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Summary: Treating the cause, not the symptoms
Review: A year ago, I was diagnosed with a large herniated cervical disk, I was scheduled for surgery in two days when 20/20 ran a segment on Dr. Sarno. I had severe pain in my neck, shoulder, and arm that prevented me from sleeping more than 2-3 hours at a time and severely compromised the positions I could sleep in. Dr. Sarno's books combined with treatment from a local doctor he referred me to have eliminated my symptoms.I can now sleep in all of my favorite positions and I'm training to run a marathon this fall. Sarno's theory has proved dramatically successful and I fully believe he is on to the cause of many, many physical ailments. Don't go under the knife without reading this book!
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Summary: This book had a huge and lasting impact on my life
Review: Hearing about Sarno's theory and getting a hold of this book was one of the most important things that's ever happened to me. All through college I had escalating health problems. I went to a zillion specialists and got diagnosed with lots of contradictory things, but nothing made much of a difference. I had foot pain (diagnosed as plantar faciitis) to the point where I couldn't walk or stand for more than a minute (that was fun), "carpal tunnel syndrome," so that I couldn't type or write for more than a minute, bad chronic heart burn, knee and elbow pain (I was diagosed with arthritis), irritable bowel syndrome, and yeast infections. It just didn't make sense, but things kept getting progressively worse. Then one day my boyfriend was researching carpal tunnel syndrome on the web, and he found out about The Mindbody Syndrome. I got the book, did a lot of hard mental work, and over the course of a month all of my health problems disappeared. I can remember forcing myself to walk and willing my foot pain to go away, and slowly IT DID. I walked a mile, which I hadn't done in a really long time, and I knew I had the power to make everything go away. It's been been a year and a half; I still get occasional heart burn when I'm especially stressed, but that's it. (Best of luck to everyone out there that may be in a similar boat. I recommend going to the message board at http://members3.boardhost.com/premierhealth/ if you have questions.)
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Summary: least helpful mind/body book I have ever read
Review: I actually have found mind/body approaches very helpful in dealing with my medical problems, but this book is really terrible, the least effective approach I've seen. Given how helpful mind/body approaches can be, I find it sad that this book, which only works on a limited subset of chronic pain patients, is the only approach that is well advertised. The vast majority of people I know who read this book did not find it helpful. It's basically a placebo which doesn't work if you are scientifically minded. Dr. Sarno has no grasp of the scientific method, statistics, or experimental design.
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Summary: This book saved my life
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels ill but cannot find lasting relief through western or natural medicine. This book has changed my life completely - For countless years, I had barrett's esophagus, chronic yeast syndrome, allergies, multiple chemical sensistivies, you name it - and this book showed me what was really going on. Please do yourselves a favor and try this book.
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Summary: This is just what the doctor ordered
Review: I noticed most of the negative comments come from folks who don't have problems and have never had to face these situations. How do I know? Because I was one of them. An engineer by trade, I'm very left brained. But serious illness and the futility of conventional medicine in treating chronic conditions sends you searching. I also have researched much of the "science" out there coming from the drug companies. There's no money (patents) in mindbody medicine, so don't hold your breath for huge announcments from the medical establishment in this area. And if studies are done (of which there are many, by the way), the biased editors of the journals funded by the pharmaceutical industry will forthwith throw them out. Don't be too enamored by "impartial science". There is no such thing nowadays.
Dr. Sarno has hit the nail on the head in terms of understanding the source of many of our ailments. My wife has had aches and pains all over ever since we were married. She had a rough childhood and has a lot of emotional baggage. She has been 'diagnosed' with many structural issues as the source of her pain. However, by paying close attention to when the pain and other symptoms start, we have been able to recognize the emotional source of the pain and neutralize them using some emotional release techniques. An activity that has caused her back pain for a very long time no longer does. Every time she exercised, her knee would lock up. We identified the emotional reasons for this (fear of being in shape, losing weight, etc.), and the knee pain disappeared.
My only concern with Dr. Sarno's approach is that he doesn't outline an effective strategy to resolve the emotional issue, which is the real problem. Simply recognizing the pain comes from emotions does not solve the emotional problem. My concern is the mind will relocate the 'ailment' to some part of the body where you no longer recognize it as a mindbody reaction (skin, allergies, or something else). So I think his insight needs to be integrated with other effective strategies for actually resolving the emotional issues. There are options out there, such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), but again, for the left-brainers (like myself a few years ago), they won't buy it. That's fine. They can keep suffering!
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Summary: Worked for ten years
Review: I was a very young boy of 14 the first time my back went out and it continued until I was left paralyzed on my bathroom floor the day of my brothers wedding.
I was flat on my back with no hope of ever being normal. And this was at 26 years old.
I stumbled onto Dr. Sarno;s book and my pain went away in two weeks. No kidding. I was a prisoner of my back for most of my YOUNG life and then after one reading the pain stopped.
And it lasted for ten years.
T two years ago I started feeling pain in my feet and then my back and then my hip. I have re-read the book and can't seem to shake the pain this time. I even stared psychotherapy to vent my unconscious rage. I am still in pain, but I know that it is caused by my unconscious stress and am really making an effort to follow the advice in the book. I have been in pain again for two years, but again, I know it is emotional. I am going to apply his principles religiously again and let you know how I feel in a few weeks.
Jimmy Dore
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Summary: This book will change your life
Review: My internist, who is very open to alternative treatments himself, recommended that I read The Mindbody Prescription a few years ago. He had had considerable back pain which he was able to eliminate from his life with the help of Dr. Sarno's books. I was feeling anxiety over health issues and was open to the idea of the mind body connection because I had seen the direct relationship between stress and migraine headaches, TMJ, and sinus infections at different times in my life. During my first reading of the book I was amazed to learn about what the mind is able to do that we are not aware of: it has a huge impact on our physical health. I began to learn how to control my anxiety, and have since read Dr. Sarno's book again a couple of times when problems came up. Almost immediately upon reading the book, the problems go away. I am completely convinced that stress causes at least 90% of all pain and illness. Dr. Sarno has begun a revolution and sooner or later the rest of the medical establishment will come on board. Perhaps one day doctors will be trained to treat the whole person, and not just the symptoms of illness. Until then, this book will change your life!
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Summary: This is an excellent reference book!
Review: The chapters on psychology may be a bit too detailed for most people, nevertheless, this is an excellent reference book for understanding a variety of ailments and bodily pains, often misdiagnosed, but usually caused by tension. It is also a good complement to Dr. sarno's Healing back pain, which helped me recover from chronic pain in my back, legs, knees, feet, neck, arms, and hands, and almost completely disability. Combining guidelines provided by Dr. Sarno with techniques used by Olympic athletes, I was able to design a nine-step repid recovery program that allowed me to improve immediately and recover within four days. After my recovery I shared my research and experiences with individuals as well as in seminars I conducted for the University of California, CIGNA, and other organizations. My story is detailed in Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain: A Nine-Step Recovery plan and serves as another testimony to the accuracy of Dr. Sarno's diagnosis. Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain is now available at Amazon.com.
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Summary: The GREATEST MEDICAL BOOK EVER WRITTEN
Review: This book has been life-changing for me and many of my patients! Once one accepts that mind and body are inextricably connected, it follows that pain in the body can serve a psychological purpose. We all tend to use defense mechanisms to keep unpleasant emotions in the UNCONSCIOUS MIND. Dr. Sarno is the PIONEER in showing the impact of the UNCONSCIOUS MIND in everyday physical symptom production. This book should be REQUIRED READING for all medical students and physicians!! It will also be of tremendous benefit for chronic pain sufferers.
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Summary: Blaming th victim! Pure crap!
Review: While I certainly agree that a negative attitude can impact an illness and that having a positive forward thinking attutide and not a self-defeating one is very important in treatment the idea that negative thouths or attitude can cause illnes is total bunk! I've been striken with 3 auto immune illnesses for 11 years now and I was happy and healthy before them- I didn't have any negative attitudes UNTIL I became ill and in constant daily unthinkable pain! Who is this author to talk about something that he has no first hand knowlage of!!!
While there is no lab lest for Fibro (or CFS) there is an elevated level of subsance P in the spinal fluid in Fibro patients, as well as several other scientif studies confirming it;s scientific existnace. It's not IN OUR HEADS!!!!
We fight enough battles for good research and good help from books we don't need to be discredited at every turn!
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