What is Dr. John Sarno’s pain theory?

Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide, and if you live with it, you know how overwhelming and frustrating it can be.

You may have tried medications, physiotherapy, or even surgery, only to find that the pain persists. Dr. John Sarno, a rehabilitation physician at New York University, challenged conventional views of pain by introducing a theory that emphasises the mind-body connection.

Dr. Sarno’s work showed that many chronic pain conditions are not caused by structural damage but by psychological stress and repressed emotions. He called this phenomenon Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), a condition in which the brain uses pain as a distraction to prevent difficult emotions from rising to the surface.