Correct observations with flawed conclusions

- This book is painfully repetitive. Absurdly repetitive. Award-winning repetitive. At times I wondered if I had accidently navigated to the previous chapter. Even after 15 chapters, I was waiting for the author to stop repeating himself. You will hear the same thing literally 10 times in a row and keep asking yourself: "When will he explain how to do the treatment?"... Spoiler alert... He doesn't. You are better off just reading a book on how to do TMS and see if it works for you.

- This guy is not a doctor and doesn't appear to have any medical knowledge whatsoever. This book is the equivalent of a person who likes star gazing trying to summarize what an astrophysicist said in another book.

This author misses one painfully obvious point that defeats half of the pseduoscience he says in his book... Inflammation. It's really simple actually why one person with degenerated discs has pain and someone with the same spine doesn't. One has inflammed nerves and the other doesn't. This is something therapists acknowledge and people often do have their pain resolve on it's own, even without TMS treatment, etc.

It looks something like this... Emotions can cause imflammation, so it's not that the author is totally incorrect in seeing a connection, but saying that the back itself has nothing to do with it, is total nonsense. Anyone with actual back issues can tell you that the slightest wrong move can send searing pain through your body and result in immediate numbness. They can tell you that you don't always know what will make it worse and often things you expect to make it better - don't. If placebo effect is your friend, then apparently my back has a mind of it's own. It plays to it's own tune. It does the unexpected time and time again.

The author claims that emotions can reduce circulation and I don't disagree. Where he loses me is saying that the mind just picks any place "you think you should have pain". No man, the reason why you hurt in a certain area due to reduced circulation is because with a compressed disc, that circulation is vital for pain reduction and healing. Painfully obvious. Placebo effect is nothing new and that's why we have double blind studies.

Yet, the author takes an observation about emotions and then makes some absurd leap and says that the structure has nothing to do with it. Show me where placebo affect causes immediate numbness and pain from moving the wrong way, falling the wrong way, etc.

The author starts with some premise that you are shown an x-ray and then suddenly decide you should have pain. No man. You have pain FIRST and have no clue what is going on.

The author says you would be in pain all the time if you had a real problem. I don't know what kind of back issue this guy had, but I am in pain 24/7. I can't sleep without my legs elevated. I can't lay on my side. I don't mind accepting that emotions are inflamming my body but to say that the structure isn't contributing to it is totally absurd and provably false.

The author's arguments around the placebo affect are so grossly misapplied to this book that it's downright medical malpractice.

Let me start with something simpler... Carpal Tunnel... The author claims that carpal tunnel is psychological. He points out that there was a sudden rise in it as people became aware of it and then it declined when people stopped thinking about it. He points out that people all through time have done repetitive tasks without getting carpal tunnel.

Again this should be obvious if the author actually knew what he was talking about:
- People's bodies are in a more inflammed state than in the past. Our diets, sedentary lifestyle, toxic exposure to chemicals, overuse of medications, etc., all contribute to this.
- People in the past often had similiar maladies that parallel modern diseases but they were simply called something else or dismissed as having a psychological condition (quite ironic given this book).
- I would argue that computer use in particular is different than other repetitive tasks that others have done in the past and combined with a lack of overall movement, stretching, etc. -- due to our lifestyles, this is going to reduce circulation, increase tension -- and therefore inflammation.
-- The sudden decrease in Carpal Tunnel is really easy to explain and it annoys me honestly because this should be so obvious to the writer, but he seems to be making stuff up at this point... An ergonomics movement was created. We got curved keyboards, curved mouses, and learned how to sit and position ourselves properly to avoid straining out bodies. We learned to take breaks and buy a simple brace if our wrists get inflammed. We learned about muscle imbalances in the hand and how rubber band exercises can correct that.

Let me sum it up... It's a COMBINATION of factors. I don't doubt that emotions can further inflame the nerves and without the negative emotions the inflammation could calm down to where you were no longer experiencing carpal tunnel symptoms... but this doesn't mean that your bad posture and computer use isn't causing/contributing to the carpal tunnel.

Show me the massive number of people with perfect spines that have their legs go numb when they lay flat or sit wrong.

In summary:
- Bad spine doesn't mean you have to have pain, but it doesn't mean that the bad spine isn't causing you pain in conjuction with other factors. It's like saying that clogged arteries aren't causing you to have chest pain, because exercise is shown to widen artteries and help prevent heart issues. No...Exercise can widen the arteries and help you work "around" the clogged arteries but it doesn't mean that the clogged arteries aren't an issue.
- The author wants you to think that he's part of the secret club and everyone else is big pharma and brainwashed. He does this by cherry-picking some studies on placebo affect and just pulling sutff out of thin air.
- The body causing pain to avoid emotional distress makes zero sense from an evolutionary perspective. I guess our ancestors starved to avoid their hurt feelings.
- The author explains at THE END of the book that it's not a how to book. Thanks for wasting my time. I plan to get a refund.
- I'm not against the idea of TMS and plan to try it. This book was mostly a waste of time however.

7 people found this helpful

Powerful truth, a great audio

Wow! I'm a fan of Steve Ozanich's writing, since I healed 20 years of chronic low back pain in the winter of 2016 after reading his first book "the great pain deception." Yes knowledge therapy can heal your chronic pain- but it can only heal your chronic pain if you are ready, and open. Pain presents itself when we overthink and under feel. Pain also presents itself when we are taught and believe falsities about our body.

Mr. Ozanich's writing style is hilarious and funny yet effective and heart felt. My family listened to this book on a road trip to the Grand Canyon... my husband loved it and even my 9 year old and 7 year enjoyed it. (My kids have been exposed to lots of audio books, as long as I don't subject them to more Eckhart Tolle they're happy).

I'm an audibles audio book on tape geek and an aspiring author so I read and listen to books a lot... a few a week at least. I also highly suggest re listening and re-reading especially if you are in chronic pain as learning occurs through repetition.

Enjoy This amazing book! Listen to it over and over and check out Sarno's audiobooks too... listen while you drive, listen while you cook and clean :-) listen and listen again. Wishing you lots of love on your journey into healing.

12 people found this helpful

Loved it.

Really an Eye opener about the TMS and back pain. Never heard about the TMS before. The best thing is while I was listening to this book, The stress and Depression about the back and life totally fade away and I started having feeling that I am on the way to a Pain and Stress free life.

3 people found this helpful

Changed my life

I have suffered with back pain for years and in the past year been basically unable to do anything. I read a few books about stress and read Dr. Sarno's books and began to believe I had TMS. However, it was Steve Ozanich's book that really helped me heal. His straight forward narrative helped cast any doubt I had aside, and doubt will make healing almost impossible. I highly recommend this book to ANYONE with back pain, even if you think you are broken, you probably are not.

2 people found this helpful

Incredible. Thank you for my life!!

This is the third book I’ve listened to on the topic, and although I hadn’t felt 100% I know now that this is absolutely the cause of my pain... I cannot recommend enough.

1 person found this helpful

Sarno's legacy deserves better

It's not the message, it's the messenger--this is true is so many areas of life and it is particularly apt here. I have read Dr. Sarno's books and I work in the medical field, discussing these issues requires tact and finesse, and this book had a bit of a bulldozer feel--oozing with judgement for those who may struggle to accept that their pain may have a different, more internal, etiology. Couple that with a narrator who reads too fast and whose tone was perhaps too in-line with that of Ozanich, it just didn't sit right with me. It's a shame, because I think the content was presented in an approachable lay manner. I am still planning to read his book The Great Pain Deception, but if the tone is the same, I will just stick with Sarno.

1 person found this helpful

Truth, but Vaguely Written

Ozanich speaks truth! It can be summarized, "Look inside yourself for the solution to chronic pain. You are the only one who can find it". His approach is vague and a bit Zen. He says he cannot show you the true cause of your own pain. You need to find that for yourself. Ozanich says that by offering a process, he would further allow you to look outside yourself rather than within. He's right. But for me, a wise guide is more useful. I found Dr. David Hanscom's approach in "Back in Control" more practical because Hanscom, while making the very same argument as Ozanich, has scientific insights about emotion and pain. Then Hanscom includes dozens of stories from patients and his own experience (not testimonials, but interesting and varied examples of how different life experiences can lead to suppression and then physical pain), which give hints as to how anxiety or anger or other feelings actually can cause to indirect pain. Hanscom gives an abundance of clinical examples of patients who had terrible physical structure with no pain or healthy physical structure and extreme pain; thereby releasing the reader's prejudices that chronic pain must be physical in nature. Ultimately, you do need to find the source yourself. But it is so much more effective to follow a finger pointing to the moon, which is what Hanscom offers; at least for me. You may be different.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent book on TMS.

Very well written and great narrator. Highly recommended for anyone dealing with back pain issues.

1 person found this helpful

Don't get this book

This book felt like an 8 hour commercial for Dr Sarno's stuff. It just fluffs the reader up to go get the real solution supposedly contained within Dr Sarno's work. This book just did nothing for me.

Listened nearly non- stop for four days!

Loved it, highly recommend! Pain stopped by end of 1st day! It's truly amazing! Wow!