Book Has anybody read "The Rage Soothe Ratio"?

[determined_75]

Recently a concept that has finally resonated with me is the rage/soothe ratio that Dr. Sarno talks about. I know Steve Ozanich talks about how we need to start living again, and having fun instead of dwelling on our symptoms.

I was googling this concept, and it lead me to the book "The Rage Soothe Ratio" by Adam Rostocki. There are no reviews on Amazon at this point. If anybody has read it, I'm curious to know their thoughts.

 

[Marls]

I might be going out on a limb here but I read Neuroplasticity and Chronic Pain and here’s a couple of examples - If you are interested in learning more read my e-book. Here’s some tools but I focus on them more in my coaching program. Or learn more in a different e-book. In other words I felt it was a bit of an advertisement to buy more. As a “goodist” it’s very hard to say something that’s not complimentary but I didn’t get anything new from my book. Rage/Soothe reminds me of Lorimer Moseley’s work in Explain Pain workbook. Yep I feel “nervous” giving a negative comment! Now to just make myself hit the Post Reply button.

 

[determined_75]

I might be going out on a limb here but I read Neuroplasticity and Chronic Pain and here’s a couple of examples - If you are interested in learning more read my e-book. Here’s some tools but I focus on them more in my coaching program. Or learn more in a different e-book. In other words I felt it was a bit of an advertisement to buy more. As a “goodist” it’s very hard to say something that’s not complimentary but I didn’t get anything new from my book. Rage/Soothe reminds me of Lorimer Moseley’s work in Explain Pain workbook. Yep I feel “nervous” giving a negative comment! Now to just make myself hit the Post Reply button.

Well, I ended up buying the book and finished it last night. It's a short read (took ~ 45 minutes). I didn't really get much out of the book, but one thing that I agree with this author on is the fact that the rage/soothe ratio should've probably been touched on a bit more in the TMS community.

You got me thinking about negative reviews and 'goodists.' It's probably a no-lose situation for somebody to write a book on TMS since their target audience most likely would feel guilty about leaving a negative review lol ;-)

 

[Forest]

The rage/soothe ratio is such a powerful concept. The first step is always education, of course, as that is the penicillin of TMS. After that, we tend to focus on the negative emotions ("rage"), attempting to release them via insight and sometimes expression. This is, of course, very useful, but after we've gained whatever insight we can via journaling or whatever else we use, I think it's appropriate to move on to a new step. Journaling and introspection are a wonderful gift and can be valuable throughout our lives, but they can't be the only tool in our toolbox and they can't come to dominate our lifes. If we focus on the negative emotions too much, we are inadvertently feeding them with our attention. This is where the rage/soothe ratio comes in. It teaches us to balance our exploration of the negative by focusing on the things that soothe us. Once we have gained our insight and mindfulness of the negative feelings, we can let them fade away by turning our attention to the better things in our life and being mindful of them as well.

I like to think of this in terms of the parable of the two wolves. By mindfully bringing our attention to the things that soothe us, we feed the parts of our brain that soothe us. The science for why this is true is quite dense: neuroplasticity, learned nerve pathways, and Hebb's law. However, the basic idea is captured in the story of the two wolves if we think of feeding the wolves using our attention (see below).

So soothe, away! (but first do the structured program or similar program, as it provides a great foundation of education and self-insight.)

 

[Forest]

Rage/Soothe reminds me of Lorimer Moseley’s work in Explain Pain workbook.

Heya, Marls, were you thinking of ideas like in my post above when you wrote this?

 

[Duggit]

I second the connection with David Butler and Lorimer Moseley's work and note a connection with Alan Gordon's Pain Recovery Program.

Alan says in Day 2 of the program: "Pain = Danger" and "Put simply, pain is our brain's way of screaming: DANGER!" Moseley and Butler say much the same thing only more expansively: "You will have pain when your brain concludes there is more credible evidence of danger in me (DIM) than there is credible evidence of safety in me (SIM)." An important part of their approach to treatment consists of paying attention to the things in your life that make you feel in danger and the things in your life that make you feel safe, and then trying to maximize the later and minimize or neutralize the former. By things in your life, they mean the things you hear, see, smell, taste, and, touch; the things you do, the things you say, the things you think and believe; the places you go, and the things happening in your body.

Moseley and Butler note that some DIMs can hide in hard to find places. I relate this to Sarno's views that repressed anger is a major cause of TMS, and the reason we repress anger is that we learned early in life it was a dangerous emotion to experience and express. I no longer buy into Sarno's concept of the role of a reservoir of unconscious rage built up over the years. I do think, though, that unconscious anger about something currently going on in one's life can be a big DIM and can be neutralized by becoming aware of being angry and what stimulated the anger, and then asking a question inspired by Moseley: how dangerous is this, really?

 

[Marls]

Well, I ended up buying the book and finished it last night. It's a short read (took ~ 45 minutes). I didn't really get much out of the book, but one thing that I agree with this author on is the fact that the rage/soothe ratio should've probably been touched on a bit more in the TMS community.

You got me thinking about negative reviews and 'goodists.' It's probably a no-lose situation for somebody to write a book on TMS since their target audience most likely would feel guilty about leaving a negative review lol ;-)

Haha yeah. Glad you realised where I was coming from.

 

[Marls]

Yes Forest and the wolves analogy is perfect. I did work thru the Explain Pain booklet and the DIM v SIM exercise was truly eye opening. Maybe it’s a timely suggestion to make. The idea is to list your DangersInMe and your SafetyInMe and strive to make the SIMs the longer list and feel the uplift when you realise you are privileged to have a pile of positive stuff in your life which then feeds the good wolf. Thanks Forest

 

[Marls]

[I do think, though, that unconscious anger about something currently going on in one's life can be a big DIM and can be neutralized by becoming aware of being angry and what stimulated the anger, and then asking a question inspired by Moseley: how dangerous is this, really?[/QUOTE]

Yes Yes Yes Duggit. “How dangerous is this, really?” Asking myself that question could have saved me much angst in the past but you’ve worded me up now and I’ll be ready.

 

[determined_75]

The rage/soothe ratio is such a powerful concept. The first step is always education, of course, as that is the penicillin of TMS. After that, we tend to focus on the negative emotions ("rage"), attempting to release them via insight and sometimes expression. This is, of course, very useful, but after we've gained whatever insight we can via journaling or whatever else we use, I think it's appropriate to move on to a new step. Journaling and introspection are a wonderful gift and can be valuable throughout our lives, but they can't be the only tool in our toolbox and they can't come to dominate our lifes. If we focus on the negative emotions too much, we are inadvertently feeding them with our attention. This is where the rage/soothe ratio comes in. It teaches us to balance our exploration of the negative by focusing on the things that soothe us. Once we have gained our insight and mindfulness of the negative feelings, we can let them fade away by turning our attention to the better things in our life and being mindful of them as well.

I like to think of this in terms of the parable of the two wolves. By mindfully bringing our attention to the things that soothe us, we feed the parts of our brain that soothe us. The science for why this is true is quite dense: neuroplasticity, learned nerve pathways, and Hebb's law. However, the basic idea is captured in the story of the two wolves if we think of feeding the wolves using our attention (see below).

So soothe, away! (but first do the structured program or similar program, as it provides a great foundation of education and self-insight.)

This is a great analogy, Forest!

I do agree that after first learning about TMS we naturally want to focus on the negative events in our lives, and expect some sort of cathartic event to take place. When it doesn't, we keep digging. I think the key (like Steve O stresses) is to 'start living' and focus on things that bring us pleasure.

 

[BloodMoon]

Moseley and Butler note that some DIMs can hide in hard to find places. I relate this to Sarno's views that repressed anger is a major cause of TMS, and the reason we repress anger is that we learned early in life it was a dangerous emotion to experience and express. I no longer buy into Sarno's concept of the role of a reservoir of unconscious rage built up over the years. I do think, though, that unconscious anger about something currently going on in one's life can be a big DIM and can be neutralized by becoming aware of being angry and what stimulated the anger, and then asking a question inspired by Moseley: how dangerous is this, really?

This is very helpful, especially re the question "how dangerous is this, really?" -- I'm definitely going to use it.