Posted by pinksharkmark (64.32.126.225) on February 07, 2002 at 14:34:35:
In Reply to: 39 years - fresh approach to try posted by Brian Butterly on February 07, 2002 at 10:44:45:
These quotes are from the preface of Dr. Sarno's book:
"...mainstream medicine rejects the diagnosis because it is based on the theory that the physical symptoms are initiated by emotional phenomena."
"Few practitioners, either in physical or psychological medicine, believe that unconscious, repressed emotions initiate physical illness."
My comment: That's because very few (some would say none) illnesses are caused by repressed emotions. Disorders caused by bacteria, fungi, virus, genetic defect or physical trauma, for example, obviously have causes other than emotional ones.
"This book addresses physical disorders that are caused by repressed, unconscious feelings."
My comment: All well and good for those who suffer from such disorders. Too bad for us clusterheads.
"A word of caution to the reader: What follows is a description of my clinical experience and the theories derived from my work. No one should assume that his or her symptoms are psychologically caused until a physician has ruled out the possibility of serious disease."
My comment: Excellent advice. I haven't read the book and have no intention of doing so, but I'll bet you right now that Dr. Sarno doesn't try to attribute cluster headaches to emotional causes.
Brian, I can imagine that the information in this book might be of some value to those suffering from Tension Myositis Syndrome, Dr. Sarno's area of special expertise. But for those of us who suffer from Horton's Syndrome (also known as Cluster Headaches) my opinion is that it will be as useless as another book brought to our attention a while back.
Click the link.