Mind Over Back Pain

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"I had a problem in the late 90s with my neck. I woke up one morning with a frozen neck and could not move it anymore than just a few degrees," he says. The idea of your mind influencing your body and vice versa is actually quite intuitive when you think about it, very easy to demonstrate. For example, when people get embarrassed, they flush often. That is a classic example of a physical reaction to an emotional response. "It's fascinating that these syndromes are almost always ignored because language can sometimes be such a difficult hurdle to get over."

Dr Michael Donnino is the founder/director of the Psychophysiologic Research Group, and the first person in the country to complete a residency/fellowship program leading to board certification in internal medicine, emergency medicine, and critical care. Liz Wallenstein is a licensed mental health counselor who has trained in, among other areas, the methodology of ‘TMS Mind Body-Connection’. Liz and Dr Michael join the show to discuss the profound influence of Dr John Sarno on their lives, and the potentially transformational power of ‘Mind-Body’ therapies. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Introductions to Dr. Sarno
The relationship between our emotional and physical reactions
Reasons to be hopeful
Emotions and conditioning
A response to the sceptics
The societal costs of chronic pain
Mental health: moving beyond diagnostic labels
Long COVID and mind-body syndrome
The future of psychophysiological research
What does the medical community think of mind-body syndrome?
Doing the inner work that’s needed to heal
The future of mind-body treatments
The importance of sincerity

Books Mentioned:

Your Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma; by Bessel van der Kolk;
Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine; by Candace Pert
Healing Back Pain; by John E. Sarno
The Screwtape Letters; by C.S. Lewis
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
The Great Pain Deception: Faulty Medical Advice Is Making Us Worse; by Steve Ozanich
Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient; by Norman Cousins