Comment by afdaf44 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by afdaf44 | Hacker News Reader

I don't know about this method, but for me Dr. Sarno's method worked. I was in so much pain that I could barely put my socks on without help. Then I read "Healing back pain" and it convinced me that my pain was psychosomatic. Once convinced, the pain disappeared in a day and never came back.

Dr. Sarno's theory is that the mind can use pain as a way to shift attention away from psychological problems. The subconscious does that by reducing blood flow in the target tissue, which causes pain. Now I don't understand how accepting this as the cause of the pain can make it stop, but that's what happened to me and reportedly for many of Dr. Sarno's patients.

About Dr. Sarno:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sarno

What in interesting man and concept, if not a bit (I hesitate to use the term, it's not intended as a pejorative) reminiscent of the placebo effect.

Which is interesting in itself - if we could figure out more about this effect, perhaps we could harness it better.

I've also read this book, and while I didn't have the immediate benefits of the parent commenter, it did help me to take ownership of my situation, and to work through the pain.

For me the key was activity and building up the endurance/tone of the lower lumbar. This hurt a lot in my existing state, but once I cut the vicious cycle of inactivity leading to reduced muscle tone causing more pain, I was able to turn it around and reduce my pain and dysfunction almost entirely.

Sarno's Theory could actually be a plausible explanation for the placebo effect. If some percentage of people suffering a condition have psychosomatic symptoms, when you give them a pill and tell them it will cure them, their brain could switch to creating a different psychosomatic effect (such as headaches instead of backache). This would give the effect of a placebo cure, and side-effects for the placebo cure (which is also something that is observed).

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