When you’re in pain for weeks or months, especially after an accident, your first thought is: something must be physically wrong. That was my assumption too. I had my neck checked, did scans, tried all kinds of therapy and exercises but the pain kept coming back.
That’s when I stumbled across something called TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome), sometimes called Mindbody Pain.
At first, I was skeptical. But the more I read, the more it made sense. And more importantly: a lot of people said it had really made a change.
Let’s Be Clear First: Rule Out the Physical
Before I say anything else, make sure nothing is structurally wrong. Go to a doctor, get scans if needed, check with specialists. Pain is your body’s warning system. You don’t want to ignore a real injury.
But here’s the thing: what if you’ve done that… and you’re still in pain?
That’s what happened to me. And that’s where TMS can offer a different way of looking at it.
Many doctors are trained to look only at the physical side of pain like bones, muscles and nerves. But pain isn’t always just physical.
Sometimes, the cause can be emotional, psychological, or stress related and that’s exactly where TMS comes in.
What Is TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome)?
TMS is a theory popularized by Dr. John Sarno, a rehabilitation doctor who believed that unconscious emotional stress especially repressed anger, guilt, pressure, or anxiety can lead to real, physical pain.
His idea is that the brain tries to protect you from feeling those uncomfortable emotions by creating pain as a distraction. Instead of facing something painful inside, your focus shifts completely to your body. At first, that sounded strange to me. But once I started to learn how closely the mind and body are connected especially through the nervous system it actually began to make a lot of sense.
What’s Happening in the Body?
Sarno believed that one of the main mechanisms behind this kind of pain is reduced oxygen flow. When you’re emotionally stressed, your nervous system can cause subtle constriction in blood vessels, limiting oxygen to certain muscles or nerves. It’s not dangerous it doesn’t cause permanent damage but it’s enough to make muscles feel tight, sore, or inflamed. And it’s definitely enough to keep you in a cycle of frustration and fear.
The pain might have started from something real. An injury, an accident, an illness. But even after the body has physically healed, the brain can keep the pain alive. It uses that old injury as a kind of “excuse” to continue generating symptoms, especially if you’re still under emotional stress. Over time, the nervous system becomes hypersensitive, and the pain becomes more about fear, tension, and habit than actual tissue damage.
When I first read that, something clicked. It explained why my scans didn’t show anything serious… and yet my pain was constant. It also explained why it would flare up during stress, or shift to different parts of my body. It wasn’t just physical anymore.
A Quick Note on Sarno
I’ll be honest, I think Dr. Sarno was onto something big. His books (Healing Back Pain, The Mindbody Prescription) have helped thousands of people, and reading them gave me a whole new way to look at what I was going through.
But I also think it’s important to keep some nuance. Sarno didn’t invent the idea of mind-body pain, and sometimes his tone can feel a bit too black-and-white. Like every pain is purely psychological. I don’t agree with that. Pain is complex. Sometimes it starts in the body. Sometimes in the mind. Often, it’s a bit of both.
But if you’ve ruled out serious injury and nothing else is helping… this might be the piece you’ve been missing. For me, the shift from “what’s wrong with my body?” to “what might be going on underneath the surface?” was the start of real healing.
So What Exactly Does TMS Include?
Pain that doesn’t match imaging results
Symptoms that move around or come and go
No clear structural cause after thorough checks
Worse pain under stress, anxiety, or emotional conflict
Things like fatigue, numbness, tingling, headaches, IBS, etc.
Chronic tension in the neck, back, jaw, shoulders
It’s not “in your head”. The pain is very real. But it’s created by your brain, often unconsciously. That’s why treating the mind and not just the body can make such a difference.
Repressed Rage & The Unconscious
One of the more intense parts of Sarno’s theory is that repressed rage plays a huge role. As humans, we often suppress anger, fear, or grief especially when we feel we “shouldn’t” feel that way. But those emotions don’t go away. According to Sarno, they build up beneath the surface, and the brain creates physical symptoms to distract you from them.
This isn’t something you do on purpose it’s unconscious. That’s why awareness is such a powerful first step.
My Take On TMS
I don’t think TMS explains all chronic pain. Some people really do have structural issues. Herniated discs, arthritis, injuries, or nerve damage that can be seen on scans. I’m not denying that.
But here’s something I’ve come to believe: even when there is real structural damage, the mind-body connection still plays a huge role in how much pain we feel, and how long it sticks around.
Pain is not just about tissue, it’s also about perception, emotion, and belief. If you’re constantly being told by doctors that something is wrong, if every appointment reinforces the idea that your body is broken, it’s easy to fall into fear. That fear alone can amplify the pain and keep your nervous system stuck in a cycle of tension and hypersensitivity.
You start to believe in the pain. You expect it. You monitor it. You fear moving the wrong way. And all of that actually feeds the pain. Not because it’s “in your head,” but because your brain and nervous system are deeply involved in how pain is created and sustained.
For people who’ve been stuck, frustrated, or hopeless, especially after being told “everything looks normal” this might be the missing piece. TMS isn’t about blaming yourself or ignoring the body. It’s about bringing the mind back into the picture because it’s always been there, whether we like it or not.
It helped me see pain in a whole new way. And even just learning that my body might not be broken changed how I related to the pain. It lowered my fear. And when the fear dropped, everything felt a little less intense.
That shift from fear and frustration to understanding and curiosity didn’t solve everything overnight, but it gave me something I hadn’t had in a long time: hope.
How to Start Working on It
If this resonates, here are some first steps that helped me:
Learn: Read or listen to stories from others who healed this way
Write: Journal honestly about your feelings, past, or stress
Track: Notice when symptoms flare up what were you feeling that day?
Be gentle: Don’t try to fix everything overnight. This is deep work.
For me, the healing began with curiosity just being open to the idea that pain isn’t always physical.
Here is a practical guide to start with:
1. Learn a Little Every Day
Read a book like The Mindbody Prescription (Sarno) or The Way Out (Alan Gordon), or listen to a podcast like The Cure for Chronic Pain by Nicole Sachs.
Aim for 20 minutes a day. Understanding the theory helps reduce fear.
2. Journal Daily
Take 10–15 minutes to write freely. Use prompts like:
What am I feeling but not fully allowing myself to feel?
What in my life is making me feel pressured, angry, or stuck?
Let whatever comes out, come out. No filter needed.
Click here for more information on journaling.
3. Observe the Pain
Spend a few minutes each day just noticing the pain. Sit quietly, breathe, and observe without judgment.
The goal is to reduce fear and teach your nervous system that you’re okay.
4. Repeat Reassuring Thoughts
Use simple affirmations like:
“My body is strong.”
“There’s nothing structurally wrong with me.”
“My nervous system is learning something new.”
Remind yourself that the body is incredibly capable of healing. A broken femur, the strongest bone in the body usually heals in 6 to 12 weeks. So why would your body still be broken after months or years of pain with no clear injury? The problem might not be the body, it might be the fear and tension keeping it stuck.
5. Let Go of the Timeline
Don’t obsess over when the pain will stop. Focus on changing how you relate to it. That’s where healing starts.
Want to Explore More?
If this piqued your interest, here are a few great places to start:
The Mindbody Prescription by Dr. John Sarno
The “Tell Me About Your Pain” podcast
The TMS Wiki — a free, community-based website