The Divided Mind
by John E. Sarno · first published 2006
85% recommend15% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that chronic back, neck, shoulder, and wrist pain can be mind-driven, and explains the idea readably. Readers credit it with quick relief; suited to people whose long-running pain medicine hasn't resolved.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The book that will change the way we think about health and illness, The Divided Mind is the crowning achievement of Dr. John E. Sarno's distinguished career as a groundbreaking medical pioneer, going beyond pain to address the entire spectrum of psychosomatic (mindbody) disorders.The interaction between the generally reasonable, rational, ethical, moral conscious mind and the repressed feelings of emotional pain, hurt, sadness, and anger characteristic of the unconscious mind appears to be the basis for mindbody disorders. The Divided Mind traces the history of psychosomatic medicine, includi
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The divided mind / healing back pain - Books by John E. Sarno. To give you a background I have struggled with back pain all my life. After dozens of MRIs, X rays, physiotherapy, ayurveda, yoga, posture exercises, and…
on “Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?” ↗…this with deep tissue massage and core/strengthening regimens, and largely those helped keep the pain levels down but really only halved the symptoms at best. A friend had been recommending Sarno's 'A Divided Mind' which is all about the psychosomatic diagnosis since the first incident, but I had dismissed it. Finally in 2013, as I felt a new round of the spasms coming, I gave it a shot. Lo and behold, it became…
on “How Worrying Can Actually Make You Sick” ↗I got rid of chronic pain I had for 4 years in 4 weeks by reading "The Divided Mind" by John Sarno. I'd highly recommend it. And, as other's have pointed out, a wandering mind is part of meditation. The beneficial part of meditation comes from that act of noticing your wandering mind…
on “Ask HN: What are your health and fitness goals?” ↗what's the name for things in science that will be proven in 20 years, but can't be proven today? what are the limits of science? i'd also recommend the book "the divided mind" by john sarno to readers of this thread.
on “How to stop feeling lonely” ↗If you think it may be along the lines of the article and don't have a resource, I'd recommend Dr. Sarno's A Divided Mind. I had two bouts of knife-jabbing back pain (couldn't walk down a hall without holding the wall) twice, a year apart. While I think the way Dr. Sarno approaches the subject has too much hand waiving,…
on “Sick but Not Sick” ↗You should read about TMS by John Sarno (see divided mind). Maybe it can help you too like it helped me. Your symptoms sound a lot like it but ofcourse you need to read it and decide.
on “Gut directly connected to brain, by a newly discovered neuron circuit” ↗Hi, I know this isn't what you're asking for but after reading that it's "seriously reducing my quality of life." I would suggest you read "The Divided Mind" by Dr. John Sarno. It's just a book and maybe it can help you get better fast ( you can even find the pdf on Google too I'm sure if you aren't ready to spend anything). The best part is reading the…
on “Ask HN: Has anyone undergone stem cell treatment for auto-immune disease?” ↗You should definitely read The Divided Mind by Dr John Sarno. The book has a very high success rate at solving long term back injuries.
on “Proper Breathing Brings Better Health” ↗…pain worse. So when I was reading the comments, I saw someone wrote something like "Read Sarno's book and thank me later". I was intrigued and started reading about him. I started with his book: The Divided Mind. From there it all started to change gradually. I found a local physician that specializes in TMS, and that help me so much. after a few weeks it all started to fade away considerably. Today I feel great.…
on “How to deal with extreme physical pain” ↗A rather deep research and clinical practice on working with the mind to cure the body has been conducted by John E Sarno. The Mindbody Prescription [1] and The Divided Mind [2] are two of his books. My interest in this started with the motivation to get some relief for the RSI-like symptoms and it's been part of my recovery for a few weeks together with the improved ergonomics.…
on “The Placebo Phenomenon” ↗This book has not only helped me with back, neck, and shoulder pain but anxiety too. http://www.amazon.com/The-Divided-Mind-ebook/dp/B000SEHJOI/r... Turns out simple breathing exercises can lower most of my anxiety. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercis...
on “Anxiety: Nothing to Do but Embrace the Dread” ↗The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/130610.The_Divided_Mind?... This book helped me get rid of the wrist tendinitis I had for four years prior, in four weeks. It also…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?” ↗There are numerous studies on mindfulness, including its physical affects on the brain. But there doesn't seem to be much definitive work on concepts such as the "mindbody" as promoted in John Sarno's The Divided Mind. It is always seductive to think that there is a simple solution, but I don't think that is reason enough to be as dismissive as this article is. There are also numerous studies on the physical impacts…
on “Bad thoughts can’t make you sick, that’s just magical thinking” ↗It's all there in the amazing book by Dr. John Sarno called the divided mind which I wrote about here (1). It's the clash between id and the super-ego that causes it and there are thousand (if not more) people who got better from this pain. If you search google for "TMS pain…
on “Ask HN: What did you learn the hard way?” ↗More than ten years ago someone here on Hacker News recommended The Divided Mind by John Sarno and my debilitating wrist pain went away shortly after reading it.