Day 8

[Cirrus_14]

So I am on day 8 of the SEP. I feel like overall, things are going well. I still struggle with accepting the diagnosis. I still spend a lot of time obsessing over the pain and worrying whether or not my pains really are structural or not, especially when I randomly feel my pain get worse. It's been very hard for me to 'let go' of my belief that this could be physical and accept that it is psychological. I also have a very physical job (I work as an RN) and will be returning to work soon, so there is a lot of fear that I may backslide and that pain will get worse again, or that I really may hurt myself when I return.

I have also been struggling with the concept of feeling your repressed emotions because I watched a lecture by Dr. Sarno where he he said it's impossible to feel our repressed emotions because they are part of the unconscious mind. I don't know if anyone else else has watched this lecture and has any insight into this contradiction? It just leaves me feeling confused about how much I should be trying to 'feel' my repressed emotions if they are something that I apparently can't consciously feel? Also, any advice on accepting the diagnosis would be very helpful as well.

The link is here to the lecture is here:

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Hi, Cirrus. I never spent much time "feeling" the repressed emotions. I just journaled and realized I had some, going back to my parents divorcing when I was seven and it left me with feelings of abandonment and insecurity. It may sound stoic, and I am not a stoic, but I think back pain I had that resulted from my emotions went away because I came to realize I am not alone in feeling abandoned and insecure after parents divorce. We're in a very large boat. Dr. Sarno says we don't have to change anything that causes our TMS emotional pain. We just have to discover the emotions and our subconscious stops the pain.

 

[Cirrus_14]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I might have spent too much time trying to 'feel' emotions instead of just findings ways to associate my pain symptoms with stressors or past stressful events and just accepting that they may be the cause. I'll try to remember this the next time I have a flare-up. Thanks!