The Forgotten Dialect:
Our Body Language

Part 8: Anecdotal Mindbody Research

Even though science shows us how the mindbody connection can be the root cause of chronic pain disorders, this concept can still be tough to accept. The following anecdotes may help us see this even better.

* Helen, a sixty-five year old woman, had suffered nine years of unrelenting back pain. It had started suddenly while working on the job in an automotive assembly line. The pain was so severe she had to be carried out of the factory. Overtime she failed every treatment that her doctors could offer her, including physical therapy, pills, electrical stimulation, massage and acupuncture. The pain began to radiate into her right leg and she had numbness in her left thigh. She was now considering back surgery because her MRI showed multiple severe degenerative changes, including pinched nerves.After entering into a mindbody program that promoted emotional awareness, Helen began to recall many life stressors. She was the oldest of ten siblings. Her father beat her when she was a child and her mother required her to do a great deal of housework and child care. Her adult life was also difficult. She had gone through three divorces, raised three children by herself and struggled with alcoholism. She began to have financial difficulties and hated her job. After participating in Dr. Schubiner's four week program, she was pain free. She cancelled her back surgery. Four months later she had a recurrence of back pain, but immediately realized that it was triggered by learning her daughter was being deployed to Iraq for military duty. Now Helen recognizes the mindbody connection as the root cause of her pain (31).

* Janet, a forty-one year old woman, grew up with a mother who was emotionally distant and often too busy with her own life to spend time with her. In her thirties, Janet was happily married with two small children and was determined to be the best mother possible. She was having a new home built and trying to make it perfect. She developed widespread body pain and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. As Janet began to recognize the stress in her life, including unresolved emotions toward her mother that had fueled exhaustive perfectionistic behaviors as an adult, her pain totally disappeared (31).

* A thirty-four year old man was raised by a dominant father who would get drunk and physically abuse his mother. As a young man he relied on his skill in sports and school to gain appreciation. But when asked how we felt about his father's behavior, he said that he often vowed that if he ever hit a woman, he would “cut off his own hand”. Later in life when he was completing a Ph.D., he was under a great deal of stress. One of his mentors in the program was a woman. She was telling people that he was not fit for a Ph.D. He was unaware of feeling any anger towards this woman, but instead developed severe pain in both hands. It progressed to the point where he could not turn a doorknob, work on a computer or even pick up his infant son. Despite multiple medical treatments his pain persisted. The pain finally resolved when he started to recognize the intense anger he harbored towards the woman mentor and developed his emotional awareness (31).

* Sharon, a sixty-two year old woman, suffered a heart attack. She recuperated well and returned to a job she loved, as a top administrator in a large real-estate company. Over the years she was frequently hospitalized for episodes of disabling shortness of breath, chest discomfort, swollen legs and fatigue. She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and always recovered with medical treatments. Finally her doctor asked her to bring in her work schedule. Although Sharon did not recognize her job to be stressful, she discovered that each episode of heart failure occurred just days before she was responsible for planning the company's large employee events. She has been retired from her job for years and has not experienced a bout of heart failure since.

31. Schubiner H with Michael Betzold; Unlearn Your Pain. Mind Body Publishing, Pleasant Ridge, MI. 2010.