Life Before Birth: The Hidden Script That Rules Our Lives

A remarkable follow-up 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.

Arthur Janov, PhD, is one of the world’s leading psychologists and the founder and director of the Primal Center in Los Angeles. The originator of primal therapy, he has treated thousands of patients while undertaking extensive research in support of his thesis that both physical and psychic ailments can be linked to early traumas. He has lectured at the Royal College of Medicine in London, Hunter College in New York, and Karolinska Medical and Research Center in Stockholm, and his work has been the subject of documentaries in England, France, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. He is the author of 10 books, including The Primal Scream, which have been translated into 24 languages. He lives in Los Angeles.