Friday, February 3, 2017

Awareness Versus Consciousness

There are steps leading to full consciousness. The penultimate one is awareness;  awareness sets the stage for consciousness, which is why we must not confuse the two. In psychoanalysis we are made aware of something but we cannot be made conscious of anything.  I am aware that my father hardly ever talked to me, but I was not conscious of what it did to me, a consciousness that would ineluctably lead to insights and change. Let’s say thereafter I needed men to talk to me and be aware of my existence; whether by a teacher or coach. And therefore my act-out was getting teachers to pay attention to me by my excelling in studies. It made me driven to excel. I never knew about the drive until I became conscious, conscious of my motives, to be loved.  (This is not my case,  this is only an example) 

Animals are very aware of a menace, of a sex object, or a reward. Their cerebrum does not expand beyond that into consciousness.  They can sense and be aware, can be aware but not conscious. Consciousness means an harmonious confluence of all brain levels working to protect the individual from danger, both internal and external. Internal comprises pain imprinted into the nervous system that accumulates into, at times, a massive input that threatens to damage or impair the defense system.  What is too often neglected in therapy is the emotional level which is denigrated in the service of the intellectual level. 

It is the lingering aspect of our history that become an over-weaning burden that results in depression, low blood pressure and other related symptoms. It is the importuning insurgence of that force that can produce ADD, impulsiveness and other signs of an internal overload that cannot be integrated. When we see that conglomerate of afflictions, we must assume an imprinted force that needs integration.  That is our job: to suss out those internal forces, to learn what and where they are, and how to integrate them into the neuro-biologic system.  Integration is the key word here because in psychotherapy the patient is given his insights, which means large room for error as there are built-in errors due to the fact that information is provided by someone else’s perceptions and not the patient’s.   Errors cannot be integrated because they are not organic to the system. They are aliens, strangers that have no business in the biologic system of the patient. That is why we need a therapy that emanates solely from the patient and no one else.  Insights from a therapist are organic to him alone and can be loaded with errors.  Worse, when we genuflect psychologically to the psyche of the patient, we reduce the litany of errors which can be committed. No one is smarter than the patient, nor more perceptive. More important, no one is smarter than the patient’s personal internal time-table in therapy, which dictates when powerful feelings are ready to be experienced. If we neglect this one fact, we are liable to push a patient into massive pain, which can overload him and lead to serious symptoms. No whine before its time. (Oh my, excuse the pun.  I am trying to make a serious subject fun). Alas, too often it is anything but fun. I need my sanity too. But my pun is deadly serious, for we have seen over fifty years what happens when too much pain accumulates without being felt; an overload of pain on a lower level which then wends its way to the top level neocortex where it provides, inter alia, insights to explain what is going on, or delusions to make rational those internal terrors that have been unleashed. They importune us to provide some reason for being so terrified. The person is unaware of deep brain forces at work.  He imagines it comes from outside of him. So the man “hiding” in the phone booth is whispering secrets about him.

So what is an insight? It is the understanding of one’s life, motives, impulses, fears, and obsessions, all proffered by a biologic system that has held this information away because biting the apple of information can be highly painful. Once bitten there is no going back. We cannot erase or undo the insight; if it is correct it is now part of us. And when it comes to the surface to be experienced the system knows it is the right time; if not, it will remain sequestered. And if the person is pushed to experience the pain prematurely, it is, by definition, the wrong time. The warning signs emerge to tell us ”danger ahead.”

So here we have a paradox; a doctor is inculcating information/insights onto the patient who is in no position to hear them. He is “filled-up”  already.  The imprint is a giant load of information that is too much at the moment. In the case of serious mental problems, it may be correct to aid him for a short time with a painkiller to strip the pain of some of its load so part of it can be accepted and be integrated.  One needs a very experienced doctor for this, as when it is mishandled it can lead to serious exacerbation. Feelings in therapy will lead to proper insights when the pain is at an integrable level that can be accepted and is not part of an overload; thus the insights that will come up will be correct and useful. They will make sense. When they are part of an overload and spill unabated into the neocortex, they will be pseudo-insights that help no one. They are just the spillways of too much input.  The new (neocortex) brain must rush in to help deal with it and absorb some of the overload with strange, stretched idealization. These delusions are a very thin blanket for feeble efforts to be rational. 

As we see, there is a universal effort to normalize, to make sense and explain one’s emotions. Alas, when the pain is terrible, this effort fails and we can get gibberish.  In the early days of my practice, I did see some gibberish in very disturbed patients who were down into the brainstem, with no coherent language ability. A very primitive response. So insights are rational and coherent when we are coherent; when the feelings we undergo are now feelable and can rise to the thinking brain untrammeled. 

If we continue on with awareness we will see none of that rationality.  We will see an intellectual who thinks he has made progress; and he has, but it is confined to his rational brain and not his whole system. Therefore he is smart, yet dumb. His panoply of perceptions is warped and sees only parts of reality. He is good at self deception but bad at true perception. He fails in the emotional department. It is that department that means life and its meaning. 


24 comments:

  1. Something I suspect: The moment an intellectual starts to FEEL that his well-established ideas are false, he THINKS that his hopeless FEELING is indicative of a POINTLESS thought. He thinks that his feeling is pointless. And so he steers his thoughts in a more 'constructive' direction - and then he 'feels better'.

    Perhaps someone should let him know: "Hopelessness is not pointless; it is the loss of false hope."

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    1. As always Richard, very well put.

      Paul G.

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    2. Richard Atkin, I like that: Hopelessness is the loss of false hopes. Or maybe rather: The failure of false hopes?

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    3. hi to all,
      Richard, you may be well into description of the real situation that is studied and described in the primal legacy program. Maybe under chapter about abreaction. In my opinion the key words that help understand what is happening here are “feel hopeless”. This guy “feels” hopeless and it doesn’t mean anything. He is not feeling. He is suffering. There is not a single word in what you wrote that suggest that he is going somewhere. Hopelessness is not a feeling and he seems to be just mired in it. maybe above the feeling zone, he does the BRILLIANT thing. Activates some kind of defense. It could be typical for early stages of mock primal therapy. The therapist didn’t sense what is most important: not hopelessness but a feeling. Is it too late for this session to correct the mistake? I think it all went quite well for this patient, given the circumstances.
      The circumstances that don’t know how to support a feeling are not good. We can endlessly “feel” confused, hopeless, in pain and don’t go anywhere. It could provoke yet another pseudo feeling> “feeling of waste”. "what is the point?" Great! What could be the true feeling behind it? “I am not good, I am not important, whatever I do it is wrong” all the way to the first line. Only feeling can make sense of the waste, of the suffering. Not only to find out about our false hopes but to deeply understand the necessity of every single one of them. So we can deeply understand our and other people defenses. It is essential for the safe atmosphere inside the primal room. Patient can feel it. sometimes i feel it here in Art's writing. some kind of resonance happens. it could be the most powerful tool for a therapist. to have a good start in a session... respect towards the power of the feeling and deep respect towards defenses.... Therapy should not be a torture. not an obligation, not a classroom. Then it could be so smooth.
      I wonder how many patient are intelligent enough to feel that the therapy has gone wrong? Before the defenses get very damaged.

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    4. Thanks Paul and thank you guys for the great replies.

      I just wrote that comment because I often notice how people seem to get bored with reality. A woman was adamant that her newborn son showed no signs of pain during his circumcision (without anesthetic). I said to her, in a non-judgmental tone of voice "Your son didn't show any signs of pain because the pain signal never reached consciousness. That is what happens when the pain is too great for a tiny heart..." Her face dropped for a second... it was obvious that she was seeing some reality... after all, how could circumcision be painless? She knew I had a point for just a second, but then she became immediately bored and interrupted me; she said there was no point in continuing the conversation. She wasn't worried or angry. She was truly bored.... just totally dismissive. "Pointless" (hopeless) conversation.

      Vuko, I agree with you 100%. Depression is a torturous experience as it neurotically resonates with the original hopeless experience, but it is not the original hopeless experience; it is just the superficial failure of false hopes, and it can never lead to resolution. Depression resonates but it is still not real enough, and therefore not deep enough to feel/resolve the original hopeless experience. I can't condense Art's words into a single paragraph but I get it and I'm glad you do too.

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  2. Hello Art!

    "There are steps leading to full consciousness. The penultimate one is awareness; Awareness sets the stage for consciousness"

    Pain is what feel when we talk about emotions and so has feelings become something we think about! We can not think that it is about pain to be feeling!

    When we are just aware in a system of thought (neocortex) in attempt to solve the equation on the human foundation... it is impossible to solve it.

    For those who explains feelings and awareness to be the same thing does not the necessary perspective exist to understand the difference as they just se one side of the coin... to it they need the limbic system... which they claim to be aware of... it for what they just think all is about.

    I suffers when I feel! Wich is the reason that it is so difficult for me to understand that I do not feel when my perverted side working to an "satisfaction"... it as I learned to understand in attempt to feel.

    Frank

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  3. One cannot deal or possibly even recognize "first happening events" in their lives (the person having gone through trauma). They get distracted easily, unfortunately, especially with anything new. It is just either ignored (pushed aside) an event or the way one is treated when younger; which at the time, feel that that is the best way they can "deal" with it. Often I have told my mother and father, when I was growing up, I always felt threatened by family social events and just hardly spoke at them...but now looking back on the family functions, social events with family or somewhere else that I was able to attend, I look back on those times "warmly and fondly" which when I told my family this, they were surprised at first that I had a great time on an "extended" family vacation or function; when at the time, I always acted like I would almost "die" to be attending. What is it? Possibly just incomprehensible or unable to "fathom" at first (which is almost a handicap); unable to "take in" the way another family member treats another at first (whether it be kindness shown, or just plain ignoring a son or daughter (which is just plain nasty).
    Growing up, I wasn't ignorant, but it just "wasn't there" for me to grasp (yes, maybe I was just dumbfounded...maybe that was it for me), who knows? But a person or child able to get Primal Therapy could make important connections with family (could hit the nail on the head sooner and "deal" with what family, friends, and strangers "dish out" in their lives; this is important. A good foundation. They (traumatized kids and people) could live a happier, more emotionally secure life. Sad in a way...(to put it mildly).

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  4. Part one:

    Another great one, Art.

    1. I particularly like the phrase: "over-weaning".
    That is an understatement in a lot of cases, and increasingly so in "modern" times.

    2. Same with: "So here we have a paradox; a doctor is inculcating information/insights onto the patient who is in no position to hear them. He is “filled-up” already."

    Again: That is an understatement in pretty much everybody's case today. I irk when I read that or think about it. Everything from gestation, parenting, education system, all media, internet, is filling us with garbage, false and limiting knowledge, insane knowledge, perverted knowledge. Information overload, mostly crazy information. Most people are suffering from that today.

    But the "input" in the “formative years” is by far the worst.

    If the child could be so lucky as to the get the first 10 yrs of his life right, he would do relatively ok in life.

    That reminds me about reading (30+ yrs ago) in either the book: "The Lost Books of the Bible", or "The Forgotten Books of Eden" a story about Mary, mother of Jesus, about how Mary's mother was raised in a convent or something like that, where she was protected from the negative influence of, and "noise" of the world, and raised and lived in peace and spiritual devotion, to prepare her for the birth of Mary, the mother of Jesus. If I recall correctly, I think the same applied to Mary's grandmother. All done in preparation for Mary to give birth to Jesus. At least two generations in advance, likely more. The birth of a messiah was predicted early in the old testament.

    This information falls into alignment for me, and expands on the idea, with what you are saying, about "input and overload of input". The importance of "right mothering". To conceive, gestate and raise a sane child, it must be done in a peaceful and positive, sane, loving, safe environment.

    King David, lamented his sentiment in Psalms, in his Hebrew poetry, that he was conceived in inequity. This came together or came full circle for me recently, when I connected the dots and understood the meaning and significance of it. I was blown away by the insight of King David, a few thousand yrs ago.


    3. I think the idea of mothers working during pregnancy is the antithesis, to raising a good, sane child. It is a crime against humanity. In fact, any "working mom" idea is a crime against humanity. And should be treated as such by the law, if we want to save this civilization from total destruction.



    4. Quoting you, last paragraph:

    If we continue on with awareness we will see none of that rationality. We will see an intellectual who thinks he has made progress; and he has, but it is confined to his rational brain and not his whole system. Therefore he is smart, yet dumb. His panoply of perceptions is warped and sees only parts of reality. He is good at self deception but bad at true perception. He fails in the emotional department. It is that department that means life and its meaning.

    End of quote:
    End of quote:

    So true, simply put: "Talking heads". (But I would not call it as “self deceived”, but it was a necessary construction of a mechanical coping skill, or construction of a necessary function/mechanism for survival. It is a mental disorder, a personality disorder caused by child abuse. Probably most people, those who have not got into studying this subject, are not aware of it or do not understand it. I assume some do.)


    Using reason and logic is the only way I could learn to function in this world. I was so abused that I had varying states of catatonia and cataplexy. I was totally emotionally numbed, paralyzed from abuse by my father. I was totally disconnected from my “higher self”. I do not know what else to call it.

    End of part one.

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  5. Part two:


    Many times throughout life, girls would tell me, David, speak from your heart.

    For the longest time, I had no clue as to what they meant by that.

    And I felt so "hurt" by that statement. And I had to hide that hurt too, or brush it off. It was actually more abuse on top of the mountain of pain I already had.


    It is only recently, as a result of therapy, and study and research, that I got it figured out.


    I was also accused of being an energy vampire.

    That is much worse than being emotionally unavailable (emotionally paralyzed or close to dead inside).

    It seems to me that only men suffer from those afflictions.

    Because, I have heard of many women complain about those problems with men.

    I have not seen or heard of women suffering from those afflictions,
    but I have to think or assume there are.

    I have read and heard much about energy vampires.

    Years ago, I used to drive truck on night shift, and used to listen to George Noory on Coast to Coast radio, and energy vampires was a favorite topic for the talk show.

    I already knew what caused it by that time, and I used to get so angry with George and his callers on how recklessly, abusively, and scornfully, they talked about such people, in total ignorance.


    And I get angry with women when they ignorantly talk about the problem "in a blaming, scorning way", blame the victim.


    From my perspective, based on my case, and experience, the reason I was an energy vampire, is because I was so emotionally unnourished, I was worse than empty in that department, and instead, filled with emotional abuse, beatings, scoldings, abandonment, rejection and the like. (Plus false and limiting, unworkable, life education.)

    I was in such bad shape, I was dead or dying inside, almost like being or feeling suffocated from a lack of air, but in this case, a lack of love and emotional nourishment, acceptance and rejection. This was happening for all my life from conception to only recently (in the last 20 yrs), when I began to figure it out.

    All my life, I suffered from ADD, learning disabilities, poor coordination, poor reflexes, can't get organized, narcolepsy, schitzotypal personality disorder, social misfit, getting lost in familiar places, getting worse lost in unfamiliar places, very accident and screw up prone, can't be, can't do, can't have, anxiety and nervous disorders, Addison's disease, Jinx, fear of people, can't do anything right. A lightening rod for scorn and abuse and being taken advantage of.
    And something that would be well described as having a condition of the opposite of the law of attraction.


    I was so starved for love and emotional nourishment I was literally dying and needed love and emotional support. Much similar to the idea of being on "life support" systems in the hospital.

    But ignorant women do not know this and go mad when the man cannot provide them with emotional nourishment and love, and often violently blame and scorn the man.

    A person has to have it, before they can give it.

    It has to be provided for the child from conception (or actually much before conception) to maturity, at least to the point where the person begins to become an adult, but it actually needs to never stop.

    Otherwise, we develop all kinds of emotional and mental disorders, to varying degrees.

    End of part two.

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  6. Part three:

    My dad operated on the idea that a child is born stupid (born in sin or inequity) (from the bible) (actually a misunderstanding or a perversion or a taking out of context) and had to be made smart and that was done by applying the rod of discipline, (again actually a misunderstanding or a perversion or a taking out of context) and that meant beatings every time the child did something wrong. And if some was good more was better. He wanted to bring up the best child possible. But a case of operating on false and limiting knowledge.

    That is criminal. It is religion ordered, condoned, motivated, rationalized, inspired child abuse.
    All abuse is criminal.

    The misunderstanding or a perversion of, or a taking out of context of, of those two verses or statements are the cause of most of the world's problems (mental and emotional disorders/mental illness).

    If someone treated the parent, the way the parent treated their children, they would call the police and have the perpetrator charged with assault and battery and whatever, in an instant, and even locked up if possible.


    It has to be made a criminal offence to abuse children. If adults have that right, ...children need that right too. Children are little people.

    Children need to be given the right to sue parents for damages and punishment if they are brought up and turn out defective, dysfunctional, disabled, mentally ill or with emotional disorders or any defects. There is no worse crime. It aberrates, dulls, cripples or destroys a person's life to that degree. It is the root cause of mental illness, criminal behavior and addictive personalities. Who is the real "criminal"? Is it not the creator, the maker, the factory of the criminal or screw up?

    If we do not treat or cure the cause, we will always have the symptoms.

    A child will never misbehave, or rebel, or throw a tantrum, or be delinquent or dysfunctional or incompetent, if the parent did not do something wrong to the child first.

    There is no such thing as a bad kid, or a stupid kid, only bad parents, and stupid and ignorant parents. It is impossible.

    We are all products of a conception, a gestation, a birth and an upbringing. If you have a problem with the product, you have to check with the factory for the cause of the problem.

    All of our mental and emotional problems are caused by what our parents did to us or for us, that they should of not done to us or for us, ....and what our parents did not do to us or for us, that they should of done to us or for us.

    Maybe you could expand or comment on the points I made, Art.


    David

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    1. Yes, I agree; parents can do a great deal of damage to their children. But I have seen parents (good people) treat their child with respect, kindness, understanding ....(no abuse whatsoever), and the child , because of the "crowd" and "so-called" friends they take up with, totally ignore their family upbringing and become heroin addicts and prostitutes. Not the parents fault whatsoever; but yet, some people in society will look upon the parents(not even really knowing them, and blame the parents for their son or daughters troubles. Some even blame the parent for having a birthday on Valentine's Day and that is why the daughter became a prostitute on heroin; in reality, no, that is not the reason and that is not the way it happened, but people just want to see what they want to see many times (unfortunately); if they only knew.

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    2. Part one:

      Beachcoast,

      The number one factor in judging or evaluating or commenting on anything is that each situation has to always be first evaluated on it's own facts (factors) or merits. And in the case of evaluating a family, all facts can be difficult or impossible to find, unless the victim seeks or finds the right kind of therapy. You do not know all what went on behind closed doors and behind the facade (social veneer) parents and families portray.

      Many families (like mine) put on the facade to the community at large (or to other relatives) of a nice, loving, sane family. But it was far from it.

      By their fruits you shall know them.

      Means the same thing as I said: "We are all products of a conception, a gestation, a birth and an upbringing. If you have a problem with the product, you have to check with the factory for the cause of the problem."

      People can be expert professionals at hiding things and giving false impressions.

      You do not judge a book by it's cover.

      There is always a reason (hidden or underlying) for everything.

      Whatever the reason was, for the problems the child got into later in life, I (as well as any one else) can only speculate from this perspective.

      And it also takes an incredibly deep understanding of this kind of psychology and philosophy (of which there is less than a handful of such in the world, who are working at this depth, Dr. Janov being one of them, and each works in their own specialty, the subject is huge and no one person can figure it all out in one lifetime) to really and fully understand what is going on, and to be able to properly evaluate such situations.

      (And before I go on, I want to acknowledge you in saying, that the "crowd" and so called "friends" can and do influence a child as they grow up. Also TV, and other media, school and mass consciousness also can greatly influence a person's out come. Everything the child is exposed to or experiences affects the child.)

      One thing I do know is that truly happy children (properly loved and emotionally nourished, fully secure) do not get addicted to things.


      Only insecure, neurotic children become addicted, or develop addictive personalities, or children who are lacking something inside, or suffering from some pain inside get addicted. They are looking for a fix or an emotional pain killer, or pain suppressant. Or they are looking for a high or a way to be happy. Whatever it is, there is something, some problem they are trying to solve by taking drugs. If I put that person in therapy, I could find it, and resolve it.


      End of part one.

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    3. Part two:

      Now back to how such problems are caused: There had to be some lack of love and or lack of emotional nourishment and or a lack of the right kind of life instruction or life education, or some damage done to the child at the appropriate time. What ever it was there had to be some deficiency or damage somewhere, by commission or omission.

      These subjects are practically impossible to fully cover in a blog post, too. They can only be touched on.

      But I will give you a couple of examples of what some people do to prevent their children from running into such problems in life.

      I know one couple who home school their children and stick very closely to their Christian church and accompanying social functions. Everything they do outside their home, revolves around their church.

      Some parents who can afford it, send their children to private schools.

      One person, I met, said that he and his wife, taught their five children two sets of values, home smarts and street smarts. From what I gathered, three turned out good and two did not. But I do not know the facts, because I never met the children.


      And keep in mind that there is a right way and a wrong way to do almost everything. Many parents have the best of intentions, but sometimes things go wrong. Parents try different things on different children. But there is always a reason why things went wrong. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.


      But the thing to remember is that this universe always operates on the principle of cause and effect. Nothing happens without a cause.

      And it can take incredible education to be able find the “RIGHT” cause, in these deeper, poorly understood areas of life.

      David

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    4. No loved child gets addicted but that assume proper gestation and birth. Art

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    5. Yes, off course.

      Thanks for making the point.


      As I said, it is difficult to cover every point.

      David

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  7. I am very interested in the problems that occur to the baby in the womb.

    This morning I heard the word Apoplectic on CNN. I do not recall hearing the word before, so I looked it up. I learn something everyday:

    Apoplexy: unconsciousness or incapacity resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke.

    Apoplexy is a sudden and often fatal fit resulting from blood vessels bursting in the brain.

    Although apoplexy as a specific medical term, is not such a common term now, the word apoplectic certainly is, meaning furious and red-faced with uncontrollable rage (so called because it’s symptoms of flushed red face and loss of bodily control mimic those of apoplexy). Often used humorously — apoplectic is how you might describe your parents when they see your grades — though there's nothing funny about a real apoplectic fit.

    One thing led to another and I went to this site (it is a rich goldmine of incredible knowledge):

    http://learninggnm.com/SBS/documents/sbs_index.html

    And again, one thing led to another
    and came across "Intrauterine Conflict".

    In the science this website deals with: called "German New Medicine"
    "conflict” basically means "a traumatic incident", that harmfully affects a person, resulting in some disease or disorder.

    So an "intrauterine conflict" means "traumatic incidents" that affect the baby in the womb.

    In reading this site, you will encounter unfamiliar words, phrases and concepts. To understand them, you will have to go to the beginning of the site and do a careful diligent study of the basics. There are also lots of youtube videos, the one to start with is:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zYWtzq4XBk&list=PLNUNUt0OKvmRQCFOTbkGU5A2MFMg3AsUx

    Now, back to trauma experienced by the baby in the womb.

    I would posit that this is where the majority of our problems originate, especially neurosis by mothers working during pregnancy and throughout the developing yrs of the child and even beyond throughout all life.

    I also posit that apoplexy, catatonia and cataplexy and other similar or related disorders can occur in the womb to varying degrees.

    And I say this, because I want to take every opportunity to educate the world as much as possible of the seriousness of the subject. Because there is nothing more important than the quality of the next generation. Only a sane and intelligent, a fully conscious and enlightened next generation with all their marbles, can save the world.

    Much neurosis and many kinds of disorders originate in the womb, and even often grow or increase in complexity and severity in life, and often result in or cause other disorders as the result of the disability (disorder) and complications resulting from the individual trying to resolve the problems of life, and the disorder, in spite of the limitations caused by the disorder or trying to correct the disorder. In simple language, in many cases, causing a tangled web of causes, causing disorders, causing the individual more problems.


    This ties into consciousness, over awareness.

    Certain kinds of trauma if extreme or severe enough, decrease consciousness and intelligence. If the trauma is sufficiently severe, the being becomes retarded. Severe shocks and especially the effects of marital conflicts, madness and rage.

    Def of retarded: 1. characterized by a slowness or limitation in intellectual understanding and awareness, emotional development, academic progress, etc.

    Here is how apoplexy could occur in the womb: Extracting from and expanding upon the definition of apoplexy: Often used humorously — apoplectic is how you might describe your parents when they see your grades — though there's nothing funny about a real apoplectic fit.


    Suppose mother is pregnant while becoming outraged at a child’s poor grades. The unborn could very well get effected too, decreasing the consciousness of the unborn.

    There are an infinite number of ways people can get traumatized from during conception to end of life.


    David

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    1. You will be happy to know that we are doing a film on our treatment of catatonia. Art

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    2. You are right. There is nothing more important. Art

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  8. Please let me know, when the film on your treatment of catatonia is completed.

    Thanks,

    David

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  9. Art, Sorry to digress but what do you think, please, about the new idea in Moscow of providing 'Rage rooms' for people, anyone, to express their anger no matter how huge and be as destructive as they want to be? I've seen pictures of this and men and women smashing things up and the walls. Huge anger outlet! I can.t see it being allowed in the U.K. but really an art therapist in her home let me do this in 1960. (she knew A.S. Neil) I think it's a good idea. May stop murders. 900 women were killed by their husbands, partners in 2016, the Papers say and violence is getting more frequent against children and also men, too. Sandie.

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    1. Here is what I say all the time. Rage is only a release; feeling the rage in its original time is curative. Anyone can rage when encouraged. We are after feeling, not emotional release. Art

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    2. Hi Sandie & Art,

      perhaps the right word is 'passion'. It's also a hackneyed expression as we are supposed to be 'passionate' about things in this modern age of 'individualism & self expression'.

      But the passions are really an act out; The deadly sins - a form of abreaction. People get confused and so ALL expression becomes sinful OR false, hence the terrible resistance by so many to the facts of Primal Theory. . . That is how our personal traumas are used to control us, we are not even allowed 'passion', unless of course we are some great 'artiste' or aspire so.

      Paul G.

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    3. Art and Paul
      I so agree with what you say! Yet to hold it all in... all such strong painful feelings is so hard and in England we have to do this. walk around like robots pretending. I can't do it. As a kid with the whole family victimising me, my lovely art therapist where i got one day off school to go to as 'a punishment' would ask me if my dad had been violent again and would give me a punch ball on a stick and let me throw crockery on the cellar wall in her house and i imagined my dads face on the ball and it helped me. Terrible to have no outlets! And, Paul, do you like me live in a flat? How can we have a primal when people live so closely all around us who have NO knowledge of primal therapy and cannot feel? In a way you have to have the right sort of home to live after the therapy, I think. Sandie.

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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