This book is going to be wonderful, I'm sure. It's been nothing but a disaster to purchase, and since this is my first eBook, I just learned I can't print a handful of pages to carry with me in my travels. I never wanted to read this book ONLY at a computer, but evidently that's the prison being enforced. I'd love to print out a few pages to read in various places that aren't conducive to computer use, but the intellectual(?) rights gestapo, says I can't. This just stinks. BUY THE BOOK... don't buy the digital version, unless you only want to read from a computer screen. Digital books should be MORE secure, and not depend on a single software provider. If GM can go down, believe that Adobe can as well. There goes all of your eBooks if they do.

I am a software programmer. sometime in april 2004, I started getting pain in my hands. lasted for an year. I went from doctor to doctor, was referred to physiotherapy with no significant benefit. I also tried alternative medicine in the form of acupressure and acupuncture in India.

I did derive some benifit however this was only temporary. It always felt that I was 90% cured for a long long time (about 6 months). then one day, I suddenly sutumbled across a harvard site which mentioned about mind body connection. I read through the handout on the site. For the first time in my 1 year of pain, I could see someone really understand the pain. i always felt the doctors were making a judgement about my pain but NOT really LISTENING to what I was saying

My major obstacle to removal of pain seemed to stem from the fact that the pain sites appeared to be very illogical. Many times I couldnt understand why the pain had to occur at a particular location and at illogical times, for example when just sitting and watching a movie. some doctor would mention it is due to some pinched nerve, some would mention it is carpal tunnel, no one really came to any consensus about why the pain was so bad. it would move around from wrist to arm etc. Seeing the confused faces was dissappointing at best. i was totally confused for an year or so whether it was carpal tunnel or a pinched nerve. When a doctor mentioned that it was carpal tunnel, my wrist would pain for next couple of days. Another doctor mentioned that the "real" cause was a pinched nerve on the neck, and my neck really started bothering me.

All the things mentioned on the handout at the harvard site seemed so true and so convincing that after going through a couple of reviews at amazon.com, I bought the Mind body Prescription by John Sarno.

Reading the reviews at amazon.com and Rachel Podosky's site helped. It was now easier to be less sceptical about the PSYCHOLOGICAL basis of the pain.

Now my pain is much much less. Much of the confidence in typing on a keyboard has returned. The pain has now gone away from my hands, it attacks the neck or back sometimes. But now I am aware that this ispurely because the unconsious brain is very clever in distracting my attention from the arms to my neck or back, thinking that I will attribute the problem to something structural or a spinal defect. I have realized that it is important to come in terms with the STRESS that affects my daily life, to think about it, and to feel it in my heart, rather than in my arms. By doing this, the effect will be about launching a COUNTERATTACK on the behaviour of my unconsious mind, which is trying to give me pain and distracting me whose sole purpose to avoid feeling the stress in my heart. I try and feel it in my heart, to deny this purpose to my unconsious mind. One has to be brave enough to accept and digest this fact.

Hope the above helps someone. The book is highly recommended. It is STRESS and it is PSYCOLOGICAL. If you can see the length of my comment you would know, that I have no problems in typing for any number of hours now. This is a vast change for me, since i have been unable to type and also avoided typing for more than a year.

I have also realized that most of pains are PSYCOLOGICAL. My father always mentioned 'Be happy in life, dont take stress'. If you are feeling cold, think about the source of heat - the sun and you will be comfortable. This was the Indian principle, which takes its roots in holistic treatments before we accepted the scientific explanations, which developed in the Western world and became much more skeptical to accept psychological explanations. Dr. Sarno's book is not holistic. It is really logical and the explanations he presents is based on the understanding of the human psyche.

I was skeptical about about my father's comments. Now I realize how true he was, without even having read Sarno's books!

I realized that Yoga works sometimes just because, Yoga's realm is to reduce stress on the mind by reducing stress on the body (body -> mind). Dr. Sarno's book takes the exact opposite route and is much more successful. It attempts to directly address the stress issues by understanding the minds effect on the body (mind -> body).

Beginning in my mid 20's, I had recurrent back pain. It would come out of no where, all of a sudden it would shoot through my back and down my legs, making life unbearable. Sometimes I would be just brushing my teeth, other times I would be doing nothing at all. I tried chiropractors, pain pills, physicians, etc., but all were just a temporary fix, a bandaid. And I always prided myself on being physically fit--I have worked out my entire life, always in excellent shape! But it didn't matter, sometimes I would go months without pain, and then it would come back.
The last time I had back pain it was so unbearable I actually screamed out loud, unable to get out of bed or even move. Then I remembered hearing a well known radio personality tell of how this book helped him. I literally crawled out of bed and over to my computer and on to this site where I ordered this book. I read every page and followed Dr. Sarno's advice to the letter. It has been over 3 years and I have not had a lick of back pain! It literally has changed my life.
The book operates on the theory that back pain is the mind's way of reacting to repressed emotions. We all have pressure in life, pressure with careers, raising a family, maintaining a marriage. You might have old emotional wounds from your parents divorce, perhaps you were the victim of abuse or a crime. Whatever it is, we all carry with us emotional baggage that we repress so as to maintain, at least outwardly, a normal appearance to the rest of the world. These repressed emotions surface in the form of back pain. The book shows how to reprogram your brain. Believe me, it works! Are you a positive thinker? Would you spend $[money] to rid your self of back pain for life. BUY THIS BOOK NOW! Forget about what your chiropractor told you about your curved spine or slipped disk. THIS BOOK WORKS!

Sarno explains how many physical ailments (more than just back pain) can be caused by something other than a general physical problem. Back pain, headaches, arrythmias, digestive problems, colitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, leg pain, tingling, all sorts of various ailments.

He doesn't go into lengthy detail on most of the ailments I have listed, but the underlying theory that he presents (as well as the cure) is the same anyway.

He cautions that everyone should of course rule out actual physical problems.

The theory is that the mind is more powerful than generally recognized in medicine. Unresolved issues in the mind (not necessarily current) might result in the mind creating a physical problem, in order to keep the conscious attention away from the issues, and on the body instead.

The cure is to become aware of what the mind is doing. This breaks the manipulative behavior of the mind.

The details in the book help to understand the issue on a more complex level. Understanding it on a more complex level helps to realize the fullness of what Sarno is on to.

As I read it, it made sense in a possible way. It was rational.

If you want the book right away, the adobe reader version is decent to read. Personally I do not like reading books on the microsoft reader. I tried, but it does not seem to work as well or read as well as adobe.

So if you are considering the book, I think that it is worthwhile.

If you are considering getting it in e book form, I suggest the adobe version.

Also, note, this is probably the most full, and broad-spectrum book by Sarno on this book, since he does take his theory to more than just back pain, but actually brings it to the issues I listed earlier.