Dan Buglio: ‘Symptoms are not just about repressed emotions’

Dan Buglio’s long-awaited book, Pain Free You: Teach Your Brain to End Your Pain is out— and it’s great!

Dan suffered from 13 years of back pain, during which time he discovered John Sarno. He immediately embraced Dr. Sarno’s theories and worked to apply them. But Sarno’s method alone didn’t cure him. That’s when Dan developed his philosophy that perceived danger is what causes chronic pain.

“Perceived danger pain or symptoms are not just about repressed emotions, as taught by Dr. Sarno,” Dan says.

Chronic pain is a false alarm that doesn’t shut off on its own. Let me say that again. Chronic pain is almost always a mistake made by the brain. The interpretation that something bad has happened or happening now is incorrect. But here’s the good news. Correct the mistaken information, teach the brain we are safe, and the brain will turn off the alarm. It’s predictable and reliable. Why? Because it’s based on how the human pain system functions.”

Part 3 of Dan’s book explains how to teach your sensitized brain you are safe.

 

This is pretty much same as Schubiner’s approach, however I disagree that it’s a “mistake”.
Your body and mind are working as they should, the nervous system is just stuck temporarily in the “on” position.
My dissonance with Buglio is his attempts at re-branding things to his own wording and attempting to re-invent a wheel that isn’t broken.

 

Thanks for weighing in, @Cactusflower ! I really love hearing everyone’s opinions.

As for me, I really like how Dan Buglio, Claire Weekes and David Hanscom all present the somewhat same philosophy—and it speaks to me. I was very interested to learn that Dan tried Sarno, just like I have, to no avail. But Dan actually praises Dr. Sarno with launching his healing process, and I would say the same. Dr. Sarno opened my eyes to the entire mind-body world.

 

I would not judge people harshly on their deviations from the official terminology. To rephrase Leo Tolstoi, each sick person is sick in their own way, and therefore the words describing their misery reflect their own sickness. But so are the words that would lead them out of misery. Whether it is a "mistake" or "stuckness", it does not matter to me. As I have spoken to many people I noticed that sometimes a small change in verbiage may flip a switch. The words that resonate with one person may not resonate with another one, but as long as the message broadcast to the world is consistently describing a psychosomatic origin of chronic pain, I am in support of every book, interview, or movie delivering this message.

 

I haven't read this book but it's in my Amazon cart to order. I already know something about where this is going. Here is from the free sample provided by Amazon:

Have you ever done something that was incredibly mundane, yet changed your life forever? For me, it was putting on my underwear. In my early thirties, I was married, had a three year old son, a stressful job, and a long commute. Money was tight and I was living in a rental. My wife and I were talking about having another child. [emphasis mine] One morning, as I was getting ready for work, I bent over to put on my underwear when, WHAMMO! I felt a jolt of back pain so strong it practically dropped me to my knees. I had never experienced a pain that strong in my life.

Disclaimer: the rest of this post will undoubtedly strike some people like taking a dump on a conference table and then running around the room screaming, it stinks!!! Even so, this line of self admission helped me dissolve back pain, almost like magic to the uninitiated.

Dan was poor, struggling, trying to do what his wife wanted (procreate), follow the dictates of the traditional society that a man must provide, etc etc. Trouble is, it's getting harder and harder to follow those cultural imperatives, for everyone, and especially for men who've been instilled with some old-style values/programming. Steve Ozanich's pain deception book contained a similar thread. Here was this poor guy, struggling, disabled wife, multiple children, on and on. A life of quiet desperation. Near as I can tell, he became so "selfish" in his recovery from the major manifestations of TMS that his wife finally divorced him (this was also what I was able to glean from a consult with him last year). I forget the user, but another dentist on here had deQuervain's tenosynovitis, 100% TMS in other words, and related a story about his wife at home nagging him for a third child. Her perceived happiness depended upon further reproduction apparently.

Here's the self-dialogue and ultimately real life dialogue that might help: "You want more children? You want to add 8.025 billion and 2 human beings to the planet? Ok, go ahead and go to medical school, dental school, whatever, and pay for them yourself, 100% for the next 25 years. You got what you're gonna get out of me. In addition, clean up the mess you already made." Just say that, let it sink in. You can substitute [x] problem for whatever person is trying to extract a thing out of you, it's widely generalizable. My point is, we (I, myself, a man, a woman, whoever) do not exist to be mined for resources or things. A relationship based on extracting something from the other person is doomed to failure. Case in point, I gather that Dan Buglio was eventually divorced.

Coming to terms with these realities, once they are accepted and lived by any involved parties/partners; this establishes the foundation for a good relationship, if it survives the crucible.

I can use myself as an example. I'm the best, most caring, loving, and simultaneously the most "selfish" father I've ever been. While I have the occasional symptom flare, my health is excellent, much better than it was 20 years ago.

 

I love your post, @clarinetpath ! So so true. It all comes down to knowing what YOU really want and being strong enough to defend your boundaries. Sadly, TMS can defend your boundaries for you, by disabling you— if you’re unable to do that for yourself.

 

Quotable!

 

I am curious as I have read more about Steve Ozanich and his belief that quite practically everything is TMS (like even cancer and MS) and that the body heals, he said that his wife was disabled by the anesthetic during childbirth. Has he ever mentioned whether that injury would be considered TMS? Also curious how your consult went with him?

 

I completely agree with Steve that most medical diagnoses are TMS and equivalents, 90-95%+. I agree with that, having been trained as an MD, a pathologist, the hardest hard science in western technomedicine. It is simply true, and supported by the clinical observations of many physicians, as well as the most current scientific research. For example, what is the primary organ of the immune system? Is the first thing that comes to mind the spleen? The bone marrow? The lymph nodes? How about the thymus? Wrong on all accounts. The primary organ of the immune system is the brain. Even separating them by "organs" and "systems" is erroneous. So yes, even cancer and MS. How much control we have over those serious diagnoses is an open question. Probably a lot.

That said, this body of ours is not immortal. From the description in the book, his wife's spinal cord injury was real. Part of the cord died as I recall, due to ischemia resulting from periprocedural hemorrhage (a hematoma formed, several times the width of the spinal cord, probably occluding arterial blood supply of the cord). Steve never mentioned that other than what he described in his book.

My consult with him did not go well. It flared my symptoms, really pissed me off. I've learned over time that my little flares are an emotional barometer, and a bullshitometer. He presented the information in a spiritual, philosophical sense, with reference to energy fields and Deepak Chopra, in a way that I did not believe. It was clear that he was too important to get to know me.

 

Thanks Jan! I actually have myth of normal but never read it. I think When the body says no would be an eye opener as well. I have heard a lot of people reasonate with the great pain deception so I am currently reading that. I believe im dealing with TMS (atypical TN after dental work that has no migrated to my whole head and now my right leg from leg down)

 

Right on, this is how I understand it too. In the words of the master, HBP pg. 45: We would hate to admit it, but unconsciously we fear reprisal. The cultural imperatives of family and society provide strong motivation not to show anger...

And pg. 37: Anxiety arises in response to the perception of danger and is logical unless the perception is illogical, as is often the case.

I still do it instinctively, although I'm improving at recognizing it. In this little incident, I paid with 2 days of foot pain. It might have been called "plantar fasciitis" had I been unaware of what it really was, sought medical advice, was afraid of it, and allowed it to burgeon. So I sent off some hostile complaining emails. I don't suppose Steve will add me to his wall of victory, but who cares really!

 

One other thing. This is the really hard part. Steve's presentation style may especially help people who don't know about TMS, people who have a religious faith and beliefs without the need for proof in one's own personal experience. I especially liked parts of his book that talked about dreams. You really can ask yourself things before sleep and receive answers in dreams. I've heard psychologists say "emotional maturity," something that must be a vanishingly rare phenomenon. The ability to hold emotional opposites consciously in mind and not have to react in the real world and also not have to generate a physical symptom, just let the emotions dissipate. I never learned it in childhood. That might be the next level up, if such a thing is possible.

 

“I've heard psychologists say "emotional maturity," something that must be a vanishingly rare phenomenon. The ability to hold emotional opposites consciously in mind and not have to react in the real world and also not have to generate a physical symptom, just let the emotions dissipate. I never learned it in childhood. That might be the next level up, if such a thing is possible.”

I am now getting to this point. It’s not easy, especially if you had no role model for emotional maturity (or none that would actually talk about these subjects).

 

This is fascinating! Yes, please! I want to learn this too!

 

I agree with this!

@Cactusflower / can you please tell me how Dan Buglio is like Schubiner? I don’t think Dan promotes journaling. I did half of Schubiner’s workbook, Unlearn Your Pain, about 4 years ago. I remember doing this explicit journaling where I relived traumatic experiences and visualized getting my rage out with graphic violent acts that later I would feel sorry for, as part of the process. It was a little too much for me.