Hi, VeryHopeful. You have come to the right place. There are thousands of people like myself who have been in
pain, some for years, and found healing through learning about TMS and reading Dr. Sarno's books.
The Structured Educational Program will help you to heal. It will take you through a series of short daily
activities that will help you to discover the psychological-emotional reasons for your pain, even though you have
had pain for so many years. The pain is coming from repressed emotions that may go back to your childhood
that could be triggered by current or recent events. Or you may have a perfectionist and goodist personality.
We can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be perfect and want everyone to like us all the time, so we overdo
being kind and generous to others.
Stay hopeful and increase your belief that TMS is causing your pain. If you've had it for 30 years, it's doubtful it is
structural, but have you had a doctor look at you and say nothing is wrong with you physically? Even if something
structural is found, it may not be causing you pain. It is most likely TMS.
The SEP is big on journaling and I found that to be really helpful. I discovered I had been repressing feelings of
abandonment and insecurity from my parents divorcing when I was seven. I journaled about that and
discovered that my parents also had TMS from their difficult childhood and later years. That led me to
understanding them better and forgiving them. Forgiving ended my back pain.
Welcome to TMSWiki and this community of very caring and helpful friends.