Educational Program Day 12

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Remember that as you uncover more and more repressed emotions, issues may arise that you might find to be difficult or unpleasant. Take a moment to investigate how you are doing emotionally since starting this program. How have you been handling uncovering emotions and issues? Have you had any negative feelings about yourself or developed low self-worth? If so, perhaps it would be helpful for you to visit with a therapist who could help you handle your repressed emotions as they arise during your treatment.

Educational Activity: Understanding what causes TMS symptoms is vital to recovering from the chronic symptoms that have controlled and dominated the lives of the people with TMS. It is also important to understand the role our thoughts play in the pain cycle. The way we think and feel about our symptoms can either exacerbate or ameliorate our chronic symptoms. Today's educational activity gives a few suggestions on how a person can adjust their thinking in a way that will help them become symptom-free. The article is called Three Strategies for Thinking Clean and is part of a series of updates by TMS coach Monte Hueftle. To read the article, click on this link.

Journaling

Expressing your feelings about events, either in your past or current situation, can greatly reduce the severity of your symptoms. However there is one more area that needs to be addressed in order to fully defeat TMS: personality traits. Certain personality traits are especially common among TMS/PPD patients. An explanation of these traits can be found on the TMS Personality Traits wiki page. It is paramount to understand how our personality traits affect our lives and create physical symptoms. Journaling about your personality will help you in overcoming TMS. In doing this, focus on how a specific personality trait affects your life. How does being a perfectionist affect what you do? If you are a goodist, do you routinely volunteer for tasks that you really don't want to do? Think about how your personality leads to you doing things that you do not really want to do. Today you will be doing a free write on your personality. Take one trait from your personality list and begin to write about how it affects your life. I am a _________________________________________, and it affects me because

Work the List and the Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS): If you have not completely filled out your TMS lists yet, spend 3-4 minutes adding to them. Remember, do not worry if they are directly related to your pain, and do not try to solve them right now. Simply think of things that might be causing your symptoms and write them down. You will have time to journal about them later in the program.

One tool that can help you develop your Current Events and Stresses list is the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale.

The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale is a list of 43 items that can help predict whether recent stressful events in a person’s life may cause them to develop physical symptoms. The scale includes a variety of items, from small disappointments to major life changes. Interestingly, the scale uses a broad definition of stress, looking at all change as opposed to only negative life events. The scale was originally developed in 1967, and, more recently, has been used by Dr. John Sarno for TMS/PPD psycho-educational treatment.

Dr. Sherman is the co-author of “Pathways to Pain Relief,” and has provided psychotherapy to Dr. Sarno’s patients for 29 years. Dr. Sherman has donated an introduction to the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, specifically focusing on how the scale can be useful for TMS treatments. He discusses both the benefits of the scale and the potential danger in overemphasizing the scale’s results:

“The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale should never be misused to establish, confirm, or refute the diagnosis of a mindbody disorder. However, the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale is a valuable tool to examine and understand an individual’s history and psychodynamics with respect to the development of TMS/PPD.”

If you are interested in your stress score on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, the scale is available below. The number of "Life Change Units" that apply to events in the past year of an individual's life are added and the final score will give a rough estimate of how stress affects health. This scale is designed specifically for adults. For a different scale, click here.

Life event	Life change units
Death of a spouse	100
Divorce	73
Marital separation	65
Imprisonment	63
Death of a close family member	63
Personal injury or illness	53
Marriage	50
Dismissal from work	47
Marital reconciliation	45
Retirement	45
Change in health of family member	44
Pregnancy	40
Sexual difficulties	39
Gain a new family member	39
Business readjustment	39
Change in financial state	38
Death of a close friend	37
Change to different line of work	36
Change in frequency of arguments	35
Major mortgage	32
Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
Change in responsibilities at work	29
Child leaving home	29
Trouble with in-laws	29
Outstanding personal achievement	28
Spouse starts or stops work	26
Begin or end school	26
Change in living conditions	25
Revision of personal habits	24
Trouble with boss	23
Change in working hours or conditions	20
Change in residence	20
Change in schools	20
Change in recreation	19
Change in church activities	19
Change in social activities	18
Minor mortgage or loan	17
Change in sleeping habits	16
Change in number of family reunions	15
Change in eating habits	15
Vacation	13
Christmas	12
Minor violation of law	11

Score of 300+: At risk of illness.

Score of 150-299: Risk of illness is moderate (reduced by 30% from the above risk).

Score <150: Only have a slight risk of illness.

Question To Ponder

What is one of your best memories from your childhood?

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