Healing Acute and Chronic Pain

Dr. John Sarno was Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and his most remarkable achievement is the development, diagnosis, and treatment of tension myoneural syndrome (TMS).

What is TMS?

1. a mind-body disorder and is creating more pain than anything else, up to disability.
2. psychological situation with physical manifestations
3. mild oxygen deprivation to the muscles and probably the nerves in a certain part of the body.

Physical equivalent of TMS:

• most of the common headaches, tension, migraines
• many common skin conditions: eczema, hives, acne
• cardiac palpitations
• common allergies: dust, molds, hay fever, etc.
• predisposition to frequent infections: colds, flues, urinary tract infections, vaginal yeast infections
• common upper-gastrointestinal problems: heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux, hiatus hernia, ulcer, etc.
• common lower-intestinal problems: irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, constipation
• frequent urination
• prostatitis
• dizziness
• ringing in the ears, etc.

The psychology behind TMS

Dr. Sarno refers to the work of Freud to remind us that in each of us there are actually 3 minds:

• conscious mind
• unconscious mind – refers to feelings, emotions, below the level of consciousness
• subconscious mind – the extremely important functions that make us what we are: the ability to speak a language, to think, to create, to remember – it is the place of learned behavior.

The structure of the mind refers to:

• super-ego = is both involved in the conscious and in the unconscious mind
• ego = “the captain of the ship”, the part of the mind that makes decisions that mediates when there’s conflict
• id = residual child in each of us
• repression = any emotion that is undesirable, embarrassing and unacceptable for whatever reason is repressed.

Emotions can be conscious or unconscious and the ones Dr. Sarno refers to are the unconscious ones,which play the key role in pain.

Looking at how the mind works, TMS is seen as the battle between the super-ego and the id and has a lot to do with repression. The brain is aware in the unconscious, of the repressed emotions & rage. The repressed emotions are a constant threat to come out, and that threat causes the brain to produce TMS. The purpose of the TMS is to enhance the process of repression (reinforcements).

The sources of rage:

• experiences in infancy and childhood (resulting in feelings of shame, inferiority, helplessness and rage)
  • abuse – physical, emotional, sexual
  • poor parenting
• personality traits – self-imposed pressures (resulting in enraging the inner-self)
  • perfectionism, critical attitude, compulsive behaviour, self-critical
  • need for approval, putting the others first before the self, people’s pleaser
  • tendency to guilt
  • hidden feelings of dependency
• life pressures
  • work, job
  • keeping family balance: harmony in the marriage, kids, responsibilities
  • extended family responsibilities: taking care of elderly, someone chronically sick or disabled
  • financial troubles
  • illness
  • aging

The psychological equivalents for TMS ( tension myoneural syndrome)

• anxiety
• panic attacks
• depression
• phobias
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• eating disorders
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Treatment strategies:

*** being active in the process and not being just a passive recipient.

For details refer to dr. Sarno’s books.

TO REMEMBER:

• The pain is due to TMS and not a structural abnormality.
• The direct reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation.
• TMS is a harmless condition caused by repressed emotions.
• The main emotion which is repressed, is anger.
• TMS exists only to distract the person’s attention from repressed emotions.
• Physical activity is not dangerous and in order to get better, the normal physical activity must be resumed.
• No concern or intimidation by the pain (difficult sometimes).
• To become pain-free all that is needed is to shift the attention from the physical pain to the emotional issues.
• Patience and daily work is essential to have permanent results.
• Mind has always power over the body and it is essential to understand this mind-body “medicine”.

WE ARE STRONGER THAN WE THINK!