Unlearn Your Pain Chapter 5 TMS
Unlearn Your Pain Chapter 5 TMS
Unlearn Your Pain Chapter 5 TMS
Do You Have
Mind Body Syndrome?
Itismoreimportanttoknowwhatsortofpersonhasthedisease
thanwhatkindofdiseasethepersonhas.Hippocrates
This program is designed for those with MBS, those in whom there is no tissue
breakdown process in the body, whose pain and other MBS symptoms are caused by
stress and emotional reactions to stress. For such people, this program can offer the
opportunity for a cure or a remission of symptoms. Those who can be certain of
having MBS are those who have been diagnosed with tension headaches, migraine
headaches, neck pain, back pain, whiplash, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome,
chronic fatigue syndrome, interstitial cystitis, insomnia, tinnitus, chronic abdominal
or pelvic pain, or any other of the common MBS syndromes listed in the table in
chapter 2. However, since MBS is so common and because the ANS fibers send
nerves to literally every part of the body, there are many people with MBS who have
pain and other symptoms that may not be included on this list.
A careful medical review is necessary for everyone with chronic symptoms to rule out
a serious medical condition. If you are suffering from chronic symptoms that your
doctors have been unable to diagnose or treat, you may have MBS, even if your
symptoms are not listed in the table. If the true diagnosis remains in doubt, you
should seek consultation with me or one of the other doctors who are
knowledgeable about MBS and who have experience in diagnosing this condition. A
list of such doctors is included in the Appendix.
Illustrative Stories
To prepare you for the kind of self-evaluation you will be doing, here are some cases
I have encountered that illustrate some common patterns seen in the development
of MBS.
The specific symptoms caused by MBS can be quite different, even though the
stressor and the emotional reaction may be very similar to that which occurred in
childhood, as shown by the following brief vignettes.
In a minority of people with MBS, their early childhood experiences did not create
the
emotional events that typically lead to priming of the ANS. Those with loving, stable
families and happy childhoods are less likely to develop MBS later in life. However,
they are primed to expect that these relationships will continue, and when
something happens that tears their world apart, MBS can develop.
STEP 1: SYMPTOMS
The following list of symptoms and diagnoses are likely to be caused by MBS (though
some of them can also be caused by other medical conditions that can be easily
ruled out by your physician). The more of these you have had during your lifetime,
the more likely it is that you have MBS. People with several of these conditions have
usually seen many doctors and been given multiple diagnoses, but their doctors have
not considered MBS. This is because biotechnological medical practice tends to look
at each body system in isolation. You may have seen a neurologist, orthopedic
surgeon or neurosurgeon, gastroenterologist, rheumatologist, or others. But no one
is looking at the whole person. MBS occurs in people, not in body parts, and we can
only understand it by evaluating the whole person, the mind, and the body.
CHECK EACH ITEM ON THIS LIST and write down at what age you were when each
set of symptoms first appeared in your life.
Date of onset:
1. Heartburn, acid reflux __________________
2. Abdominal pains ______________________
3. Irritable bowel syndrome ________________
4. Tension headaches ____________________
5. Migraine headaches ___________________
6. Unexplained rashes ____________________
7. Anxiety and/or panic attacks
_______________________________________
8. Depression ___________________________
9. Obsessive-compulsive thought patterns
_______________________________________
10. Eating disorders ______________________
11. Insomnia or trouble sleeping ___________
12. Fibromyalgia ________________________
13. Back pain ___________________________
14. Neck pain ___________________________
15. Shoulder pain _______________________
16. Repetitive stress injury ________________
17. Carpal tunnel syndrome _______________
18. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
_______________________________________
19. Temporomandibular joint syndrome
(TMJ) ______________________________
20. Chronic tendonitis ____________________
21. Facial pain __________________________
22. Numbness, tingling sensations _________
23. Fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome
_______________________________________
24. Palpitations _________________________
25. Chest pain ____________________________
26. Hyperventilation _______________________
27. Interstitial cystitis/spastic bladder (irritable
bladder syndrome) ____________________
28. Pelvic pain ___________________________
29. Muscle tenderness ____________________
30. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
(POTS) ______________________________
31. Tinnitus ______________________________
32. Dizziness ____________________________
33. PTSD _______________________________
Now consider the following questions and write brief answers to as many of them as
seem important.
What kind of work did your father do? Was he successful in his career?
______________________________________________________________________
Was your father loving? Did he hug you or tell you he loved you? Was he
supportive?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Was he a perfectionist?
______________________________________________________________________
Were some children given preferential treatment or treated more harshly than
others?
If so, how did that make you feel? How did that affect the relationship between you
and any of your siblings?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Did your father drink or use drugs? If so, how did that affect him, the family, and
you?
______________________________________________________________________
Was your mother loving? Did she hug you or tell you she loved you? Was she
supportive?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Were you particularly close to your mother? Did she confide in you?
______________________________________________________________________
Were some children given preferential treatment or treated more harshly than
others?
If so, how did that make you feel? How did that affect the relationship between you
and any of your siblings?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Did your mother drink or use drugs? If so, how did that affect her, the family, and
you?
______________________________________________________________________
Repeat the above questions for these individuals if they had significant roles in your
upbringing.
Use separate paper for these questions.
Think of the relationships you had with your siblings while you were growing up.
Were there resentments or jealousies?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Did any of your siblings have any illnesses, psychological problems, or drug abuse
problems?
______________________________________________________________________
Did any of your siblings rebel, act out, or behave in ways that were upsetting to your
parents or to you?
______________________________________________________________________
Finally, consider if there were any particularly stressful or traumatic events in your
childhood.
Describe any of the following: deaths, moves, bullying, taunting, teasing, emotional
or physical abuse, changes in school situations, conflicts with teachers, or changes in
family situations?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Have you ever been subjected to any episodes of unwanted sexual activity or sexual
abuse?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Childhood experiences create very powerful reactions in our minds that remain for
the rest of our lives. Emotions that are generated when we are young can very easily
get triggered later in life, and, when they are triggered, can cause the start of Mind
Body Syndrome. It is usually relatively easy to identify the childhood issues that
people with MBS have grown up with. It is well known that a large percentage of
the people with irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, TMJ syndrome, and other
MBS illnesses have been neglected or abusedsexually, emotionally, or physicallyas
children or adolescents. People who have suffered from severe childhood abuse are
most likely to have many forms of MBS.
I saw a woman whose mother was a prostitute and a cocaine addict and whose
father was a heroin addict who sexually abused and even tortured her. She became
a prostitute and a cocaine addict as an adolescent. She eventually went to jail, broke
her addiction to drugs, and was able to raise a daughter and find a job. However,
over all those years of traumatic experiences, she developed fibromyalgia, migraine
headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, TMJ syndrome, chronic fatigue, back pain,
insomnia, anxiety, depression, and several other MBS disorders.
Not everyone with MBS has had severe childhood traumas, however. For many
people,
the childhood issues that generate strong emotions are normal childhood
experiences. How many of us have felt jealous of a sibling or ostracized by friends in
middle school or picked on by a bully in elementary school? These common
experiences can also generate enough emotions to cause MBS syndrome, either at
the time of the events or, more commonly, later in life.
I treated a woman who grew up with loving parents but with a difficult younger
sister. Her
sister was constantly in trouble, and my patient was always covering up for her, even
though she resented her sister lying and avoiding responsibilities. When my patient
was thirty-three years old, she was leading a team at work in an important project.
One woman on the team avoided her share of the work and tried to cover up her
lack of effort. My patient was trapped in a situation eerily similar to that of dealing
with her younger sister and had to double her work to get the project completed.
During that time, she developed back pain because the situation at work triggered
the stored emotional reactions from her youth. Several years later, she developed
headaches every time she drove across town to visit her father, who was in a nursing
home that her sister had selected for its proximity to her. After learning of her life
story, it became clear that her resentment of her sister was the underlying trigger for
the back pain and headaches.
Once you have carefully and honestly reviewed the stresses in your life, you will likely
begin to see patterns. You will be able to identify your core issues, those issues that
have been stored in your subconscious mind and that are most likely to trigger the
onset of physical and psychological symptoms. Indicate which of the following
patterns apply to you, or describe any other patterns that apply to you.
1. Loss and abandonment (losing a parent or sibling, divorce, moving) ______
2. Childhood abuse or neglect (physical, sexual, emotional abuse; never feeling loved
or cared for) ______
3. Not fitting in or feeling ostracized (being teased or picked on, being shy and
reserved, not being athletic or popular) ______
4. Feeling pressure to succeed or be perfect (from parents, other family members,
church or
religious organizations, or self) ______
5. Feeling inferior to siblings or other relatives (not as beautiful, funny, athletic,
interesting,
accomplished) ______
6. Never feeling good enough, having to earn love from parents, feeling criticized
much
of the time ______
7. Resentment and/or anger towards family members, religious leaders, neighbors
______
8. Learning to be anxious, worried, or insecure ______
9. Identifying with one or several family members and trying to emulate them; trying
to be different from one or several family members ______
10. Other patterns
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
These factors are commonly seen in people with MBS. Check those that apply to you.
Would you describe yourself as:
1. Having low self-esteem _______
2. Being a perfectionist _______
3. Having high expectations of yourself _______
4. Wanting to be good and/or be liked _______
5. Frequently feeling guilt _______
6. Feeling dependent on others _______
7. Being conscientious _______
8. Being hard on yourself _______
9. Being overly responsible _______
10. Taking on responsibility for others _______
11. Often worrying _______
12. Having difficulty making decisions _______
13. Following rules strictly _______
14. Having difficulty letting go _______
15. Feeling cautious, shy, or reserved _______
16. Tending to hold thoughts and feelings in _______
17. Tending to harbor rage or resentment _______
18. Not standing up for yourself _______
Conflict in ones mind is a very important part of the mechanism that creates and
perpetuates MBS. The traits above are aspects of the consciencethey are things
that we feel obligated to do or ways we feel obligated to be. Most people with MBS
are people who try hard, who care what others think of them, who want to be good
and want to be liked. They tend to be conscientious, responsible, and hard on
themselves. These personality traits are generally found in good people, people you
would like to know and be friends with. The problem is that people like this put extra
pressure on themselves. They tend to get down on themselves and beat themselves
up for their failings. When external events and stressors occur and we compound
the stress by putting more pressure on ourselves, we are much more likely to develop
MBS.
Once you have identified your core issues, review the list of potential MBS symptoms
above. On the next page, list the times in your life when you developed any of the
MBS manifestations in chronological order. Think carefully about what events
occurred just prior to or during the onset of symptoms. You will typically find that
the symptoms began at or shortly after you experienced something that was stressful
and that reminded you of your core issues (triggering your emotional speed dial),
and you felt trapped in that situation. List each symptom, then write down the
triggering events or situations, and the emotions and/or core issues which caused
the symptoms to occur.
When you place the symptoms and diagnoses that have occurred next to the life
stressors, see what patterns emerge and what connections you can make. This is a
critical step in figuring out why you have MBS. Do this for each of your MBS
symptoms. For each symptom, think carefully about what was going on in your life
at the time this symptom began. What events had occurred that bothered you?
What emotions did you feel? How were these events or emotions similar to those
you experienced in childhood? Which core issues might have been triggered? Did
you feel trapped in some way, either physically or verbally?
Be as open and honest as you can in this process. Often it is very obvious that
stressful life events in childhood have created the emotional memories of hurt, loss,
fear, guilt, or anger, and it is equally obvious that certain stressors later in life
triggered MBS symptoms. However, sometimes it takes a fair amount of
introspection and searching to find the connections. It is common for mild stressors
in adult life to trigger significant symptoms if the stressor is related to earlier
stressors, particularly from childhood. Neglect or lack of love by a parent can create a
childhood hurt that can get triggered later in life by seemingly mild interactions.
For many people, doing these exercises will make it clear to you that you do have
MBS.
If you can see the connections between your life experiences and your symptoms,
your chances of curing your pain are very good. You are now ready to begin the
powerful program contained in the rest of this book.
One young woman I evaluated had experienced severe childhood traumas and
consequently had developed a very long list of disorders, including iritable bowel
syndrome, anxiety, depression, neck pain, TMJ disorder, and fibromyalgia. She had
been treated unsuccessfully for many years and was convinced that she was in a
hopeless situation. After reviewing the clear connections between her life events and
the onset of her MBS symptoms, she suddenly looked up at me and said, I have
Mind Body Syndrome. The certainty and confidence in her voice were striking, as
she realized at that moment that she could take control of her life and shed these
disorders that seemed incurable.
However, if youre not sure if you have MBS, or that your life experiences are actually
the cause of your pain, consider these steps:
Make sure you have seen a doctor and that you have had enough testing to rule
out a
purely physical cause for your pain and/or other symptoms.
Discuss these issues with a counselor, relative, or good friend to help uncover the
connections between the stresses in your life and your symptoms.
Do further reading. I recommend reading John Sarno's landmark book, The
Mindbody Prescription. Dr. Sarno is a pioneer in this field, and this book describes
how the MBS syndrome works (his term for it is Tension Myositis Syndrome). There
are
a number of other useful books listed in the appendix, such as David Clarkes They
Cant Find Anything Wrong, and Nancy Selfridges Freedom From Fibromyalgia. My
book, Unlearn Your Pain, is also available and has been helpful to a number of
people.
See a doctor or psychologist who specializes in MBS. There is a list of such people in
the Resource section of this website. If you would like to make an appointment with
me, you can contact me at [email protected].
Once you have the correct diagnosis and you can say to yourself, I have Mind Body
Syndrome, you are ready to use the rest of this book to heal yourself. If you
participate in this program, it is very likely that you will reduce or eliminate your MBS
symptoms, increase your understanding of yourself, and learn how to gain control
and mastery over your mind and body. In fact, the program has been so helpful to so
many people that most people who have taken the program recommend it to
everyone they know, including those who do not have symptoms of MBS.