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Hi robodelfy,

Dr. Sarno was not necessarily a "push through" kind of practitioner. While he suggested "resuming all normal activity" he also prescribed pain medication until the TMS work reduced the pain. This is my understanding.

So I would say that some people push through, and others add activity when there is less pain. Both systems seem to work, based on my observing stories here for a long time.

All pain is conditioned to certain events. You are observing some of this conditioning: "if I get rest" then the pain won't be there.

One of the most powerful ways to deal with this is to observe your mind's certainty about the patterns, and question this belief, even if you aren't testing it with voice activity. And as suggested in the TMS Recovery Program, start an evidence sheet to magnify and review for yourself any exceptions to the conditioning.

Many of us here have felt this despair. If you can observe it, and the fear of not getting better, and even the doubts about the efficacy of the approach ------all can be viewed as part of the "distraction complex" of which pain is only a part. Everything you are going through around the pain, and trying to get better are part of the effective distraction. You might start by simply recognizing: "I am caught in TMS thinking right now." Without trying to fight it. Just recognition is helpful and relaxing, when we aren't trying to fix or change.

As is stated in the TMS Recovery Program, if you can develop "outcome independence," which takes practice (!), then the whole distraction complex will lose its power. I have said to myself when in pain "So what? You're subject to TMS like all humans. So be it!" This takes away the power of the "complex" and it loses its power, either instantly or just as effectively, over time. Not worrying about, or fearing the symptoms is key. Pushing through with activity is one of the ways which we demonstrate to the body-mind that we are not concerned.

Andy B