Obtain Life Before Birth: The Hidden Script That Rules Our Lives Imagined By Arthur Janov Shown In Document

had heard of Primal Scream therapy before only as a sort of humorous reference to a therapy that sounds ridiculous at face value.
Then I heard Dr. David Van Nuys interview Arthur Janov on the Shrink Rap Radio podcast and new I wanted to hear more.
In Life Before Birth Janov combines his years of experience working intensely with patients in his therapeutic practice and the latest science that supports the impact on very early life experience on lifelong health and wellness.
I would be more skeptical of some of Janov's claims if it wasn't for my own experience in my training in Somatic Resilience and Regulation therapy, an offshoot of Peter Levine's somatic experiencing for working through "developmental trauma".
My curiosity is certainly peaked and I now want to learn more about Janov's actual approach, so I will go back in Janov's literary output to see if I can find out about the specifics of this therapy.
Very well written In Life Before Birth, Arthur Janov describes how prenatal experiences can effect the development, and entire life of a person.
Many of his assertions regarding drinking, smoking, and drug use are well supported by studies, and asserted on bottles and cartons.

Janov's discussion of his primal therapy techniques is less established, but he does include

a number of patient testimonials to support his treatment method.
According to Janov, traumas experienced before birth, and early in infancy are not coded in the conscious, and cannot be treated by talktherapy, only primal therapy can get at these deepseated emotional problems.
I'm still skeptical about these assertions, but this Life Before Birth's main message is about being a good mother before the baby is born, and that's something I think most people can get behind.
In any case, it was interesting to read about psychology that is pretty far beyond what you get in an intro course.
A remarkable followup to the international bestselling The Primal Scream, groundbreaking psychologist Arthur Janov cites in this examination hundreds of studies showing how experience in the womb and at birth have enduring life consequences, laying the foundation in later life for anxiety and depressive disorders, heart attacks, and even cancer.
Janov explains how during pregnancy and the first years of life, events are imprinted in the brain that affect how aggressive or passive people will become, how despairing or optimistic they will be, and even how long they will live.
Destined to have as profound an impact on psychotherapy as The Primal Scream, this book compels doctors and pregnant women to consider the lasting impact of events that occur during pregnancy.
In Life Before Birth, Arthur Janov claims that trauma before birth due to decreased oxygen hypoxia, increased stress hormones such as cortisol or deficiencies in serotonin can impact humans later in life.
He says that stresswhat he terms “primal pain”felt in utero is encoded into cell components and, through a process called methylation, chemical markers are left behind.
He goes so far as to state that “irreversible changes are taking place in the womb, changes that will determine everything from personality types to what kinds of drugs one will take.
”

I checked a few of Janovs sources, specifically some studies done at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
One suggests painkilling drugs administered to a woman in labour can set up her child for later addictionand another that Caesarean birth may be linked with a predisposition to immunological diseases such as diabetes and asthma.
I found that scientists engaged in such studies were more tentative than Janov in their conclusions, They observed that genetic changes took place in the presence of environmental triggers, The scientists also said further study was required,

I am even more skeptical about Janovs other assertions, most of which relate to the impact of environmental conditions in the womb on an individuals later psychological profile.
He links long, strenuous labour with rage and rebelliousness in offspring, premature birth with a hesitancy of charactera sense of not being ready, and Caesarean sections with an individuals feeling incomplete later on in life.
Depression, anxiety, ADD, and even Alzheimers are all attributed to stressful prenatal experiences, A problem, of course, is that people have no memory of their prenatal lives, and for many, the mothers who might be able to tell them something about their pregnancies are no longer alive.
Hospital records are likely unavailable, So what we are left with, really, is speculation about what might have gone on, Janov, though, would probably argue that the body under the control of the primitive brain knows and can show the therapist and the patient during sessions.


The author believes that the field of psychotherapy is too focused on the talking cure and the function of the neocortex the upper brain.
The early, reptilian brain must be accessed to address the deep roots of depression, anxiety disorders, ADD, and even schizophrenia.
Janov claims that low body temperature, elevated blood pressure, cold extremities, etc, are indications of prenatal trauma, Primal therapy, which consists of somehow revisiting or reliving feelings one had in the womb, allows one to integrate and recalibrate physiological set points.
These are pretty wild assertions, and Janov doesnt explain how such therapy is done, except that it can involve monitoring heart beat, brain waves, blood pressure, and body temperature.
He claims that after a year of therapy, chronically low body temperatures ofdegrees F are normalized todegrees and, rather bizarrely, that feet, chest and breast measurements can increase in patients.
Wisdom teeth can even descend as a result! Patients have apparently “reported these bodily changes to him.
Needless to say, patient reports are a far cry from convincing scientific studies,

In spite of some of the authors bizarre claims and his convoluted and confusing summaries of scientific studies, I still found the book provocative.
It strikes me as true that neither throwing drugs at anxiety and depression nor talking about and attempting to reframe them really address why these feelings are there in the first place.
However, I cant say was exactly convinced that a person can actually relive a prenatal experience, integrate it into ones awareness, and finally be free of debilitating symptoms.


My knowledge of primal therapy was limited before reading this book, and I dont know much more about it upon completion.
The writing itself is fairly technical some of it is of poor quality and there are some glaring typos.
However, if youre up for a challenge, are interested in prenatal life or psychology, and would like to speculate about how your experiences in the womb might have affected
the way you turned out, this book just might be for you.


I thank the publisher sending me this text and their brochure of other similar titles concerning early childhood development.
How does womb life affect a fetus Does it shape his infancy What about the rest of his life Can a mother affect her pregnancy adversely by her mood, behavior or actions

Arthur Janov, in his new book, Life Before Birth: The Hidden Script That Rules Our Lives, would go as far as to say that pregnancy and the first few months of life can determine whether someone will develop depression, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, or cancer.
Janov, who is a leading psychologist and bestselling author, integrates neuroscience, psychotherapy, clinical observation and research in his narrative.


I was seven months pregnant when assigned to review this book, eager to begin, and hanging on every word.


Aside from his innovative gestational trauma therapy he suggests a psychotherapy that accesses womblife to relive early traumatic experiences, Janov tells us a lot about how a mothers behavior during pregnancy shapes her unborn child.
If a mother experiences significant anxiety during pregnancy, her child may be at risk for a higher output of the stress hormone cortisol.
Maternal stress can have disastrous effects on a fetus, affecting oxygen levels, which can lead to placental failure.
Janov also focuses on epigenetics, how genes are affected by intrauterine life, Apparently, genes can be changed through experiences the fetus undergoes while in the womb, The fetus may decide whether to express or repress certain genes,

I agree with Janov that stress is an anathema to pregnancy, but I have issues with some of his assertions.
For instance, he cites one researcher who claims that the fetus is so incredibly vulnerable and fragile that even subtle perturbations in the mothers mood can have measurable affects on the fetus that last for years.
He also suggests that the low level of serotonin found in SIDS babies may be the result of previous traumas in the womb and at birth.
What is the mother to do Live in a bubble How can a mother control subtle perturbations in her mood

Continually, Janov stresses that a mothers actions while carrying her infant have a lifelong effect.
I found this to be his mission far more than spreading the message of his new therapy.
Babies in the womb feel their mothers anxiety as early as four months gestation, he states, so pregnant women should watch their stress levels, avoiding tasks or projects that could exacerbate it.


Its hard to believe that the root of all of our problems come from what happened in the womb.
I am not entirely convinced of his argument, But I do have to say that our society makes pregnancy seem like its not a special condition.
Doctors tell pregnant women that they can do anything, run, work fulltime, travel, So I do champion Janov for elucidating that stress does affect the fetus and that a mother has a responsibility to her unborn child to avoid it.


Life Before Birth is a thoughtprovoking read, Janov is obviously well informed and knowledgeable, but the book itself suffers from too many generalizations, poor structural editing and organization.
Chapters dont progress from one to another, I think many writers of these types of book forget that both fiction and nonfiction books need a strong narrative to pull the reader thorough.


My upshot: Its worth a read, but you may abandon along the way, One with a serious interest may hang on,
I wont this book on Goodreads Firstreads, It was quite interesting and a very enjoyable read, Psychologist, psychotherapist, and the creator of primal therapy, a treatment for mental illness that involves repeatedly descending into, feeling, and expressing long repressed childhood pain.
Janov directed a psychotherapy institute called the Primal Center in Santa Monica, California, Janov wrote that his professional life changed in a single day inwith the discovery of what he calls Primal Pain.
During a therapy session, Janov heard what he describes as, “an eerie scream welling up from the depths of a young man lying on the floor”.
He developed primal therapy, in which clients are encouraged to re live and express repressed feelings, Janovs patients included John Lennon and Yoko Ono, sitelink Psychologist, psychotherapist, and the creator of primal therapy, a treatment for mental illness that involves repeatedly descending into, feeling, and expressing long repressed childhood pain.
Janov directed a psychotherapy institute called the Primal Center in Santa Monica, California, Janov wrote that his professional life changed in a single day inwith the discovery of what he calls Primal Pain.
During a therapy session, Janov heard what he describes as, “an eerie scream welling up from the depths of a young man lying on the floor”.
He developed primal therapy, in which clients are encouraged to re live and express repressed feelings, Janov's patients included John Lennon and Yoko Ono, sitelink sitelink.