Pretty much on my own. With Sarno, I followed his “get on with normal life as best you can, despite the symptoms” advice, and I also did a fair bit of “talking to my brain” and telling it that it was being ridiculous for producing symptoms. The latter did help virtually immediately to decrease them, and sometimes they would disappear completely, but then symptoms would pop up elsewhere in my body, like playing a game of whack‑a-mole.
However, buried emotions weren’t actually my big issue. My anger/rage was always very close to the surface and didn’t need any digging up (there was more suppression going on than repression) and I found it didn't do me any favours at all to keep going over past upsetting times and reliving them.
Sarno also recommended self‑soothing, and I did and still regularly do that too. He said in his book
The MindBody Prescription:
“Suppose, however, there is another element in the equation; that it is not simply the quantity of rage that brings on symptoms, but the presence or absence of counterbalancing soothing factors. Theoretically, these pleasant elements in a person’s life would modify the threat posed by the rage and make symptoms unnecessary. One can carry this to the point of absurdity, but I believe something like it goes on and that the occurrence of symptoms reflects too much rage and not enough counteracting soothing elements in one’s life.”
JournalSpeak didn’t do it for me either. Journaling helps a lot of people, but it didn’t help me (and I tried a lot of journaling methods). Writing some “unsent” letters to those who “did me wrong” was helpful though; I found that doing that has taken the sting out of past hurts whenever I’m reminded of them in passing.
I was very taken with PRT when I stumbled across it and did
The Pain Reprocessing Therapy Workbook: Using the Brain’s Neuroplasticity to Break the Cycle of Chronic Pain by
Vanessa M. Blackstone and
Olivia S. Sinaiko. I do believe that a certain amount of “rewiring” of the brain is required for recovery.
But I still found myself looking for something that really
gelled with me, and that’s what led me on to Mickel Therapy. It gave me a real “ah‑ha” moment about what had been going on with me, especially around something Mickel calls “body boredom”.
In Mickel Therapy, “body boredom” doesn’t mean you’re lazy or just mentally bored; it means your body is under‑fulfilled and using symptoms to flag that up. The idea is that the body generates emotions (including boredom and lack of fulfilment) to steer us toward a more satisfying life, but when we ignore those signals, the system gets overloaded (in particular the hypothalamus) and starts communicating through physical symptoms instead. Mickel Therapy encourages you to treat those symptoms as messages, notice where life currently feels dead or joyless, and make small, practical changes that bring more genuine interest and enjoyment, so the body no longer needs to “switch on” symptoms to get your attention.
I agree. The main reason I suggested going to the success stories subforum is that, on most other forums, the majority of people are still on their recovery journey. They may be finding a particular coach good, but they are not necessarily fully recovered.
It’s key! Regular movement has also been key in feeling better on my recovery journey; I believe that's because it helps the flow and release of emotions (as well as being generally good for the body). I pepper my day with little movements as per this book:
Micro-Movement Medicine: Tiny Daily Routines to Heal Joints, Boost Energy, and Stay Strong at Any Age – The Minimalist Guide to Lifelong Mobility by Scott J. Rivers.
I hope that something I've said will be of help to you.
