Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why is Early Love So Important?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why is Early Love So Important?: The first easy answer is that you can never get it back; it is gone forever. And one day when you feel empty and lonely, and “down”, and mi...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: More on ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: More on ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder): Imagine trying to concentrate while trucks and trains and cars are whizzing by, make noise and creating tumult.  Well that is going on in t...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why is Early Love So Important?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why is Early Love So Important?: The first easy answer is that you can never get it back; it is gone forever. And one day when you feel empty and lonely, and “down”, and mi...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Leap Into Cancer

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Leap Into Cancer: I am going to take several leaps: the first is to equate the imprint with methylation of the gene cell.  That is, as very early trauma (ges...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: There Are Memories That Cannot Be "Remembered"

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: There Are Memories That Cannot Be "Remembered": I have  often remarked that the most important memories that drive neurosis, our behavior and our symptoms are those that cannot be remembe...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Can We Learn to Love?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Can We Learn to Love?: Is that possible?  To learn to love?   Is it ever possible? Nope.   Just a wee bit?  Nope.   How about liking someone more?   Yep.  Then le...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Let's Look Again at Evolution and Psychotherapy

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Let's Look Again at Evolution and Psychotherapy: Our lower brain and brainstem were designed originally for immediate, rapid reaction.  It is survival and supreme defense.  As the brain de...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Stress Is Not a Short Term Event

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Stress Is Not a Short Term Event: I think we are outfitted with inbuilt mechanisms to handle adverse events—stress.  But let’s be clear what stress is. It is not falling off...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Pain Inside Need

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Pain Inside Need: Why does need hurt?  Well, it does not until we feel it. Then it hurts a lot, which is why most of us act it out.  We show our needs every ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: How Do You Know If You're Neurotic?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: How Do You Know If You're Neurotic?: One way is to see if your brain gates are in good working order.  Is your unconscious too close to top level neocortex? Are the gates too s...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Saga of my Life

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Saga of my Life: I will recount another one of my Primals which occurred last night. You mean you are still Primaling?  At ninety? A bit unseemly?   Ah no. ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Compulsion: Another Brilliant Piece from the N.Y. ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Compulsion: Another Brilliant Piece from the N.Y. ...: There is a piece in the NY Times of Oct 14, 2014 (see http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/o-c-d-a-disorder-that-cannot-be-ignored/ ) a...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Deprived Children, Adult Believers

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Deprived Children, Adult Believers: To be fully loved during childhood gives a person enduring peace. I mean this literally since very early love brings our internal supplies o...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Deprived Children, Adult Believers

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Deprived Children, Adult Believers: To be fully loved during childhood gives a person enduring peace. I mean this literally since very early love brings our internal supplies o...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Alzeiheimer of the Heart

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Alzeiheimer of the Heart: You know when in our young life terrible things happen, the pain is repressed and stored in the body.  Eventually, the body gives way and s...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Alzeiheimer of the Heart

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Alzeiheimer of the Heart: You know when in our young life terrible things happen, the pain is repressed and stored in the body.  Eventually, the body gives way and s...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: More on the Levels of Consciousness

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: More on the Levels of Consciousness:  Years ago, when observing Primals, I noticed that there was, first of all, a resonance where one level triggered off similar feelings on l...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Silent Scream

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Silent Scream: I was looking around at some people I know and at least 1/3rd of them had the malady of needing to move constantly;  organizing trips, maki...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On the Science of Psychotherapy

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On the Science of Psychotherapy: Sometimes I realize I am getting science heavy but what is happening today is so exciting, especially since it supports what I have been wr...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Happy Birthday Letter 1

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Happy Birthday Letter 1: We are beginning a “Happy Birthday” series of letter sent to Art by patients, former patients, friends and readers from all over the worl...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Happy Birthday Letter 1

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Happy Birthday Letter 1: We are beginning a “Happy Birthday” series of letter sent to Art by patients, former patients, friends and readers from all over the worl...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: I Am Ninety Now...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: I Am Ninety Now...: I am ninety now so I have earned the right to reflect a bit. So here goes:  What have I learned about life?  A lot and not much since...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: I Am Ninety Now...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: I Am Ninety Now...: I am ninety now so I have earned the right to reflect a bit. So here goes:  What have I learned about life?  A lot and not much since...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Memory of Hurt

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Memory of Hurt: There is a well known study of a population deprived of food that happened in the Netherlands.    It  showed how this deprivation was carr...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Merger of Nature and Nurture: How the Outside ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Merger of Nature and Nurture: How the Outside ...:  Over the years the question is always raised,  is it nature or nurture? What causes so much behavior and so many symptoms: the genes or ex...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: More on the Act-Out: Goodbye Robin Williams

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: More on the Act-Out: Goodbye Robin Williams: There are some common act-outs that dominate so many of our lives.  I was thinking of having to work under pressure; that is, waiting until...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Memory of Hurt

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Memory of Hurt: There is a well known study of a population deprived of food that happened in the Netherlands.    It  showed how this deprivation was carr...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Being Addicted

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Being Addicted: Addiction can be cured, so long as we know what addiction is and what cure means. Once we understand those two factors cure is not far off....

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Primal Memory

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Primal Memory:  I think that Primal memory is of a different order of being from just plain cerebral memory.  When I go back to my childhood and earlier, ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why We Need Safety

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why We Need Safety: There is a confluence of two events, quite unlikely, that explain something about human nature.  The first is something that my colleague, n...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why We Need Safety

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Why We Need Safety: There is a confluence of two events, quite unlikely, that explain something about human nature.  The first is something that my colleague, n...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: A Past Without a Memory

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: A Past Without a Memory: If you have no memory, you have no past.  Wait a minute, could that be true?  No it is not.  Many of us wander around this earth with littl...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Developing Cancer and How to Stop It

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Developing Cancer and How to Stop It: There is exciting new research taking place on this serious disease.  And obviously, it has to do with epigenetics.  What epigenetics reall...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Developing Cancer and How to Stop It

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Developing Cancer and How to Stop It: There is exciting new research taking place on this serious disease.  And obviously, it has to do with epigenetics.  What epigenetics reall...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Here It Is At Last: Confirmation of Primal Therapy...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Here It Is At Last: Confirmation of Primal Therapy...:  Whoa, wait a  minute they never mention primal but the work is totally primal.   Here is the headline from Science Daily: Life Stressors T...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Unconscious As The Last Frontier

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Unconscious As The Last Frontier: How come the unconscious is constantly neglected.  I know:  No one knows what it is or what it contains.  Best to let sleeping dogs lie, es...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On the Rationale for a Diagnosis

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On the Rationale for a Diagnosis: There is an article on attention problems in the NY Times (April 13/2014. “Idea of a new attention disorder spurs research.”; http://www.nyt...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Dreams and Nightmares

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Dreams and Nightmares: Have you wondered why my patients have less nightmares and have dreams that increasingly become more and more real and present? No?  Oh dea...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Where and How Does Deep Repression (and therefore ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Where and How Does Deep Repression (and therefore ...: There is a new research that sheds light on this problem;  (See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131030125540.htm  ) only it is...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Mental Resistance

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Mental Resistance: A confession:  a year ago I was recommended to a naturopath for stem cells.  He was even near my house.  But I never went to him because “n...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: You Think You Feel But You Don't

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: You Think You Feel But You Don't: All the things you think are feelings are just that - thoughts. What you think are feelings: self-esteem, a sense of importance, feelings o...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: L'Wren Scott Is Dead

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: L'Wren Scott Is Dead: Ms Scott, designer and girlfriend of Mick Jagger hanged herself yesterday in her apartment in New York. The question is, “Why?”  Could an...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: L'Wren Scott Is Dead

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: L'Wren Scott Is Dead: Ms Scott, designer and girlfriend of Mick Jagger hanged herself yesterday in her apartment in New York. The question is, “Why?”  Could an...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Real Role of the Neocortex

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Real Role of the Neocortex: So what do you think it is?  I submit that its primary is to keep us from feeling.  And that allows us to slay our enemies with impunity.  ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: What Did I Do to Deserve This?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: What Did I Do to Deserve This?: - Well my friends, it is not what you did but who you stood next to. - You mean I could get neurotic just standing next to my father or mo...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: What Did I Do to Deserve This?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: What Did I Do to Deserve This?: - Well my friends, it is not what you did but who you stood next to. - You mean I could get neurotic just standing next to my father or mo...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: A Bit More on Depression Again

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: A Bit More on Depression Again: So let’s get it straight. When we show a symptom such as depression there are two aspects to it: 1. The cause; 2. The reaction. We need t...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Suffering and Pain. What Does it Matter So Long...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Suffering and Pain. What Does it Matter So Long...: It turns out it matters a lot, and the difference is essential. Because pain is curable and suffering is not. I had better explain. To be c...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Suffering and Pain. What Does it Matter So Long...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Suffering and Pain. What Does it Matter So Long...: It turns out it matters a lot, and the difference is essential. Because pain is curable and suffering is not. I had better explain. To be c...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Another Look at Reliving

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Another Look at Reliving: Let’s go over this again so we can make sure that reliving is important in the therapy for all kinds of neuroses. Neurosis means that there ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Philip Seymour Hoffman is dead

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Philip Seymour Hoffman is dead: He died from an overdose of painkillers; e.g. heroin. He had been in plenty of rehab yet it didn’t seem to solve his problem. It wasn’t the ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: How Do You Harm a Fetus?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: How Do You Harm a Fetus?:  You harm anyone, no matter the age, by depriving them of their biologic needs. So you abuse a fetus by not recognizing her needs. And wha...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Another Look at Reliving

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Another Look at Reliving: Let’s go over this again so we can make sure that reliving is important in the therapy for all kinds of neuroses. Neurosis means that there ...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: How Do You Harm a Fetus?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: How Do You Harm a Fetus?:  You harm anyone, no matter the age, by depriving them of their biologic needs. So you abuse a fetus by not recognizing her needs. And wha...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Is Addiction Incurable?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Is Addiction Incurable?: A piece in the N.Y. Times , June 9, 2013 discusses Dr. Drew Pinsky, a television personality and doctor who treats addicts and helps in reh...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The New Science of Mind

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The New Science of Mind: There is a piece in the New York Times Science section, (September 8, 2013, by the Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel)(See http://www.nytimes...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Is Addiction Incurable?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Is Addiction Incurable?: A piece in the N.Y. Times , June 9, 2013 discusses Dr. Drew Pinsky, a television personality and doctor who treats addicts and helps in reh...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Is Addiction Incurable?

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: Is Addiction Incurable?: A piece in the N.Y. Times , June 9, 2013 discusses Dr. Drew Pinsky, a television personality and doctor who treats addicts and helps in reh...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics: Oh dear, that used to be such a dirty word.  The idea of it was roundly rejected for a hundred years, and then, lo and behold it is now pur...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Psychological Medicine

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: On Psychological Medicine: Here is what I think is proper medicine in psychotherapy:  it must be always a collaboration between patient and doctor.  It is not somethi...

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

Janov's Reflections on the Human Condition: The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics: Oh dear, that used to be such a dirty word.  The idea of it was roundly rejected for a hundred years, and then, lo and behold it is now pur...