Dr Sarno books

I have searched iBooks on my iPad for Dr Sarno books about TMS. There are 3 of his books listed. The books are Healing Back Pain, The Mindbody Precription and The Divided Mind. Which out of the 3 of them is the best book to read? I suffer from anxiety, depression, suppressed anger and negative emotions and I believe they are causing pain in my head, jaws, teeth, lower back, upper back and limbs and all over. Please advise.

 

The Mindbody Prescription would be ideal for you. All of those symptoms fall under TMS. Good luck

P.S. I also like the audio version of Healing Backpain because it's read by Dr. Sarno himself (although Mindbody P is later in his career when he was beginning to realise just how much was TMS.)

 

Thanks. I have just purchased the audiobook.

 

Hi Sweetheart,

Regarding anxiety, you may benefit from reading and/or listening to some Claire Weekes. Here are a couple of links; the second one links to free audios:

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/lessons-from-claire-weekes.3873/ (Lessons From Claire Weekes)

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/claire-weekes-audio.2569/ (Claire Weekes Audio)

I've suffered tremendously with the issues you mention. Read 'My Story' for a heads up and feel free to ask any questions.

Plum x

 

I purchased and downloaded Claire Weekes audio from iBooks last year and found it helpful. I have also watched her videos on YouTube. However, After a family disagreement I am back sensitised and I am a very sensitive person and still hold onto repressed negative emotions.

 

Have you read either Back in Control by Dr. Hanscom or Unlearn Your Pain by Dr. Schubiner? Those were probably the two most helpful, for me, of all the TMS books I've read. Best of luck

 

Sadie,

Which book would you recommend out of the two? I need an ebook... "Unlearn Your Pain" isn't available on Kindle but "Unlearn Your Pain a 28 day Process to..." is available. Hanscom's book is available on Kindle. Any info on the books, strengths, weaknesses or over helpfulness would great. Thanks!

 

I've read your posts here Angel, and it is clear you are a suffering a lot. Please take some comfort from the fact that most people here have been where you are now and we have recovered. You will too.

I agree with @Ewok that The Mindbody Prescription is the best Sarno book for you at the moment. There are a handful of other excellent resources (@Sadie names 2 of them) but initially you need to read the good doctors words. As Ewok explains, this book is midway through Sarno's developing theories and is very accessible.

As you read this book my next piece of advice will begin to make more sense: it will serve you well to begin focusing less on your many ailments and shift your attention to your emotional state of being and the events in your life. Your physical problems serve as a distraction to deflect attention from how you are feeling.

You mention a family disagreement which is more than enough to create a lot of tension and therefore pain, depression and anxiety. This would be a good place to begin your explorations.

Sadie mentions a book by Dr. David Hanscom which was incredibly beneficial for me because he deals with sensitization. Rest easy, you don't need to buy and read a whole load of books because there are a lot of discussions and free resources here. Just let us know if you need some help locating them.

Plum

 

Hi mm718,

If you're looking for an ebook, I would recommend Dr. Hanscom's book. Unlearn Your Pain is a workbook with lots of space for structured writing exercises so it makes more sense in th paper version (unless there is some equivalent for how to do the writing exercises in the ebook version, I'm not sure).

I found both really helpful. I read Dr. Sarno's books first and he is clearly a visionary but was writing at a time before there was much scientific evidence to support his ideas. For me, I really need to understand the evidence behind something in order to believe it. If you're looking for something similar, Unlearn Your Pain and Back in Control both provide a great overview of the science supporting Dr Sarno's work. I found them both very accessible and readable too. Dr Hanscom writes about his own experience with TMS as well, which I appreciated.

I'm not sure if you've heard of the Curable app yet, but I've been using it & really liking it, it combines a lot of the ideas and exercises from all the TMS books.

Let me know if there's any other info that would be helpful

 

Hi, Sadie-

Thanks very much. This is helpful. I'll take a closer look at the Amazon description. I am guessing that if Unlearn Your Pain is a workbook then the book of the same title with the subtitle "28 days to....." is also a workbook.

I feel the same about Sarno and needing to the know the science. With an appreciation for the neuroplasticity of the brain and evidence that the TMS work really can lead to new pathways it just makes it that much more real and exciting. What got me on this path in the first place was reading a book by Norman Doidge, M.D. he has a chapter on a physician who treats centralized pain. He too has a personal story of how he overcame his own chronic pain and developed the theories that led to his current therapy. You might find it interesting. I don't have pain but other debilitating symptoms and it appears the same principles apply. So yes, I am right there with you on needing the science and Hanscom seems like a good place to start.

I started Curable yesterday! So far so good but I am not too far into yet. I'd love to hear about your experience with this as well as your story in general. I'll look for your posts or feel free to message me about Curable or anything else. Thanks again,

-Mike