Which Book of Sarno’s is Most Important

I have only read The Divided Mind, and I have read it a few time and just started rereading it tonight. For those of you who have read all 3 of his books, which book do you feel is the most helpful/informative to read, especially if mush of your TMS is more equivalents than mostly pain? Thank you!

 

Healing Back Pain was the best one for me. I needed a simple read that explained TMS in very simple terms.

 

The Mindbody Prescription is the most expansive in terms of covering lots of non-pain issues, if I remember correctly.

 

Those are my favorite two , in order....HBP and mindbody scrip....
Believe it or not, Divided Mind seemed like a good appendix to the others...not a lot of directions and instruction, but a lot more History.

I prefer HBP because it gets right down to the problem and the solution before 1/2 way through
Mindbody scrip doesn't get to the instructions until the last chapter, though they are described more cohesively as a 'program'

 

Thank you all for all of this- I have a hold at the library for Mindbody Prescription and started rereading the Divided Mind. Your response are very helpful.

 

That was one of the main points I was wondering about. I do not feel like there is a lot of description on the program in the Divided Mind. But then again, I was thinking, maybe it’s simply believing, journaling out the rage regularly, and going on to live your life. And if that doesn’t shift things then psychotherapy. That’s what I take from the Divided Mind. I am
Interested to see what more detail there is in Mindbody Prescription. Then I will probably take out healing back pain just to see what is different.

 

Thank you!

 

Divided Mind was 'interesting' the way I like reading about Egyptology and chronological conundrums. It talked about solving "A" problem, but not about solving 'MY' Problem (TMS). It covered a lot more symptoms (as does mindbody scrip) but felt like a Story about Sarno's own discoveries into the History of TMS.

"Healing back pain" felt Like an instruction letter from a forgotten Uncle directed To Me. As soon as he made clear that Anger and Rage was the problem, I had a V8 moment and realized I had stopped writing my RESENTMENT Inventories (the 4th step of the 12 step program) about 4 months before my TMS got intense.

Maybe for someone who hasn't been asked a lot of questions before, workbooks and such might give them a clue as to where the problem lies, but I was already open to the idea that their was something not all together 'well' in my mind and spiritual condition.

I simply went back to doing those 4th step inventories, because Anger and resentment are twins. "Healing Back Pain" gave me the Idea of turning their expression into physical world exercises.

It was interesting that: At the end of "Mindbody Prescription", there is the 'Jim Campobello Story'. I wasn't exactly like him as far as my 'getting it'...I knew TMS was my problem just from reading the introduction of HBP.....BUT what he did to recover? I had essentially been doing that without any instruction. If I had been the books editor, I might have moved it to chapter 1 or 2 ....even before he describes who gets TMS.

 

I think Healing Back Pain is the quickest to read. Easy to understand.

The MindBody Prescription is basic, understandable, and covers a little more.

The Divided Mind, his last book, expands his original focus to include TMS equivalents like high blood pressure as part of TMS. It includes chapters from guest writers, and a huge history of mind-body philosophy. It has the least actual guidance on how to recover, but it has a lot of depth for those who may want that.

I liked all three. I’ve read them each a bunch of times. MindBody Prescription is my favorite.

 

"Healing Back Pain" is the best. The other two...I couldn't finish. I donated them to my local library. I went later to borrow them and they were not there, they were not in the inventory. Never. No idea what happened to them.

 

If your TMS is mostly equivalents of pain then Read the Mind body prescription first & then read Steve Ozanich’s The Great Pain Deception. SteveO’s book is phenomenal & fleshes out Sarno’s work in great detail.

 

Ok thank you for this. Very helpful. There is no 12 steps in the divided mind, as I am
Sure you know. I am getting mind body prescription from the library to start and will buy it if I feel there is information I need that I don’t have in the other book. Sounds like there might be. I appreciate your response.

 

Thank you for these responses! I am rereading the Divided Mind and will then read Mindbody prescription and go from there. All of these posts were helpful. I keep hearing about Steve O’s book - I need to find that one. I have read Claire Weekes and I have read When the Body Says No many times. One of my favorites. That is kind of what I did - read the divided mind and found the wiki. I am slowly working through the SEP.

I am really thankful to everyone on this thread who took the time to respond to me. This has been extremely helpful. Thank you all

 

One of my favorites. Even though he admits now he pushed too hard and likely set back his recovery, the all in approach still resonates with me.

 

I think you should just read one and then move on. Wventhough sarno never rewllt tells you what to do. Its very much read between the lines. If you continue to research you end up frazzled. And frankly its not helpful

 

He does tell you what to do, just not “how” because everyone is different. There is a basic premise to stick to, but Sarno fully recognized that TMS-era often want a point by point “how to” manual, and that can feed into all the personality traits and triggers. He also wanted patients to learn to become independent and realize nothing was going to save them except themselves.

 

Sarno's what to do was his 12 daily reminders. How you go about the deeper work is personal. Journaling also was not overly successful for me but is for many. I'm focused more now on just living "with" my symptoms while reminding myself they might hurt but they aren't harmful, mostly the Dan Buglio approach.