"People experiencing deep psychological regression with the use of these new techniques very rapidly move beyond the memories from childhood and infancy and reach the level in their psyche that carries the record of traumatic memory of biological birth. At this point, they encounter emotions and physical sensations of extreme intensity, often surpassing anything they previously considered humanly possible.

The experiences originating on this level of the psyche represent a strange
mixture of a shattering encounter with death and the struggle to be born."

Stanislav Grof, M.D., H. R. Giger and the Soul of the Twentieth Century

The articles and book reviews listed below are more or less concerned with what is promised in the title of this page. I took many liberties of including some works which I thought germane but actually consisted of little material about the subject being covered. Hopefully, articles with these themes were not overlooked. However, some articles and reviews which should have been included were probably inadvertently omitted.

The inuterine and birth traumas dealing with death and dying feelings were undoubtedly some of the most significant life changing events in my and other's very early lives and wrote a behavorial script which we tenaciously followed as these events were re-lived and resolved. In my case that was true, although my use of the word "resolved" in an accurate manner is a separate issue.

These feelingful events which originated during birth continue to reverberate in our day to day upsets and subsequently triggered feelings which we will both welcome and endure for the rest of our lives. They will be there, particularly at the final stages of our lives accompanying us during the events of our last illnesses and death.

There can be exceptions. Australian psychiatrist and primal-oriented therapist, Graham Farrant frequently quoted British psychiatrist, R. D. Laing's belief expressed in his book, The Facts of Life (1976). Laing felt that "we are born the way we were conceived and we die the way we were born." That is, Graham insisted, "unless we had therapy in between!"

--John A. Speyrer, Webmeister, The Primal Psychotherapy Page