Exactly. I was so desperate, I would have tried anything. But, I could not finish The Mindbody Prescription. General non-scientific fluff, and a lot of complaining about Freud not being taken seriously these days. No real evidence, although I only got through a few chapters.
However, despite me thinking the book was rubbish and tossing it shortly, my RSI problems disappeared. I guess the suggestion that pain wasn't actually physical in source was enough for the pain to stop.
I've gone from being dominated by RSI problems to not giving it much thought at all.
The placebo effect is real, sometimes even when the patient is aware that it's a placebo.
Note: I don't think the book is correct. There are plenty of phenomenon that we don't understand, and not having a real explanation is not reason to just make one up and assert its correctness without evidence.
> The placebo effect is real, sometimes even when the patient is aware that it's a placebo.
I actually think Sarno explains quite well why the placebo effect works in many cases. It works because the pain is caused by psychological issues to begin with, so when you receive a placebo, your mind knows to make it go away and shift to a different problem. He actually calls it a "nocebo" because it doesn't actually make it go away. For example, you may have back pain, do some kind of therapy to address it (whether it is chiropractic adjustments, massage, medication, cortisone injections, or even surgery); it goes away, but then a week later you start having wrist pain, and the cycle continues (maybe with the back pain coming back) until you address the underlying repressed emotions.
It's good that your wrists are recovered. I think folks need to look at other environmental factors: how you close wrist joint when you're driving, riding a bike, playing guitar, holding a baby, using power tools etc
However, despite me thinking the book was rubbish and tossing it shortly, my RSI problems disappeared. I guess the suggestion that pain wasn't actually physical in source was enough for the pain to stop.
I've gone from being dominated by RSI problems to not giving it much thought at all.
The placebo effect is real, sometimes even when the patient is aware that it's a placebo.
Note: I don't think the book is correct. There are plenty of phenomenon that we don't understand, and not having a real explanation is not reason to just make one up and assert its correctness without evidence.