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by csmeder 2620 days ago
From recently discovering Dr. Sarno’s work on physical pain (Eg. Back pain). My current working theory is most psychological pathology comes from repressed rage. It sounds crazy but thousands of people have been cured from chronic back pain, depression, IBS, the list goes on from just learning to get in touch with their embarrassing and painful feelings of rage. Most people have no idea how much bottled up rage is living in their subconscious.

“Though he may not be a household name, Sarno is probably America’s most famous back pain doctor. Before his death on June 22 2017, a day shy of his 94th birthday, he published four books and built a cult-like following of thousands of patients — including Howard Stern and Larry David. Many of them claim to have been healed by Sarno, who essentially argued back pain was all in people’s heads. And Sarno himself often said that some 80 percent of his patients got better.”

“After digging a little deeper, I learned that some of Sarno’s theories are now even being validated by science — specifically, that there can sometimes be an emotional basis for chronic back pain. And that’s an important truth mainstream pain medicine still hasn’t quite figured out what to do with.”

“More specifically, he believed that the brain distracts us from experiencing negative emotions by creating pain. We may not want to accept the uncomfortable truths that we are angry with our children, or that we hate our job, so instead of thinking those thoughts, we focus on the pain.

He also thought that pain was created by reduced oxygen and blood flow to the muscles and nerves of the body. So our brains unconsciously [sub consciously] direct blood away from certain areas of our body, and that creates pain.” - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/scienc...

The problem is that Sarno was at his peak when western medicine wasn’t willing to look at studies that show that emotions can be the root cause of physical conditions. Which is crazy because the placebo effect is well documented. Thus there is obvious evidence that our mind has the ability to effect our body in various ways (including our immune system).

3 comments

Howard Stern described him as, "the Steve Jobs of pain management."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEBI7bwrRO8

Funny you mention rage. I often say that I had to overcome a very bleak period in life. And I found screaming or even proto-screaming (no need to make a sound but think about raging out as a way to shake pain, drag, fatigue out of your mind and refocus). It often ~works enough.

And sorry for the ultra fuzzy anecdote

If one googles:

serotonin, pain, phantom

...you'll find a fair amount of literature on serotonin as playing a key role in the experience of pain, in some cases seeming to prolonging the perception of pain where the underlying physical damage has completely healed.