All Forums  TMSHelp  TMSHelp General Forum  Essential book not often mentioned...

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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by mtugrad[/i] [br]I've found a book that has really helped me to put my illness in perspective that I haven't heard mentioned in any 'must read' book lists. The title is "From paralysis to fatigue: A history of psychosomatic illness in the modern era" This book goes through the history of the different types of psychosomatic illnesses. It illustrates how what was earlier perceived as real physiological disorders over time were shown, through medical advancements, to have mental origins. It helps to put my TMS in proper perspective when I read of all of the ridiculous symptoms people had 100 to 200 years ago. Back then, though, these symptoms were considered to be signs of real physical problems. And because the medical community endorsed the idea of the symptoms as being legitimate, there were wide spread cases of these illnesses. Once they were disproved as being real, the cases of these illnesses disappeared. What a coincidence ;) When you read about how fainting, hysterical fits, sudden paralysis, catalepsy, inability to speak and others were commonplace and now are rarely seen because their true origins are known it helps you to understand that the mind is capable of sabotaging any bodily system it wants in order to achieve its goal of distraction. And most importantly that it does it in a way that has the patient completely convinced that what is happening is real. These people are not fakers or trying to achieve a secondary gain... this is a simple history of genuine problems. You will begin to notice little similarities in each type of illness that also are seen in TMS symptoms today. And seeing a bit of yourself in these ridiculous cases helps to give you the power to ridicule your unconscious mind into giving up the symptoms it is currently giving you. Some of the cases are downright hilarious. Such as one person who believed is internal organs had liquefied. Others believed the devil was controlling their limbs and making them move around. Toward the end of the book, it shows how psychosomatic illness has moved to a new area in this recent era of advanced medicine. These are primarily fatigue and muscle pain. These two are very common now because it is very difficult to disprove so the unconscious mind can use it as much as it wants without fear of being 'caught'. I think anyone with TMS will gain a lot of insight into themselves and their illness by reading this book. If anything it is interesting and a little entertaining. Hope this helps, mtugrad [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.