Saturday, May 9, 2015

On My Rants Against Cognitive Therapy


I know I seem to rant against what I call “Half-therapy,”  or “almost therapy,”  that is, a therapy that encompasses only a piece of us and neglects the feeling-human part.  But there is a reason for my rant,   I read yesterday in science journal about a complex study of sleep problems.  And they plunged and plunged into neuronal circuits and came to bizarre conclusions, which seem quite rational to them.   “It was because of overactive cortical function, activated limbic circuits,” and on and on.  And that may be entirely true.  It is too technical to go into except that it is almost impossible for a non neurologist to understand.   Ok so what they say might be true, so what is wrong with that?  It is a half-truth.  You can’t get well half-way.

Therein lies the rub, as I often say.  All that is missing are causes; ultimate causes.  What made those circuits detour and over-react?  Why does various  chemicals seem too high?  Is that the cause?  Well,  we could go on guessing and batting down associated symptoms, until we actually see causes at work.  How do we know they are causes?   For many reasons; one important one being that the problems seem to disappear after reliving the key factors and imprints that drive the neo-cortex later on, into a frenzy that cannot seem to be turned off enough to let us sleep.  And not surprisingly, he was a hyperactive child who, according to his teachers, could not sit still.  Always in motion; the same drive to produce a hyperactive mind that cannot relax and fall asleep.  Still driven, but now also mentally.

Wait a minute.  Is there a correlation?  It is what we have found because we look at history.  If you don’t you will always get only half the information you need.  Cannot continue to investigate de novo each new case of sleep problems and still think it is a matter of displaced neurons.  You may think that it is all in your mind but where?  Could it be way down deep, reflecting trauma to the brainstem?  Yes, but who looks there?  Who sees the connection between gestational life and sleep problems at age thirty?  You cannot until you go there ; that is, until patients go there, a “there” the few recognize even exists.  Most doctors seem to work as if there is no there, there.  So why even think about going there?  For patients, too, it seems dangerous and mysterious, reinforced by the doctor who also has no idea what is down there; except something to be avoided.  And when the therapist has no idea about the brainstem all is lost, including the patient and the doctor.  Therapy becomes a muddle, each feeling rumbles around in the dark for some way out.  Alas, the way out is the way in, and that is where we part from other therapies.  One reason is that the way in, takes months, who has the patience to go there and take one’s time?  Anxiety waits for no man.

Isn’t it strange that we give pills for deep anxiety and sleep deprivation that work on the lower depths where origins lie, yet we miss the fact that maybe there are origins of this mess way back there and way down there?  All we have to do is go there!  But how?  I have written many blogs on the subject, 16 books, and now there is a precise video description coming out by Dr, France Janov, called the Primal Legacy.  It is detailed and gives readers a thorough description of the Primal Process.  Who can ask for any more?  I doubt it has been done before, mostly because the series is based in science and not haphazard musings.

We will not find answers to many perplexing psychologic problems until we stop the almost-therapy and turn to the real meaning of holistic therapy; which includes all of us, absolutely all of us.  We are not just a thinking brain; we are above all, a feeling brain that helps us treat patients, relate to others, have empathy and compassion. There is not a lot of that in a  disembodied neo-cortex.

33 comments:

  1. Art,

    Brilliantly well said!

    It sounds like you & France & the Center are on the verge of a new chapter which really could (at last) begin to influence the worlds health authorities.

    The Legacy IS essential and long overdue. I would be very interested in helping to promote this.

    Paul G.

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  2. Art,

    I think ranting about these things is essential. I am a ranter, Robert Burns was a ranter and so should many more of us rant because some things are worthy of ranting about !

    Rant on, rant on. . .

    Paul G.

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  3. They have had a hundred years to do so!

    No... they are not on track to halfway understand what is happening... they are just on the road to nowhere... it as they approach the other part of the brain... they will just rush to not understand anything at all. They understand to not perceive the content... their understanding is all about that... not to perceive what is/was disastrous for them! Disaster in memory around a defense as includes our entire neocortex to handle... it as long as we defend us against the limbic system!

    Frank

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  4. They have had a hundred years to do so!

    No... they are not on track to halfway understand what is happening... they are just on the road to nowhere... it as they approach the other part of the brain... they will just rush to not understand anything at all. They understand to not perceive the content... their understanding is all about that... not to perceive what is/was disastrous for them! Disaster in memory around a defense includes our entire neocortex to handle... it as long as we defend us against the limbic system!

    Frank

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  5. Children, young adults (what comes around goes around....sometimes, unfortunately)....just seems like now, the "wise rascals" just want to always be that way...parents don't want to have them improved, finds that the kids and young adults are amusing and entertaining for them when they show such "spice". Come on' "a possible improvement" in quality of person, would that be so wrong. Progress and continuation in the quality of people. Do they know what progress is, and what motivation, striving is for? Someone has to discuss (rant) what is going on; makes sense to some people.

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  6. Hi,

    awaking this morning I came up with an updated definition of denial (from personal experience of my own and observing it in others):

    -"Denial is the persistent avoidance of certain things unknown to the denier in order maintain the illusion they neither exist nor matter"-.

    Paul G.

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  7. Hi,

    I would just like to point out (for those even more naive than myself) that I am already 55, in social housing in UK without any savings, pension or insurance and only interested in helping my children and other vulnerable people. If I live to 60, I'll get a bus pass. But I do have a wealth of experience in life as a parent/ craftsman/ facilitator/ person surviving abuse from childhood and my own stupid assumptions leading out from that abuse.

    I have no interest at all in setting up as some kind of "messiah", but I would really like to help spread the Primal Message and I do believe I can do this without words, or at least: without words foremost. . .

    Paul G.

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    Replies
    1. Paul: I need all the help I can get. art

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    2. Hi Paul,
      great sharing and help, "for those even more naive"...thank you so much!

      Delete
    3. Hi Art,

      well I'm no marketing expert but I do know a lot about how and why marketing does and doesn't work from trying to promote my own (tiny) carpentry business. Most marketing / advertising doesn't work. It has been said that only 10% of the money you spend gets you results AND you never know WHICH 10% that was. . .

      I have been thinking of making illustrated novels. . . But perhaps the Center and you & France could have a think about what YOU ALL want / need / think. . .

      If I know anything about 'creative types' (and surely Primal is a 'creative' therapy) we are often at a loss as to how to 'market' our creativity. . .

      I have thought the Center might be able to set up a membership / subscription which combined with sales of the Legacy (to the 'right people' - who are they?) could fund a fund raiser and promoter. . .

      Of course that all sounds so easy . . . But without the Center and you two telling us what you think / need then it's hard to know how to help without generating (potentially) more confusion rather than understanding.

      Feedback please Art / France ?

      Paul G.

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  8. An email comment:
    " Art: I read you loud and clear, but I ask why is it that so few see what you have been and are telling us (us humans). It occurred to me that when my doctor offers a diagnosis I will ask "Why did that diagnosis occur" then if he/she goes off on a tangent I will then repeat why this reason for that diagnosis.

    I know the answer before I continue. They will reach a point where they will (IF THEY ARE HONEST) say "we don't know". I wonder if then I can say "Ah! there's the rub ... but allow me my arrogance ... I know why." I doubt from someone like me, they'll bother to ask me my 'reason'.

    BUT!! even if one of them does ask and I reply with "Trauma ... in the uterus and/or early early childhood" I'll be dismisses as some stupid arrogant crank. They'll be correct on all counts, BUT ... it just might shake their equilibrium. There is some historical evidence of "cranks" shaking the establishment.

    Jack
    "

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    Replies
    1. Jack, I saw on TV once an older doctor being asked: why do you think people get sick so much? He replied that it was plain to him: lack of love. I thought it simple, honest, and profound.

      Delete
  9. Art: "I need all the help I can get". Glad to see you´re asking for help, because most times I get the impression you don´t. You need to say things cos people really don´t see the obvious. And I too am willing to spread the Primal Legacy vídeo as well as your book on proper child rearing (In fact could you announce when both of these and your autobiog come out please?). However, why are you putting out primal therapy for the public now after keeping it a closely guarded secret for the last half century?
    Brilliant essay by the way. Thanks so much. Gary

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    Replies
    1. Gary, am I twisting completely the sense of your comment or is it true that you do dare question Art for his timing? You must be kidding. Not even in my darkest thoughts would I consider anyone express such an arrogant teacherly reproach to someone who has devoted his Life to untying the knots of Psyche. Wanna help him? Don't wait til his material has come out. That'd be the simplest thing of all. Expose yourself, find your way through your heart, as I constantly do among those who approach me in search for truth in their lives. Will that disrupt your mentally confortable zone? Most probably. But who needs those so called friends when you're fed up with hypocrisy? Lars (quetglars@gmail.com)

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    2. Art; I guess you already have planned where to publicise your forthcoming works but I´d also like to suggest the following re your book on healthy child rearing:
      1. Action for Children. A UK organisation which helped 300,000 UK children last year and recently achieved important changes in UK law designed to give children more rights and more protection.
      2. NSPPC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, also UK)
      3. Aletha Solters website (Aware Parenting Institute - USA)

      Also, how do you feel about forum members writing about their feelings and pain now and again here, even if it is not directly related to your essays? I realise this not a therapy group but since we all had to keep our feelings suppressed as children, many of us here must continue to feel we have no right to "bother" others with our feelings now, and to behave as adults to gain approval, even when we are desperate to let down and receive acceptance & support. Gary

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    3. Gary: Please help out in any way you see fit. Thanks, art

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    4. Lars: "Dare question Art"? Whoa!! I am asking a question, not making an accusation. You have totally misinterpreted the meaning & spirit of my message. On what grounds do you base your implicit assumptions about my motivations and attitudes, my involvement in Primal Therapy, or what I do or do not do to help Art? And what gives you the right to tell me not only how I live my life but how I should live it? Are you God?
      When you place someone above criticism, you place them above accountability, and however extraordinary a persons achievements - and Art´s are extraordinary I´ll admit, by any existing standards - you are saying that that person is a God, and everyone elses opinions and feelings are not only invalid but have no right to be expressed. If anyones attitude is "arrogant" and "teacherly" it is yours, not mine, and in my experience the criticisms people make of others are usually a reflecton of their own primal traumata, and if you understand as much as your messages imply about primal therapy, I wonder why you show no sign of owning our own feelings as far as possible before assuming the other guy is wrong, and if you don´t, I´d suggest you have some sort of issues around unquestionning respect and honour for ones parents. Hierarchy & privilege start in childhood. I hope we all accept that we are all equal on this fórum, regardless of gender, race, age, sexual orientation, and indeed, achievement. Give Art his due, but his status does not confer on him special privileges such as immunity from criticism. Start silencing people, as did the Nazis, Pinochet, Stalin, Ceaucescu, or the tin pot dictators of the middle East, and you can kiss goodbye to constructive dialogue and human progress. Gary

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    5. Hi Gary,

      -"the criticisms people make of others are usually a reflecton of their own primal trauma"-.

      I completely agree.

      Paul G.

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    6. Hi Gary

      For what it is worth I thought your original post was fine and the question you asked Art seemed pretty reasonable to me. I am not sure why you took a bit of a 'bruising' for 'daring' to ask Art a question. Your quote which Paul G has repeated above is a good one and one I cannot argue with even if I wanted to.

      Regards
      Steve

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    7. Hi Steve
      Thanks for the support. It´s easy to project ones own stuff onto others via email because we cant see each other, and just as hard given the absence of face to face contact to sort it out quickly and effectively. Just a word or phrase triggers our own stuff and the unconcious takes over, even though it feels like it´s all in the present. Also it´s rarely just one persons primal stuff; almost always both parties get triggered and start acting out unconsciously in a futile struggle, futile because the real way to resolve these conflicts is in our own distant past. We are like puppets being manipulated by our unconscious.
      Also, there aren´t many of us primal people and we need to stick together. It´s not easy as Art will tell you because neurosis takes precedence over everything and is invisible to us. So what appear minor issues can cause a lot of damage in the present. I think we must remember this in the small primal world we have. When we communicate with each other we are navigating an emotional minefield; each mine liable to trigger the volcanic emotional hurt of a 3 year old. That will sabotage effective communication more effectively than a neutron bomb. Love Gary

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  10. Art,
    After decades of slleeping "problems"(a mega-euphomism) I sleep comes very quickly after I go to bed early(very early indeed) around 7 .30 PM and sleep until 3-6 (with interuptions)
    And these interuptions are obviously caused by "those effects of the Imprints ) which are in
    my brain (waiting to be resolved-in the next lifee??-)

    Neverteless I am gratefull to be awake ... throughout the day .! Yours emanuel

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  11. Such a releif to know how things stand with most Doctors and people.Now I can stop hoping I will one day find the right words, to convince them of the significance and value of feelings, and just get on with my own life and therapy. Such a magnificent gift you gave the world, Art ! If only they knew......one day they will.

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  12. The limbic system... let it come up... in and out for what we are! It is not so far away to recognize the children we are only we give ourselves permission to be there. To be shy... scared and even dominant has to do with the child in us! To constantly try to be best is a scourge that is rewarded in a cognitive society... a scourge that stands up with a resistance to go to war for their being... to make themselves inaccessible to the suffering with their lives at stake! If it is an adult... being knowingly... and then be shy or always futile fighting for its life... there must also be a question of what use it is... what it accomplishes!? It must be the easiest thing to be what we are! And then in the right hands get the help we need!

    Frank

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  13. Art, I have just finished watching the Youtube video in which you and co are chatting with Raphael Montañez Ortiz.

    A burnt, shredded mattress is not a work of art until some worshipped artists decide that it is. Then the burnt mattress and its creator are worshipped. It's called artsy fartsy bullshit -- but anyone who holds this view will be ignored by the artiste -- the artiste who feels far more deeply than a shallow, ignorant critic.

    I am moved by the smell of burning rubbish because that is what I could smell in the lonely streets when I was four years old. I have no desire to symbolise that feeling in a work of art because I know that no one else would ever be able to feel what I felt, and empathise. It is just a feeling that resides inside me... it will never reside anywhere else.

    Raphael seems like a nice guy. His destructive behaviour, vomiting milk and calling out for mommy resonated inside him -- but why did he want it to resonate in other people too? I think he wanted people to worship him for his ability to create a powerful scene. I don't think he wanted people to join him in his quest to find the source of it all.

    That is the problem with fartsy artists. They are misled by their vanity -- spending too much time on a burnt mattress which is worth nothing more than a burnt mattress. I liked the way one of the primal therapists (I think) said that he preferred to read an explanation of the artist's intent so that one could try to feel something more than a burnt mattress. That was a sane thing to say.

    I am more attracted to musical art than visual art because music is less open to interpretation -- it is more like food in the sense that people's interpretations cannot differ too much. I want others to feel what I can feel -- I want others to be in the same boat... to enjoy what I am enjoying. That is real togetherness. The artsy farsty world achieves a shallow, egotistical togetherness; they are all members of an exclusive club but they don't feel each other's feelings.

    One question: in the video, you and France mentioned that young children can be very traumatised when they hear their parents having sex. Why?

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    Replies
    1. Richard, It is not my take at all and I found him charming and smart as hell. Did I really say hearing sex traumatizes children? I do not remember saying that. art

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    2. About 40 minutes into the video Raphael says he got angry especially when he heard his parents making love. you say "Oh you heard them?" He says yes. France says "That is usually very traumatic for a child". You say "Very, very traumatic."

      I'm not here to interrogate anyone, Art. I like Raphael. I just don't believe that I should be afraid to ask questions and express my view. For example, when a person earns a doctorate, I do not see a person making wonderful progress... I don't see evolution. I see a person who decided to commit many years to passing someone else's tests. These tests are designed to constrict the student's creation into a product that is compatible with the school's measuring system. The institution provides status and recognition for those who conform, and failure for those who cannot bear to be institutionalised.
      When I was a kid, I always sketched whatever I wanted to sketch, and ALL of my drawings were interesting. I would continue with a drawing until it looked interesting to me. Kids would flock around to see my pictures and they always loved them. When I went to the Wellington Polytechnic for Visual Art and Design, I was not allowed to bend the rules. Every student was required to draw the same thing, using the same tools, and then a qualified Art "Teacher" would measure the competency of each student. I was told that I would be given more freedom after I had completed six months of foundation work. I passed every test but I became depressed and dropped out of art school to preserve my sanity.

      I understand there is a requirement for primal therapists to pass conventional exams before they are allowed to practice primal therapy. You know the exams are based on bullshit -- I have browsed through some of them. I think I need to resolve some of my pain before I commit myself to another institution. Currently I am too overwhelmed.

      I have saved a good amount of money, Art. If I can't find a way to stay in California for at least a year, I may have no choice but to bend the rules and face the consequences. It's a shame that immigration is so difficult.

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    3. Hi Richard,

      I hope you make it to the Center. Even if you can only stay for 3 months I'm sure you'll benefit.

      I agree with you about your Art education. I did a foundation year in Art, Design & Photography and dropped out too. At that time I had just left home and my Dad was going bankrupt & insane. . .
      Take care & good luck.

      Paul G.

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    4. there are different sexual act performances... and some of them can look and sound unpleasant to children. especially to already traumatized children from not so loving parents. their interpretation is compounded, resonates... that is how i eventually came to possible reason why it could be traumatic for children. why Art and France said that it could be.

      art is everything and nothing. eventually it is what makes sense for us.. suicide attempt or sex? drink or piss? dreams or movies? primal or the act-out. it is all perfect. it is all art. the more valuable, if we connect with the meaning of it. and the meaning of it dies in the exibition of it. science is a good example of it. it examines the specimen, trying to figure out what the artist wanted to say and it ends up with many explanations. all valid, but all missing the point. and not helping connection. good critics are not what the patient really needs. our modern life is more and more exibitional. the legacy program hopefully will not be. on the other hand the language of other approaches and supporting science is covering the field, covering all exibiting places with their solutions. i am probably not the exception.

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    5. well said vuko,

      I tried to say the same thing, but you said it better.

      Paul G.

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  14. Richard: Do not forget that without Ortiz doing that, there would be no Primal Therapy. art

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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