Resources
Here are some books, videos, podcasts, and other resources about John Sarno’s The Mindbody Syndrome (TMS) and later developments on his ideas. In my YouTube videos I suggest that “protracted withdrawal” is a form of TMS—and this idea is gaining recognition in the TMS community. That said, I'm not aware of TMS resources (beyond my own limited work) that directly address “withdrawal’ as TMS. At least not yet. But this is not a problem.
I say this because the psychological basis of TMS is the same for all mindbody phenomena. What this means is that whether one is experiencing persistent pain, “withdrawal”, or some other learned syndrome, the way to resolution is essentially the same. Therefore TMS materials remain of use to us and many works incorporate sensations and syndromes far beyond pain. With that said let’s take a look at some resources and I'll also offer a little commentary to suggest their relevance and application to resolving “withdrawal.” Maybe some of these will be helpful to you.
Note: Some of the following books may be downloaded for free at the website Library Genesis. You may visit its Wikipedia page for the latest link.
Nicole Sachs and the Basics of TMS
Nicole Sachs worked with John Sarno and the following is a really simple explanation of TMS from Nicole Sachs' podcast The Cure for Chronic Pain.
Nicole also recently released a fantastic book called Mind Your Body that provides an easy-to-read manual to John Sarno’s work (and her contributions to it).
Mad In America Panel
The following is a Mad in America panel that I took part in that goes into the use of neuroplasticity to resolve “protracted withdrawal sensations.’
The Books and Works of John Sarno
John Sarno originated the TMS concept and the following works remain the foundation of its core psychological aspects. Saro’s ideas now have a scientific basis that you can find about in Howard Schubiner’s work and recent clinical trials (both found below if you keep scrolling this page).
Healing Back Pain. His most original and seminal book. If you just switch “back pain” to “withdrawal sensations” you might find your situation with withdrawal, experiences in life, and your personality described with a great deal of accuracy.
The Mindbody Prescription. Here, Sarno opens up the TMS concept beyond chronic pain. This is important because most people who have a particular mindbody experience (whether it's learned pain or withdrawal) have likely experienced other forms of mindbody phenomena.
The Divided Mind. An anthology. Sarno and other TMS professionals pull back the curtain on the role of unconscious emotions in human health.
Several videos:
The Books and Works of Howard Schubiner
Howard Schubiner is an internist and mindbody physician. His original mindbody training comes from John Sarno but he has made some adaptions to TMS theory. In particular, Shubiner emphasizes the learned nature of mindbody experiences via learned neural pathways/circuits. And, for him, this includes protracted withdrawal experiences.
Unlearn Your Pain. This book examines how (unconscious) emotions create undesirable physical and psychological experiences via learned neural pathways (TMS). This is a seminal work that provides a more scientific background for TMS.
Psychophysiologic Disorders: Trauma-informed, Interprofessional Diagnosis and Treatment. Schubiner co-wrote this anthology essentially about TMS but under the alternative label, “psychophysiologic disorder” (or "mindbody disorder"). The emphasis here is on empirical, scientific support for TMS and paths to its resolution.
I'll also note that there are many valuable talks and interviews with Schubiner on YouTube and elsewhere. Here are a few examples that I referenced in my video:
The above video is what got me started on all this.
The Books and Works of Steve Ozanich
Steve Ozanich experienced many years of strange and horrible mindbody sensations that he resolved with Sarno’s TMS approach. He is currently a mindbody consultant and his work includes helping people to resolve withdrawal sensations. His emphasis is on helping one to understand the psychological basis of TMS, the most important part.
The Great Pain Deception. Despite its title, this book explores TMS far beyond pain to include mindbody sensations of all kinds. This work has been a powerful resource to many. Admittedly I had some skepticism reading this as some of its sources and buzz terms are a little much for me but the central tenets of the book resonate very deeply.
You can find several interviews with Ozanich on YouTube. Here is an interesting example:
Also, some people have submitted TMS success stories to Ozanich here: Healing Wall of Victory.
Podcasts
Mindbody Mastery Podcast. A calming host discusses many relatable mindbody topics. My personal favourite.
The Cure for Chronic Pain. Nicole Sachs’ podcast. She recently released a great book Mind Your Body.
Like Mind, Like Body. Features various interviews, including about medically unexplainable phenomena beyond chronic pain.
Tell Me About Your Pain. Alan Gordon’s podcast. Also wrote a book The Way Out.
YouTube Channels
Healing Chronic Somatic Symptoms
Apps
Curable. This is an app that uses a mindbody approach to help people resolve pain and other persistent sensations and syndromes.
Associations
Psychophysiologic Disorders Association.
tmswiki.org
TMSWiki hosts a wealth of information and contains a forum. It was started by an individual who resolved persistent painful sensations with a TMS approach. (Some psychiatric propaganda is present on the site.)
Practitioners, Consultants, Therapists
Clinical Trials
Pain Reprocessing Therapy. A Sarno-inspired landmark clinical trial saw about 70% of participants resolve or almost completely resovle chronic pain. Here is the “treatment outline.”
Psychophysiologic Symptom Relief Therapy. A Sarno-based pilot clinical trial saw 75% of participants resolve chronic pain."Treatment outline.”
Long COVID Clinical Trial. This clinical trial used psychophysiologic symptom relief therapy and participants saw significant reductions in the “symptoms” and there are also YouTube videos dedicated to resolving long Covid using mindbody approaches as many have done this by now.
Other Resources/Notes
There are many resources that don't directly address TMS yet still contribute important understandings into the mindbody connection. One thing that might come up in some mindbody materials is the value of presence and the integration of emotional experiences. In this regard, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle comes to mind but there's of course far more as well.
Also please take into consideration that some of the materials I’ve mentioned here may contain aspects of psychiatric propaganda which is unfortunate but I’ve learned to just remove the bad spots because the fruit is still good at its core.
Final Thoughts
This page mostly contains resources that helped me in particular. Please note that you don't have to read or take in the same TMS materials that I or somebody else did. As I mentioned in the video, the TMS approach is not so much about doing but understanding. Everyone comes to this understanding in their own way. I hope you find the way that works best for you.