Dr John Sarno

Dr Sarno (1923 – 2017) was Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, and attending physician at the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical Center. He coined the term Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) to name a psychosomatic condition producing physical symptoms. 

Dr Sarno developed, diagnosed and treated over ten thousand TMS patients, yet his approach is currently still not accepted by mainstream medicine despite him having successfully treated so many patients. His treatment included educating patients on his belief that psychological and emotional work could cure their pain and symptoms. Sarno's theory is, that the symptoms are an unconscious distraction to aid in the repression of emotional issues. Sarno believed that when patients think about what may be upsetting them in their unconscious, they can defeat their minds' strategy to repress these powerful emotions. When the symptoms are seen for what they are, they then serve no purpose and they go away. 

Dr Sarno wrote about his experience in this area in his first book on TMS, Mind Over Back Pain. His second book, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection, and his most recent book, The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders, features chapters by six other physicians. In this last book, he addresses the entire spectrum of psychosomatic disorders and the history of psychosomatic medicine.

Sadly Dr Sarno passed away in 2017, but his legacy lives on! A true genius and hero to so many, including me!