by Peter Prontzos
That was the assessment of Dr. Marti Glenn, one of the keynote speakers at the 2010 International Congress of The Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology & Health (APPPH), which took place from November 11-14 at Asilomar, California.
And while she was not speaking of Primal Therapy per se, much of what she discussed is very relevant to Primal Theory. Indeed, most of the people who presented at the Congress, as well as those I talked with, seemed to have a very positive view of the key elements of Arthur Janov’s work.
This is not to say that there wasn’t some “booga-booga” as well (e.g. “As eternal consciousness, each soul creates a plan for their upcoming ensoulment…”), but most of the Congress focused on the emerging science of the pre- and perinatal periods of life.
Dr. Glenn, who is the Dean of the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, began by saying that, “Economists, writers, and researchers are beginning to discover…what we have known for decades: that the events and environment surrounding pre-conception, pregnancy, birth, and early infancy set the template out of which we live our lives.”
“The time is right,” she added, for a shift in the paradigm.” Recent coverage such as on prenatal health in Time magazine, and epigenetics in Newsweek, symbolize this profound change in consciousness.
Two of the insights that Dr. Glenn mentioned included the fact that early experiences determine brain architecture, and that by the sixth prenatal month, most of the 100 billion neurons found in the adult brain are already present.
She also highlighted the most important point of all: preventing trauma in the first place. For instance, a father’s involvement during pregnancy can reduce infant mortality. Dr. Glenn also quoted Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman, who points out that every dollar invested “in the very young” can not only save lives and prevent illness, but would also save from $4-17 billion dollars in future costs.
Heckman’s work is vital and demands attention. For instance, he has written, “Recent research demonstrates important differences in the family environments and investments of advantaged and disadvantaged children. Gaps in cognitive stimulation, affection, punishment, and other parental investments for children from families of different socioeconomic status open up early.”
Finally, the emerging consensus supports Dr. Janov’s contention that we have underestimated just how fragile we are while in the womb.
The “A Paradigm Shift is happening!” by The Primal Mind, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada License.