Tribute to Art Janov

It has been nearly twelve months since my last post. During that time I put my focus into writing my third book and getting it published “Anxiety Depression and the Three Levels of Consciousness”

Arthur Janov was the discoverer of a therapy that was successful in treating nearly all mental illness because it understood and dealt with the human brain on its three separate levels of functioning.

Art wrote many books and had his own blog where he tried to explain the importance and nuances of this revolutionary new therapy. In June this year Art stopped posting and so his followers, including myself, became worried about his health – after all he was 93 years old. In early October our fears were realised when notification of his death appeared on his blog site.

The basics of Primal Therapy and how it utilises the three levels was discovered by Art and Vivian Janov in the late sixties, and was immortalised in his first book ” The Primal Scream”. Since then the therapy has been altered and refined to a stage where it really can be described as a science of psychotherapy.

Although Art tried to promote this feeling therapy to his peers, researchers and the general public, his efforts remained largely ignored. I suspect Art approached death with the disappointment that such an important discovery was not recognised within his lifetime.

But history is littered with people who had stumbled upon great discoveries during their lifetime, only to be ridiculed, but then  become famous after death when science eventually caught up. Charles Darwin is one such example with his theory of evolution. Even though science has since proven the theory beyond all reasonable doubt, one hundred and fifty years after Darwin announced his theory, many people still do not believe in evolution.

Janov’s theory of the three levels of consciousness will be proved by science  eventually, because it is a real phenomenon. My only hope is that it does not take 150 years, because that equates to a lot of unnecessary human suffering.

Meanwhile I remember Art as the man who not only saved my life, but allowed me to attain a state of mind where I can now experience the absolute beauty of human life.