When Dr. Sarno flipped the medical paradigm on its head, with his observations and debunking of myths in the medical industry, he was met with tremendous backlash. He bore the slings and arrows of disdain, criticism, and ridicule, with courage and aplomb. What made Dr. Sarno such a great doctor and human being, was his willingness to accept the label of heretic, by his own colleagues, in the interest of advancing truth and helping people to heal. In your TMS journey, you will encounter various Grinches in the form of doubt and naysayers. It is only when you strip the “tag” of “crps” away, and stop “doctor shopping” for answers outside of yourself that you will prevail over the “Grinch”.
“It came without ribbons! It came without tags!”
“It came without packages, boxes, or bags!”
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!“ Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store!”
As hard as Grinch tried to steal Christmas, he could not take the inner joy that the Whos of Whoville held in their heart. The opposite of fear is joy, and in order to reach joy, we must move through our doubts and fears. Perhaps you are struggling because your fear is too high and it’s keeping your brain in the fight or flight response. Fear is the fuel for TMS and fear usually stems from our own false beliefs and doubts. So where do these come from? When we know from whence they came, we can employ logic and dismantle each doubt off of our list. Think of it as a reverse Christmas list! With each doubt we eradicate, we build more confidence in the “diagnosis” of TMS and ourselves. Here are some examples of doubts that feed the underlying fear of “what if I can’t get better?” :
1.) Medicalization: “Tagged” by physicians with a label that implies a neurological “disease” or “pathology”. This includes nocebos: suggestions by doctors that you have something incurable, that at best you can “manage” or hope for “remission”. These types of experiences in the medical industry lead to PTSD in a patient …trauma from misdiagnosis, abandonment, and useless drugs or procedures)
2.) The “Inner Bully”: that negative voice and narrative in your head that tells you, you are “broken”, “not good enough”, “different”.
3.) False beliefs stemming from childhood messages you may have internalized (having to “hustle for your worth” or believing that negative events in the past predict more of the same in the future).
4.) Doubts arising from negative thought patterns: Just because you think something, doesn’t make it true! Become aware of your thoughts and ask yourself if they are accurate or based on faulty information or distortion. Nip those chronic negative thoughts in the bud, and reach for more accurate, better feeling, neutral ones that are rooted in reality.
5.) Doubts about your symptoms being “different” or somehow too “far gone”: TMS can take on any pathway under the sun, in any location(s) and any form (sensations and symptoms can take on a plethora of flavors). Bottom line: We all have 1 brain. Your brain is not designed differently than anyone else in the human species.
These are just some examples but examine the ways in which the Grinch appears in your life as doubt. Is it pervasive? Recognize it, call it out, and pulverize it. Just as the Grinch could never win the battle against Christmas, don’t allow doubt to interfere with your healing, peace and happiness. Find joy when and where you can, like the Whos of Whoville. No one can ever take that away from you because after all, it’s an inside job!
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