Which Audiobook is best for non-back pain TMS

Hello,

I keep reading that the audio version of John Sarno’s Heal Back Pain is extremely effective but as I don’t have back pain (or at least it’s rarely a symptom) I do find myself not connecting with a lot of the discussion on that and I’m worried I won’t integrate the information unless it feels relevant to me? Is it still worth listening to it or is there another version I can try that includes a larger variety of TMS symptoms please and I might find more appropriate to my personal situation?

I’ve skim read Mindbody a while ago and midway through The Great Pain Deception atm.

 

Oops, I'm out of sync with these different threads, @LittleWildflower! I have specific recommendations in this response.


edit: just copying most of my response on that thread to this one:

The tmswiki.org site and this forum were founded in honor of John Sarno MD, who developed the theory that he labeled TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome). I think I heard that near the end of his career he said that TMS might as well stand for The Mindbody Syndrome, because his initial theory was about oxygen deprivation to muscles as a result of emotional stress, but he definitely later acknowledged that the TMS brain mechanism can result in any number of chronic and distressing physical and mental symptoms. Our main site, tmswiki.org is a source of basic information about Dr. Sarno and his theories, but I like to recommend that people who are new to this work read his last book, The Divided Mind (2009) because he goes over his theories in four efficient chapters, and then turns the book over to six other mindbody practitioners (five MDs and one therapist).

By the way, there is a well-known and hugely influential mindbody practitioner (not an MD) in the UK named Georgie Oldfield, who collaborated extensively with Dr. Sarno before his retirement - her website talks about Dr. Sarno here: John E Sarno MD - Georgie Oldfield

The other author who I think might speak strongly to you is Kristin Neff PhD, the "queen" of self-compassion. Her website is here, with all of her various resources: Self-Compassion - Kristen Neff. To me, it sounds like you have an urgent need to extend compassion towards yourself. People often try to insist here that one must have 100% belief in the TMS theory in order to do this work, but I actually believe that it's far more important to be able to love yourself enough to know that you deserve to recover. Learning self-compassion is the path to achieve this.

There are a LOT of totally free resources available for doing the emotional work that is needed in order to recover from TMS (also called PPD: Psycho-Physiological Disorders), and we even have two free programs: the "starter" program for most people is the Structured Educational Program (SEP) on the main tmswiki.org site.

Feel free to check out my profile, which lists a number of my favorite resources (it's kind of long by now!) including some of my favorite threads on the forum - at least those are easy to link to.

 

When it comes to TMS, finding the right book is key. While "Heal Back Pain" by John Sarno is effective, it might not fully align with your situation. You might want to explore "The Mindbody Prescription" by the same author. It covers a wider range of symptoms, which could be more relatable for you.

 

Hello @LittleWildflower,
I think it is really important to make the connection to the pain/symptoms you are experiencing. I could absolutely understand why a book titled Healing Back Pain might not be a go-to book for someone who doesn't struggle with back pain. I connected so much to that book because my pain initially was just lower back pain. And finding a description that fit my situation so well meant everything to me--helped me to accept a TMS diagnosis.

However, the practices to overcome TMS and let go of the symptoms are the same whether it's back pain or anything else that might show up. And, there are so many different ways these symptoms could show up. Dr. Sarno called it "the many faces of TMS" in Healing Back Pain. He didn't go that far into them in that first book. As suggested above, The Divided Mind might be a book that would appeal more to you.

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When symptoms move around the body, that's sometimes called the Symptom Imperative. This could be someone who had back pain and now there's a skin issue or foot/ankle pain. Sometimes the pain shows up on opposite sides of the body (crazy stuff like, I thought my left hip was in dire pain yesterday. Now it's on the right side!)

There's a good description of the Symptom Imperative here that mentions Dr. Sarno's discoveries and also uses the phrase 'symptom substitution':
https://www.painoutsidethebox.com/the-symptom-imperative (The Symptom Imperative and TMS — PainOutsideTheBox)

I wish you well!

 

Interesting, @Bonnard. This thread by wildflower is actually a year old, but it was revived on Wednesday for some reason by a brand new member named @Dweyscomet who only posted this one thing to an old thread.

Many members never post at all, but the legitimate ones who do, are asking genuine questions about doing the work, or they are sharing their TMS stories.

My immediate reaction to this post is that it was written with AI because it's so generic. It revived an old thread for no good reason. And then it sucked you into thinking this was a current discussion!

 

@JanAtheCPA Yes, I agree fully and think you've correctly called this one as an AI post. The next post would also be generic but have a link in it or something like that.

 

Yep, that's often the case. Actually, even sneakier is that they go back to their original post and insert the link as an edit so it's not tagged as unread and then easily discovered. I believe that older posts are attractive for this purpose because the poster gets paid if a link published, it doesn't matter to them where, as long as it's live. I'm not even sure it matters to those paying. @Forest knows more about this than I do, he's the one who told me that just getting their links published is the primary goal - something to do with page rankings?

This is just one of my fun jobs! The user is now being moderated (content must be approved before being posted) and the "are you a genuine participant?" email query has been sent. They have two days to respond before being deleted. They never respond.

 

The original poster is asking for the audiobook, which I fully sympathize with. I prefer audiobooks over the printed or e-book format because I listen while doing house work or going on a walk, and it is easier for me to focus on the content.

Speaking of AI, when I published my book on Amazon, I was considering publishing the audio version, but I couldn't afford the expense of producing and publishing of the audiobook; well, couple months ago Amazon reached out to me and offered to produce an audio version with the use of their AI virtual narrator, which is in beta testing right now, I only needed to do some editing, which only took me couple days.

I was absolutely impressed with the quality of their virtual narrator, the voice is rich with emotions and intonations. So, if anyone is interested in the book for a non-back pain, I had symptoms almost everywhere except for the back :=). It is free if you have a subscription for Audible, $3.99 otherwise, or $1.99 as an add-on if you have a Kindle version. Amazon does not allow me to give it away as a gift and is only available in the US market, but I would be interested in what people think of the audio version compared to print and whether it is even worth it. Sample is available for listening, too:

https://www.amazon.com/Defying-Verdict-Defeated-Chronic-Pain/dp/B0CX6HMCMC

 

Very interesting, Tamara! As someone who generally prefers to read, I'm not much of a connoisseur of audio reading styles, but surely this is more than adequate for anyone who needs or really prefers an audio version!