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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
 Posted - 04/14/2005 : 15:14:52
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quote:
Originally posted by AnneG
Something you said in your last post, to Micah - 'Stop living in the past' - that's so important when recovering from TMS for many of us - it takes lots of work to make the psychological/emotional changes necessary to start living in the present, but the rewards make all that work worthwhile.
Anne
Anne- I want to make sure I'm understanding what you are saying. Are you suggesting that I stop working in the past right now even though i've still got chronic TMS going on and do the working in the present stuff or are you suggesting that I do both the past work and the present work? This is confusing to me because by working in the past I'm seeing relief of my symptoms.
When you were going through your 6 months of grueling "in the past" work did you also do present work in parallel? |
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 04/14/2005 : 23:41:29
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Anne- This whole issue of healing by doing the Sarno analytical work "living in the past" and doing "living in the present" work I find quite difficult to understand. Sarno does not talk about this kind of work wrt TMS.
If I understand your case correctly, you were not able to heal your TMS until you did the deep analytic work with the therapist and that it took you a good half year before your psyche settled down. Was this not the main event that eliminated your TMS? At what time in your recovery did you introduce the "living in the present" work and how did that work affect your TMS?
When you posted the above comment I felt invalidated because I was interpreting your comments, perhaps incorrectly, that really I should not be doing the feeling work but try to live in the present in a healthier way. So sorry if I kind of jumped the gun on my first post. I know you have said that doing both in your opinion is the best approach.
The good news in my case is that I believe that what i'm doing is working. I've noticed that my TMS symptoms have taken a step down in intensity over the last week or so. I had another phone conversation with my mom and it was very cordial with no harsh screaming or losing control. I did again experience the fear again quite strongly as I was describing my psychological journey. I also decided to listen to the inner child and put the phone down and had sort of a silent rageful moment. The intensity of the rage clearly states as strong as day that i'm still in the middle of working out this repressed rage. I'm growing more and more confident; however, that this time will pass and i'll be able to move on.
I'm definitely interested in living better in the present. I think its really an issue of timing for me. Maybe you can be a bit more specific on how the Gremlin book helped you. I wasn't so impressed with the Amazon reveiws on this book.
Thanks Anne - looking foward to your comments. |
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n/a
374 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2005 : 02:25:08
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Sorry, Micah, my post could easily be taken the way you understood it - but what I meant was that for myself, it was necessary to stop letting attitudes that I had developed because of my past rule my life in the present. I did this by working through it - as you are doing.
I am not suggesting that you stop working through the issues you have described - not at all.
I have to go out now; I'll post properly later. Sorry again.
Take care
Anne |
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n/a
374 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2005 : 11:15:21
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Posting here allows us to correspond with people who have identified a physical/emotional connection that has resulted in physical pain or other unpleasant manifestations - namely TMS. Occasionally when posting I forget that I am not face to face with other people and therefore am unable to put right something that is unclear to them in meaning: the usual route of someone asking for a clearer explanation there and then, is not instantly available, as it would be in a face to face conversation.
Added to that; there are differences in how English is used, depending on where one is in the world - ambiguities and misunderstandings are bound to arise from time to time.
Micah, your last post has made me consider what I actually DO mean when I say that I found it important to, 'Stop living in the past.'
I've been out with my husband most of the day - looking for a new vehicle for his business - got a bit bored - so I sat in the car and made notes of what I do mean by it. And sorted out in my own head the sequence of things that helped me recover.
Here's a summary of my scribbling:-
Living in the past (and catastophising about the future) was central to the physical and emotional turmoil I found myself in. Suffered a 'breakdown' in August 2002 - diagnosed as nervous exhaustion - caused partly by chronic backache
Vague ideas about what was troubling me began to form before I found out about TMS, but after many conventional channels had been tried; ie - tests, scans, medication, chiros, physios etc etc.
Found Dr Sarno's books when trawling the web for information on psychological/physical problems. (beginning of 2003)
Immediate improvement in my chronic back pain - the fear of the pain has never been a major problem again after reading MBP
As the pain subsided (although I had relapses), I began to concentrate on the living in the past issue -tried CBT on my GP's suggestion (useless); found a good psychotherapist myself (early 2003 for around seven months). She helped me define the problem and worked with me on 'living mindfully' (Jon Kabat-Zinn's programme).
I read voraciously on psychological conditions that I believed might apply to me - books, internet, magazine articles - anything really.
I honestly believe that the 'drip-drip' effect of all that reading, thinking and talking with my therapist and others was the main factor in my recovery. The intensity of it all helped re-programme my brain. That sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel, but that is what seems to have happened.
I have never adhered strictly to any one programme from any expert - I've just read their work and taken from it what I want.
Working through the issues that have affected you is exactly what I did, Micah. I absolutely had to do that in order to stop living in the past and it was uncomfortable - my relationship with my mother deteriorated for a while. Memories of what I began to perceive as her disinterest in me was very hard to take - it took a long time to come to terms with that.
I don't think I'd have recovered so well if I had not worked through past issues - as you are doing now.
As for Rick Carson'd book - it's probably not for everyone. I can imagine that some people would find the lightheartedness of tone and its central analogy of imagining negative destructive thoughts and emotions as your gremlin, as annoying. I love it, but if the reviews on Amazon don't make you want to read it, you probably won't like it.
If you are noticing that things are getting better for you - then what you are doing is working. Being patient is hard, when you notice an improvement it's hard when you slide back a bit - but the process, once begun, is unstoppable.
Take care
Anne |
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2005 : 16:41:42
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Anne- Thanks for the encouragement and the details of your journey. It does sound like a rough ride but it must be gratifying to make it through and to have rid yourself of the prison of TMS. You are in a good position to help others on this forum.
It is indeed a strange situation to consciously have what appears to be a good relationship with my mother and at the same time be in a blinding unconscious rage state. I do think that it is just a matter of time before my psyche settles down and the fear subsides sufficiently to no longer warrent the distraction of TMS. There seems to be, in my case (and for some time yours as well), a great benefit to facing the fear and challenging it by doing what the TMS is trying to prevent me from doing.
Thanks for your support Anne- really appreciate it! |
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kenny V
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2005 : 11:10:11
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Great post Anne, I think you have found your ministry. 
>As for Rick Carson'd book - it's probably not for everyone. I can imagine that some people would find the >lightheartedness of tone and its central analogy of imagining negative destructive thoughts and emotions >as your gremlin, as annoying. I love it, but if the reviews on Amazon don't make you want to read it, you >probably won't like it.
Can relate to all of what you have said,
altho don’t know much about the gremlin  thing. ......... 
You are a very valuable asset on this forum.
Take care
K-
Always Hope For Recovery
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2005 : 08:11:28
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quote:
Originally posted by seanf
quote:
Originally posted by miehnesor
quote:
Originally posted by kenny V
What did you say happened to you?
Now i'm just trying to practice feeling the feelings and hoping that one day my psyche will settle down.
miehnesor,
Are you familiar with the work of Arthur Janov? He's the "Primal Scream" therapist that was very much en vogue in the 70s. I've been reading his books recently, and there's a lot of resonance between his ideas and Sarno's. The major difference is that Sarno doesn't think you usually have to feel repressed rage to alleviate symptoms. Janov believes you do, unequivocally.
Janov has only been mentioned a couple times on this board, but I'm curious to hear what other people think of him or his ideas. This seems like as a good a thread as any to do it.
seanf- After a bit of a hiatus from this primal therapy concept i've recently been looking at this with great interest. When I read the recommendations of "The New Primal Therapy" on Amazon I was surprised how much emotion came up for me. So my first throught was maybe this is something worth exploring from a TMS standpoint.
Next I checked out Janov's web site and started reading it and once again I had a lot of emotion come up.
http://www.primaltherapy.com/CORES/aptCore.htm
The primal scream seems like the ultimate in letting go and feeling the original pain but i'm not sure if this is just my inner child looking for a salvation system or whether this is something I really need to do.
I did orger his latest book "The New Primal Therapy" to at least explore this and understand it further.
The end of his web site is some discussion of "self primalling" which I found very interesting. If this is true then i've been mistaken about the therapy and the ideas i've been suggesting on this forum (especially wrt the last thread on practicing anger)and may be hurting myself and others more than i'm helping.
What is your opinion on this therapy?
Has any other TMS'er have an opinion about this?
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Listening to the Inner Child
