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attachment as well as other "psychological" domains including sexuality, addictions, and anxiety and mood disorders, my clients benefit tremendously and I find myself continuously growing and evolving as a therapist.
As more and more research validates what we, in the primal community, have known (from our "insides") for years to be true, it is an incredibly exciting time to be alive. In the past five years in particular, research in neurobiology and developmental psychology continues to focus on earlier and earlier periods of the lifespan and the lifelong effects of trauma and neglect on the brain and an individual's eventual adult life. In my experience as a primal therapist, birth, many times, can be the original PTSD event in a person's life (or in Janovian terms the "prototype"). Therefore, being familiar with and understanding the latest science on the effects of adult and childhood PTSD on the nervous system as well as what neuroscientists now call "implicit memory" is invaluable when working with my clients. Recognizing how the specific trauma "signature" encodes in the autonomic nervous system from birth and in-utero events and how catastrophic sensory overload skews the fetus or infant's fragile nervous system is paramount when working with early trauma. Comprehending and integrating recent brain research on how the fear-conditioning response operates helps me to recognize even more clearly where a client is "at" when re-experiencing preverbal material. Awareness and knowledge of how the brain and nervous system function normally as well as under duress, I have found, is essential in helping clients to cognitively integrate implicit or what some people call "body memories".
Having plumbed the deepest depths of my being, one of the tremendous and unique advantages that I have is the ability to integrate and synthesize the newest scientific information from a primal feeling perspective. My experiential growth and learning over the years as client and therapist is invaluable as I am able to" internally" reflect on the scientific postulates and hypotheses emerging from the burgeoning research. When I read about some new piece of information, I am able to sort through and connect on emotional, physiological and cognitive levels; a rare ability indeed which in many ways is unprecedented. This internal radar allows me to simultaneously separate the "wheat from the chaff" while also enabling me to be more open to new information that benefits my clients.
This new information that I learn from helps me as a primal therapist to practice ever more effective therapy and to provide invaluable cognitive "pieces" to help clients integrate their preverbal and early attachment experiences. Proper timing, of course, is everything so as to not overload the client with verbiage and ideas when they are just emerging from a deep experiential state. That said the newest brain scanning and developmental studies are a powerful adjunct in therapy and also provide an opportunity to "fine tune" the therapeutic process.
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