Cesar wrote:Though I have not read Janov I am very concerned about Antonio?s testimony. And my educated guess is that to be swaddled for many months traumatizes more an infant than the current non-empathic methods of childbirth, or the immoral circumcision of babies.
A huge misconception about Janov's Primal Therapy is that it's supposed to be centered around birth traumas. This is not true at all. Maybe you're thinking of re-birthing? Janov's primal therapy deals with any early trauma, including swaddling. Though swaddling is still very common in Russia and China, in the Western culture, only some of the older generations in some countries have suffered this.
Non-empathic methods of childbirth, as you call it, is a pretty vague description. Often some of the most cruel torture techniques take place on the infant during and after birth. Electric shocks, huge tongs to pull at the infants head during birth, cutting the umbilical cord too early, which results in near suffocation, harsh lights and sounds, separation from the mother, spanking, surgical operation without anesthesia, and more.
Cesar, I'm surprised to hear you haven't read a single book by Arthur Janov. Though that Antonio makes a few good points, you could form your own opinion by reading a book by Janov first. Prisoners of Pain is Janov's best book in my opinion. Also The New Primal Scream is a very interesting read.
I understand Phil's point of view that people who are looking for a good therapist, and feel strong enough to filter them through Miller's
How To Find a Therapist, probably don't need a therapist in the first place. Anyone who is seeking a therapist, wants a good one and wants to be helped. But only help in the way they can understand and feel that it will make them FEEL BETTER. This
feeling better is a trap because a person in pain, wants to avoid that pain, not feel it. So anything that can make that person feel better, will be chosen first. That's also why those therapies that deal with short term (temporarily) solutions are much more popular. When a person in therapy learns that it's not about
feeling better but about feeling, a breakthrough is made and it's often the point when people stop using drugs. After a good therapy, a person can still suffer, can still feel pain, but only as a reaction to the current situation and not anymore as a reaction to the childhood.
Cesar, I'm curious, what are your plans with your biographical books, once they are finished. Do you already have a publisher who has shown interest? As you may or not may know, I've written a 600 page autobiographical novel that I couldn't get published (in Dutch as well as in English). Most publishers I had contacted considered it well-written but the taboo of hating one's parents was too much for them. A few even said it was too thick. I started writing on this book when I was 23 and finished it when I was 31.
And I also think Miller's Breaking Down the Walls of Silence is her best book. The first time I read it twice within one week (has never happened with any other book) and I've read it in total probably 5 times and every time I discovered new things.
Dennis