Review: Healing Back Pain (Dr. John E. Sarno)
Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection by Dr. John E. Sarno
I came across this book based on a recommendation in a blog post by Brandon: Dr. Sarno and Back Pain. About a month ago I was suffering from some severe back pain over the course of a few days (and in fact, my back is bothering me as I write this, but not nearly as bad). He and a few others recommended some regular exercises to help with this ongoing issue but the idea of healing back pain by dealing with repressed emotions was an interesting idea. You should read Brandon's post, but the gist is:
Back pain (and related pain in shoulders, neck, postural muscles in general) is a result of the brain choosing to cause pain in these areas rather than deal with repressed emotions - especially anger and anxiety. Interesting stuff indeed.
The book is broken up into a few different sections, presenting the theory/hypothesis and then later disputing the physical diagnoses and treatments of common ailments. Sarno goes on to suggest that even things like allergies (specifically Hay Fever) can be a result of the brain distracting us from repressed emotions.
I thought that the information was presented in an easy-to-understand manner and wasn't laden with citations and medical jargon. In that respect I thought it was well-written. The only place I got lost were the last few chapters - I skimmed them because it wasn't at all talking about the what / why and was - to me - Sarno simply refuting traditional treatments and stating several times that pain is a symptom, and that all of these treatments are not treating the disorder.
In many aspects of those claims I agree - pain is the result of something else affecting the body. Sarno's argument is that it's the brain doing these things to us rather than a structural issue (though he makes sure to suggest getting checked out by a doctor to make sure that it isn't a phyiscal / structural problem). There are some compelling arguments - conditions such as herniated discs should be numb and therefore don't cause any pain. I can't personally explain how that all works, but it makes sense in context of the book.
Where it fell apart for me was that the book was full of anecdotes that "proved" his theory. It came across as, "just trust me, this is a real story". And, there wasn't much focus on how the method works or how you might try curing your pain yourself. He claims that just by reading his book and understanding the link between the mind and the body, many people were cured without exploring their repressed emotions. Well, I don't quite buy it. I woke up this morning with lower back pain (and I most definitely felt something pull last night running to first base in the last inning), and tried to talk to myself about what I'm feeling. My back still hurts.
But I re-read Brandon's post and he talked about journalling, writing down anything he could think of that caused him to feel anger or anxiety and then journalling about each thing on his list. I haven't tried doing this, I was just "talking to my brain" as Dr. Sarno suggested in the book as an effective treatment. So maybe I'll work on this in my journal over the next few days.
I also saw myself in the first few chapters - there's a quote from an early chapter that I identified with, because I do a lot of what he instructs patients to do (I included a couple of relevant quotes below). The unfortunate reality for me is that this book wasn't as huge a revelation as it seems purported to be.
"I advise my patients to remain quietly in bed, perhaps take a strong painkiller and not agonize over what has happened. They are further instructed to keep testing their ability to move around and not assume they are going to be immobilized ..." Healing Back Pain, Dr. John E. Sarno (page 18)
After testing Sarno’s methods, Schubiner now thinks the people who say they have been cured by Sarno are probably a minority of outspoken patients with back pain that happens to be exacerbated by stress or emotional problems. That means there are people out there with chronic pain who could benefit from psychotherapy. But that’s not true for every back pain patient. (And there are surely other people who didn’t experience life-changing healing after reading Sarno but are less likely to speak up.) Julia Belluz, Vox
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