The Biology of Love

""Love makes the brain,"" writes psychotherapist Janov (The Primal Scream; Why You Get Sick, How You Get Well) in this analysis of brain chemistry and emotion. Neurological research, he argues, confirms his theory that trauma from infancy, birth or the prenatal environment irrevocably damages brain functioning and leads to a plethora of physical and emotional ailments. Fully loved infants, however, develop healthy brains that enable them to cope well with life. Everything from autism and allergies to dyslexia, ADD, cancer and heart disease in later life, and even homosexuality and intellectualism (conditions Janov apparently considers aberrant) can be traced, in his view, simply to lack of adequate love. Though Janov believes such damage can never be undone, he advocates a type of therapy through which patients relive the trauma and thus free their repressed pain. Despite the merit of its important and obvious thesis that infants need love, Janov's argument is so simplistic, poorly organized and carelessly written that it cannot be accepted without reservation. He dismisses such factors as DNA, intellect and postnatal experiences, and presents only sketchy details regarding research studies or case histories. The few patient biographies he includes read more like product testimonials than complex analyses. While it's evident that Janov intends a helpful book, he scarcely mentions what can be done to ensure that every infant is wanted. Instead, he lays a heavy load of guilt on any woman who experiences even a touch of ambivalence about her pregnancy. That infants need love is a solid point that is not well served by wagging one's finger at mother. (Mar.)