How to discuss TMS with other people?

[Davideus85]

How do you go about discussing TMS with other people in your life? Everyone I've ever attempted to try to explain it to has always walked away puzzled like I was speaking to them in Chinese. I've written a detailed paper on it and have had friends and family members read it, all who say it was well written an had some interesting ideas, but other than that it has had no lasting impact on any of them, even the ones I know suffer from chronic pain. It's very frustrating because i can't help but feel like so many people I know would benefit from it. It's not even that most people I know flat out reject it, the mindbody concept just goes over their head and sounds like gibberish to them. This is something that really makes me feel very alone. Like I have a really special important knowledge that has to be kept secret. This sort of thing isn't meant to be kept private IMO. One of the things I feel strongly called to do with my life is to spread awareness about TMS but I have no idea how to go about doing this.

I am wondering if anyone else can relate to this?

 

[miffybunny]

Yes definitely. The mind body approach is a shift in paradigm and most of society is steeped in the prevailing bio mechanical model. We are inundated by myths and industries that have no incentive to see people get better. As a result most people have been conditioned to believe that symptoms should be viewed as structural or some kind of pathology. Despite the plethora of research in neuroscience in the past 20 years, it still has not trickled down to mainstream medicine. The medical and alternative world are very much antiquated and outdated in the way they view chronic pain. There are MD's in the field who are trying to train other physicians but paradigm shifts usually take at least a century. You should see the programming still used for autistic children. It's shockingly archaic and almost 100 % behavioral....sort of like dog training for humans. There's a lot of collective brainwashing we are up against so I don't bother trying to convince people. If they are open minded and interested, they will read Dr. Sarno for themselves. Let's face it, people don't want to do the work. They want someone else to "fix" them. It's a very hard sell, even though it pretty much costs nothing and has no side effects or downside. There are even naysayers who pop up on the wiki once and awhile, so you can imagine the general public who look to the so called "experts" to heal what "ails" them.

 

[Sita]

I talked to a few friends and neighbors about it and they all responded badly. One is a MD. She doesn't believe in TMS. Has a lot of pains and is about 85 years old. Exactly like you said, as if I talked to them in Chinese. I gave up.

 

[Balsa11]

Talk mostly psychological, instead of physical. It's better to say you were feeling off and had an ache at the same time than the whole TMS explanation (which seems to be more neuroscience/psychology/spirituality) . No need to go into the theory, just be honest about how you feel and also speak about how you're resilient despite it.

 

[tgirl]

It’s interesting, but most of my friends and family believe in the mind/body connection and that pain can be psychologically based. Even my doctor believes in the concept - once a person has been tested and everything has been ruled out, what else is there? I use the term mind/body with my friends and doctor as they have no idea what TMS is. I don’t think what it is called is very important, more the gist.