The Divided Mind – by Dr. John Sarno

It is well-established that what goes on in our mind has a big effect on what goes on in our bodies, and vice versa.

Here, Dr. Sarno does a very good job of producing a working, plausible hypothesis despite starting from a position of relying on Freud’s (well-refuted, rejected, and popularly abandoned) ideas of psychopathology. From this very shaky base, he builds up an interesting argument for a putative mechanism of how the mind affects the body in the cases of what modern medicine calls “subjective health complaints”—i.e., things were there are symptoms reported but no signs observed, for example those classified as fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and other such “we diagnose you with tired hurty syndrome and don’t know what to do” non-informational diagnoses.

As for scientific rigor: on the one hand, there are lots of studies cited; on the other hand, they are mostly case studies (weakest form of evidence).

Putting it head-to-head with mainstream medicine: on the one hand, he notes that the results of many therapeutic approaches offered by mainstream medicine can be attributed to placebo effect; on the other hand, he does not note that the same can be said of his own approach.

Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, on a practical level. If it works, it works, and if the treatment is not doing any harm (contrast with, say, chiropractors breaking people’s necks sometimes) then really even if the results were 100% placebo, it would still be worth it.

Bottom line: if you are physically suffering and doctors have as yet been unable to explain why, then for the investment of a few dollars for the book and a few hours reading, this book seems like a good potential avenue for redirecting yourself towards relief.

Click here to check out Divided Mind, and apply yours to relieve your suffering!