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stevenvp
USA
2 Posts |
 Posted - 05/05/2009 : 12:05:50
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i was just re-reading Healing Back Pain and on page 75 Dr. Sarno describes a woman whom had been through his program successfully but subsequently developed hip pain, which a doc diagnosed as bursitis. Eventually she speaks with Sarno and realizes it was symptom imperative. She quickly recovers and resumes jogging and, as Sarno writes, she begins "concentrating on the real problem, unconscious anxiety about hurting herself during exercise."
There is also a section on Anxiety in HBP on pp 36-37 where Sarno states that "Anger and anxiety....are the primary repressed feelings behind TMS..."
In his subsequent books, i believe Sarno identifies anxiety as an equivalent of TMS rather than a contributor to TMS.
...so, i assume the later books that identify anxiety as a TMS-equivalent reflects his current thinking? the reason i ask is that one of my biggest challenges is overcoming fear/anxiety over physical activity. So, i just want to be clear on this.
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Webdan65
USA
182 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2009 : 19:58:47
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Steven:
I'm not going to quote Sarno here since I'm also not 100% sure on where he stands on anxiety. Although from my standpoint - anxiety in general and fear of physical activity might be two distinct things.
Overwhelming emotions can cause anxiety....or panic attacks.
Fear of movement after major pain episodes is quite common especially with those of us who have fought this battle.
All I can tell you is that I didn't make any major breakthrough with last years chronic pain until I DID start to push myself physically.
I was in a total panic when I first tried to jog on a treadmill. Sure enough - I survived. And by slowly pushing myself more and more - I went from chronic pain - not being able to run at all, get in or out of a car, sit or stand, lay flat on my back without pain... to running 3 miles on a treadmill and playing golf again.
And believe me - getting back on the golf course has been a challenge as well. My first few rounds this year were pretty scary. But knowing I wasn't "broken" I did it anyway and survived. Now I can get through a round without much fear OR pain.
To me - doing what I was most afraid of physically helped me prove to myself that I wasn't broken. That sent a strong signal to my subconscious. And even though I might not have felt great immediately after exercising - a day or two later, the pain seemed to drop down a notch or two.
By continuing - I got through it and you can too.
Hope this helps...
Dan |
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scottjmurray
266 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2009 : 22:43:13
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I'll tell you what I think about anxiety: it's a repression mechanism used to contain explosive anger and pain. It's what you feel when emotions that would shatter your superego to pieces are breaking through into your conscious awareness. It's uncomfortable, and sitting and baking in it brings no relief whatsoever, unless you suddenly become aware of and let go of the particular construct that's causing you to suffer.
In the case of the woman who has burstitis, explosive emotions from her past were breaking through as she was running likely due to her superego trying to whip her ass and her brain manifested the pain to keep it in. Her superego was probably saying something convuluted like "your body is fragile, you are fragile, you can't do these things, etc." By yelling back at it she asserted herself as the commander in chief and not subconscious garbage instilled in her by the society she grew up in.
I don't currently believe in any form of repressed anxiety, however, it seems impossible. I think that they've incorrectly labeled "pain," our most basic negative emotion, as anxiety in this case. But this is just how I label stuff, we might actually be talking about the same phenomenon.
Any other type of fear: eg. a lion running full sprint at you will cause a sudden burst of "anxiety" simply for survival's sake, which will immediately disappear when the threat is gone. Any lingering anxiety (what we call being "traumatized") from the incident is to the emergence of the superego, whose only purpose is to label things as "wrong" and cause extreme distress. The only reason it asserts itself like this is because YOU DIDN'T TELL IT TO F!$# OFF IN THE PAST and your brain is giving you another opportunity to take out the trash. Superego =/= reality, superego = emotional dysfunction.
The reason it's so hard to get over the fear of the activities that in the past were correlated with your pain is that your brain has been conditioned to think that there is something horribly wrong when there isn't. Again, this is the superego getting all up in your shizzle and it can be addressed by simply by screaming in rage at the thing and then collapsing into grief until you get all the emotions out. Or given enough time you can simply forget that the activity even caused pain in the first place, which is what people without issues probably do.
Btw: To make things clearer what I define as the "superego" is the collection of negative and damaging social voices and ideas in your mind that were instilled in you up until this precise moment.
~*~
author of tms-recovery . com |
Edited by - scottjmurray on 05/05/2009 22:52:41 |
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fibri
Belgium
56 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2009 : 09:24:53
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I just finished reading The Mindbody Prescription in which Sarno clearly identifies Anxiety and Fear as TMS equivalents (pp 30-32):
.."both anxiety and depression are equivalents of TMS, signifying that they, too, may serve to distract us from underlying, threatening emotions." ... "Fear is another important equivalent of pain that may be more effective than the pain itself to achieve themind's goal of distracting attention from repressed rage." |
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Plantweed
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2009 : 09:27:07
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| I had a little breakdown the other night, got upset talking to the Mrs. about the pain, how much it sucks to be in pain all day, how it changes my personality negatively and stops me from doing things, etc. I wonder if this is healthy, to lose it once in a while and vent those feelings. Maybe it'll give the TMS less ammo? |
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PRCalDude
49 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2009 : 09:42:15
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quote:
Originally posted by scottjmurray
In the case of the woman who has burstitis, explosive emotions from her past were breaking through as she was running likely due to her superego trying to whip her ass and her brain manifested the pain to keep it in. Her superego was probably saying something convuluted like "your body is fragile, you are fragile, you can't do these things, etc." By yelling back at it she asserted herself as the commander in chief and not subconscious garbage instilled in her by the society she grew up in.
You mean, she just yelled back at her superego or at the pain?
I have this same fear of doing certain things and lately I've been yelling back at my brain and telling the fear to shut up and go away. That's been the most effective thing I've tried so far. That and Ellie Van Winkle's stuff, which has gotten me over quite a bit of my anger/anxiety. It's really kind of amazing how well it works, actually. |
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anxiety and TMS
