      If you buy a car and it gives problems or is a lemon, you don't beat the car, or put it in detention to fix it. To do so is insanity!


      When a parent begins berating, punishing and otherwise bullying a child around, that is when mental illness (mental disorders of all sorts) certainly begin, ....if they did not begin earlier...... before, or during conception or gestation.


      David

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    5. Richard,

      Quoting you: Some "bullies" punch and kick in anger, and others spend weeks carefully planning some kind of hidden revenge.

      End of quote.


      You make a very important point there. And I want to expand upon what you said.

      I want to say, not only sometimes "months", ......but sometimes many years.

      And that anger, madness and boiling rage from suppression, invalidation, abuse, berating, emotional malnourishment, mind control, and punishment, needs to find an outlet, and a target.


      This is the person who years down the road, becomes the mad man, mass murderer, the terrorist.

      Their targets are wrong targets. Their revenge is just an outlet.

      The cause is the parents.


      The laws against all criminals are wrong.

      Art makes the point in his words:

      I see bullying ruling all social relations too. People follow bullies, and in groups, when an "alpha" bully is confronted, it is astonishing how few people stand for real justice, how many attack and blame the victim, or the one confronting the bully, the excuses found for sadistic victimisation of the bullied..."whiner", "troublemaker", "lighten up" etc
      Sound FAMILYar?"

      End of quote:

      The law punishes the "trouble maker" , ....the criminal, the psychopath, the sociopath, the mentally ill of any kind.

      The law and the justice system are barking up the wrong tree, or shooting at the wrong target.

      They are punishing the victim. They are putting the victim in jail.

      That is insanity.

      They have to be educated about the cause of the problem, ....who created the "troublemaker, the mad man, the psychopath, etc.?

      It is the parents who created the problem, created the "troublemaker".


      So who is the real criminal?

      The victim or the bully?

      The parents (the "bully" or the "negligent", are the real criminals.


      And our laws and justice system need to reflect that.

      Modern psychology is also largely to blame. They teach that the victim, the criminal, the trouble maker is his own fault. He needs to take responsibility for his condition, and straighten out his life. That is perverted thinking.

      Children who find themselves dysfunctional,or disabled, or with mental disorders, personality disorders, or social disorders, need the proper education (understand the right kind of psychology) and the right to sue parents for negligence, abandonment, and abuse.

      Not unlike the recent changes to the laws, where the state now sues automakers for making faulty products, that cause injury or death. Similar with food suppliers.




      We need to overhaul our legal and justice system 180 degrees.

      When a child turns out "bad" or a menace or a burden to society, the state has to "aim and shoot at the right target" and charge the parents.


      David

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    6. Do not make up quotes I've never said. Bad idea. Art

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  6. Art,

    I particularly like this part:

    When you see a small child screaming as s/he is dragged angrily along a busy street, and nobody even raises an eyebrow, you are looking at immense trauma occurring. That child will have lost so much of her real self, her natural, effortless empathy. And she will become someone who will later witness other screaming children, and dogs tethered permanently, their pained cries clearly an expression of their natural lives completely robbed from them, and somehow, she will do nothing.

    End of quote:

    More than once I have seen something similar, and gave the mother my two cents worth.

    ReplyDelete
  7. RE: the eating of animals.

    Yes, I abhor factory farms and factory inhumane butchering methods.

    It is criminal. It makes me sick to see it.


    But on the other hand:

    I grew up on a farm, where we raised all kinds of animals for a living and had some of them for our own food. Our food animals were our pets.

    Our animals were raised free range. Everything had unfethered access to the large yard, and open pastures and woods, where applicable. With the exception of pigs. Pigs need containment.

    And animals were fed the best food available (as much green grass as possible) and butchered reverently and humanely.

    And the meat had flavor that is incomparable to what you normally get in the super market.

    If mom was making chicken soup, you could easily smell it a block away, or more, if the breeze was in the right direction.

    And when you ate a meal of it, you felt energized like a new battery. And your body thanked you. You glowed like a light bulb.


    But over the years, (after leaving the farm) I have tried being a vegetarian several times.

    And I realized from experience, that I feel much better when I have a good meal of good quality beef (especially liver) about once a week. I think much better and clearer. The better the quality of meat the better I feel. I can tell when I have went too long without a good meal of good quality beef.

    And the same with fish.

    It is easily observable that there is a hierarchy of the food chain, and we are at the top. From the bottom, each group feeds the one above it. With the exception of some large predators like sharks and bears who like to eat us when we get in their way. But they will not seek us out for food.

    Everything has a purpose on earth. There is good system, good order and good or right purpose on earth. It was created by a master of intelligent design.


    We are taught in school that the native North American Indians had a reverence for the animals they killed and ate. They considered their food was holy. We are taught that they prayed for them and blessed them.


    I think that is the way it is supposed to be.

    I think those animals were created for our use and food.
    Otherwise; why are they here?

    The old testament explains that and it works.
    The writers of those books had great wisdom.


    But there is a right way and a wrong way to do almost everything.

    Very few people do things the right way.

    Most people are "swine".

    They are unconscious.





    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You will not get any agreement from me about killing animals. I wrote about the pigs we killed when I worked in the packing houses. I disagree totally. Art

      Delete
    2. Art,

      Every living thing must die sooner or later.

      Animals kill other animals to eat.

      We need to study nature and learn from nature.

      Carnivores and omnivores animals kill to eat. They do not murder.

      It is a law of nature.

      We are omnivores.


      Killing is different than murder.

      "Thou shall not murder."

      Does not mean; "Thou shall not kill."

      (Bibles which say: "Thou shall not kill." are wrong. It is a mistranslation or misintepretation.

      The right one is: Thou shall not murder. It is only common sense.)

      It also off course, does not mean: Thou shall not die.

      Neither does it mean: Thou shall not help someone to die.


      I divert, (which I think the "don't kill animals" idea, is related to or is a carry over from the commandment: Thou shall not murder.):

      Nature is impartial.

      In many ways this planet is a dangerous place to live. Nature is impartial and merciless to killing us or rather murdering us via storms, bad weather, extreme weather,floods,torrents,earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

      The logic involved in killing or not killing animals is sort of similar or unsimilar to, or as crazy as:



      There is an insane heated battle going on in Canada,
      about doctor assisted dying.

      Many people who for what ever reason do not want to live any more, and want doctors to kill them.

      They say or argue and insist they have a right to die.




      And there are self righteous, holiest of groups and politicians fighting to prevent that from happening and preventing laws from being passed to allow for doctor assisted dying.

      This side is vehemently denying the other side the right to die.

      This begs the question: What is wrong with dying?

      Who has the right to prevent someone from wanting to die?

      The self righteous holiest groups are confused between:

      Thou shall not kill.

      over,

      Thou shall not murder.


      David





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    3. David, don't forget that much of the planet lives on a plant-based diet and are seen as much healthier; less diabetes and heart disease and cancer than the meat-eating societies.

      Why are non-thinking animals here? because of evolution--not the bible's explanation of exploitation. We are all in this together. Think for a moment about what that animal feels that is about to killed. If it at the last minute it was allowed to live, it would go on to have PTSD from the near-death experience.

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    4. I study animals every day. I just ordered ten books on elephants, bonobos, etc. We must study them to learn about ourselves. Art

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    5. Sheri,

      I determine my diet, (about whether to eat meat or not) by how I feel and think.

      Like I said in an earlier post, I do not feel good or think well, if I do not have a meal of good quality beef about once a week. And fish too.

      I go kind of stupid, if I do not eat a meal of good quality beef about once a week.

      So that is how I determine my diet.

      I do not go by people's arguments, fads, philosophies, or belief systems.

      :)

      Not knowing the difference between a fact and a belief is the cause of much insanity and the cause of most of the world's problems.

      Best regards,


      David

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    6. Hi David.

      There are endless arguments in the so-called scientific community regarding the health benefits of a vegan diet versus an omnivorous diet. The truth is, scientists get confused all the time. One of their latest conclusions: animal fat is good for your heart. But it would seem that red meat is still linked to bowel cancer. Most of their conclusions are based on inconclusive studies which do not factor in variables such as lifestyle etc.

      This is why I respect your desire to follow your feelings instead of these tail-chasing geeks.

      But remember that your feelings can be combined with knowledge. If you stopped eating all animal products for months (beef, eggs, milk etc) you could start to feel worse if you paid no attention to these nine nutrients:

      Vitamin B12
      Omega-3s
      Iron
      Protein
      Calcium
      Iodine
      Vitamin D
      Vitamin A
      Zinc

      all of which can be obtained in safe quantities from plants, fungi, algae and bacteria. This seems to be reliable science which has stood the test of time.

      And just to balance your argument, it's worth noting that vegans live longer than omnivorous humans and get less cancer. But vegans might lean toward a healthier lifestyle (exercise, no cigarettes etc etc). It's difficult to isolate the cause.

      I'm not vegan for health reasons. I have a simple philosophy: Humans should control the lives of other animals only to the extent necessary for human survival.

      For example, in some parts of the world, cattle have their eyes gouged out and legs broken to keep them manageable and fresh while they are waiting for the butcher. Here in New Zealand, many sheep die of hypothermia because our farmers shear their wool twice a year. These actions are not necessary for human survival.

      Delete
  8. David, of course you do what you must do to feel healthy.
    On the other hand you can still feel what it is to be a frightened animal about to be killed and eaten. That is something separate that does not cost us anything to feel for a moment.

    Most of us are pretty good about turning off our feelings for awhile to satisfy our habits and the way we were raised--including me. Added to that are the good feelings like you have about your mother preparing a nutritious meal.

    It was just the inference that animals were placed here for our benefit and not acknowledging the pain and fright they feel, having the two thirds brain capacity we share with them. When you think about it, it seems atrocious to eat them. I think we should feel their pain, even if for only an instant.

    Best regards also,

    Sheri

    ReplyDelete
  9. To everyone who is against the killing and eating of animals or see animals as sentient:

    What about all the insects you kill when walking on the ground, or in the grass? Or killing a mosquito or some other biting insect. Or killing cockroaches and house flies in your house. Or killing bed bugs?

    Even plants have been proven to be sentient by applying skin galvanomic meters (lie detectors) to their leaves and having people think malicious thoughts to them, like threatening to cut their stems or burn their leaves with a lighter, and compare the needle movements when some expresses thoughts of love towards the plant.

    Here is one video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPpURDTTf8k

    Go to youtube and do a search for "are plants sentient" and you will find a lot more videos.

    That proves that plants have feelings too.

    So, how do you justify the killing of sentient insects and plants and eating them?


    David

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OH MY. I never knew it was your blog but oh it is not, so please stop going off on your own trip and try to remember it is not about you and your obsessions. This blog has to do with the cure for neurosis, not eating animals. Try to keep in mind that it is not about you but about those who suffer. Art

      Delete
    2. Art,

      I did not start it, I just commented on your blog about eating sentient animals. I only followed your thread.


      Quoting you:

      Just because we cannot "read" animals, does not give us the right to assume they do not feel just as we do, yet the whole world does assume this, which is why we now have the most colossal holocaust in the history of this planet going on daily, which we perpetuate by eating the charred corpses of 1 billion animals daily, half of which have lived miserable, tortured existences and terrifying deaths.
      I submit this could not happen in a feeling world. And that is the whole problem: A - Z.


      :)

      David

      Delete
    3. David, It seems you are quoting our resident animal-activist who, as others do, sends his comments in emails. When you see "email" it is from a blogger who uses that form. They sometimes do not include their name. It is not Art.

      Delete
    4. Yes yes the last so called quote from David about what he claims I said, I have never never said. He pulls it out of a well known ass. Art

      Delete
    5. Oh, I get it now.

      Sorry.

      It had your name on it, Art.

      So that is why I assumed it was written by you, Art.

      The psychology part sounded like your thinking too.

      It was a mis identity, mis understanding.

      You should of included the author's name on it.



      David

      Delete
  10. David, also in a different vein about the similarities between animals and humans you might be interested in how the medical field deal with animals. Leaving the subject of animal consumption for the moment and focusing on comparing the physiology of our species with others. I saw a youtube video on TEDMED of a cardiologist from UCLA who consults zoos and they consult her about treatment of vascular problems.

    Perhaps you, Art, or others would be interested to watch. She points out that many species have the same health problems, broken heart syndrome due to grief, diabetes, arthritis, self-injury and many other maladies. And vets have been treating some of these for years and it is her belief that the human drs. could learn from the veterinarians as much as they benefit from her consultations.

    The video is titled; "What veterinarians know that physicians don't"

    the site is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSa7foyM2nA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I read about animal life everyday and recommend many books to friends. I have seen deep grief in animals. Art

      Delete

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