| John E. Sarno
, MD, (1923-) is Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation Medicine, New York
University School of Medicine, and attending physician at the Howard A.
Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical
Center. His
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The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain |
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| Dr. John E. Sarno reveals how most painful conditions are rooted in unexpressed emotions, and how to cure these disorders without drugs, therapy, or surgery. According to Dr. Sarno, most pain is a psychogenic expression of unconscious rage, the brains way of distracting you from repressed feelings. By changing the treatment focus from the body to the mind, he argues that pain can be abolished simply by understanding its purpose. This book reveals how emotions stimulate the brain to produce physical symptoms, describes these emotionally induced ailments, and offers a therapeutic program. |
two most well-known books are Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body
Connection (ISBN 0-446-39230-8) and The Mindbody Prescription: Healing
the Body, Healing the Pain (ISBN 0-446-67515-6). He pioneered the
diagnosis of tension myositis syndrome (TMS) as a mindbody disorder
causing chronic back, neck and limb pain in patients for which standard
medical treatments were not working, and has treated over ten thousand
of his patients at the Rusk Institute for over three decades by
educating them on his beliefs in a psychological and emotional basis to
their pain. 
Consider that a real revision of our understanding of health is in order.
Starting with stress, it is important to note that stress is basically
universal. To be a normal mature adult is to endure stress. However, accusing
someone of being "stressed out" often evokes hostile reactions. We are taught
that experiencing stress equals a failure to properly cope and deal with one's
life. But don't be lied to! Alas, misinformation abounds and we are lied to
regularly (yes, doctors will provide lab results about, say your poor adrenal
glands. But don't take that malarkey. This is about your brain, not your body).
The name of the game is not to magically live a stress-free life. That ain't
possible! Rather, it's to admit the stress, point it out, bring it to light, and
take the drama out of it. Sure, none of your friends might be doing this, but
they probably don't know the wisdom that Dr. Sarno has collected for us, either.
If you are active, congratulations on your exercise program. But, don't think it
is a cure for back pain. Let's just let the cat out of the bag right now. Yoga
is great. Swimming, jogging, cycling, etc. are blessed and holy, but no one ever
got back pain from a lack of yoga so it doesn't follow that yoga cures the root
cause. And likewise no one ever got back pain from a lack of physical therapy.
So why do yoga and physical therapy sometimes work? Well, that's a long story,
but they usually only work temporarily at best. But, by all means, if they work
for you, don't stop! Read Dr. Sarno, though, and you'll see that the pain or
chronic fatigue or depression is not a bodily or biochemical issue what so ever!
It is all initiated by the brain, so the route to curing it is also through the
brain. If you avoid this fact, you will avoid getting over TMS and it's host of
equivelants. Throw away the pills and prescriptions. Get down to work. 15-30
minutes twice a day. Do it as long at you have to. And never look back. You're
in good hands. The data has not been fudged. This therapy works. I owe my active
life to Dr. Sarno's program.
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