Pathways to Pain Relief

Pathways to Pain Relief is based upon the pioneering work of John E. Sarno, MD, Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Sarno has advanced the idea that a wide variety of pain disorders are psychophysiologic in origin. Psychophysiologic disorders, previously referred to as psychosomatic disorders, are just one aspect of the recently energized field of mindbody medicine.What distinguishes Pathways to Pain Relief is that it embraces the position that musculoskeletal pain and other psychophysiologic disorders can originate from psychological experiences as a means to protect an individual from unbearable emotional distress.Psychotherapeutic techniques based on the medicalization of musculoskeletal pain foreclose the possibility of approaching these conditions as a psychophysiologic disorder. The medicalization paradigm prevents many clinicians from recognizing that the same emotional conflicts which lead to psychological symptoms can initiate the development of physical symptoms as well. Pathways to Pain Relief provides details on how treatment has worked from the patient's and the therapist's point of view.The authors, Dr. Frances Sommer Anderson & Dr. Eric Sherman, present clinical case material to illustrate how musculoskeletal pain and other psychophysiologic disorders can originate from psychological experiences as a means to protect an individual from unbearable emotional distress.