Resources

Below are some of my favourite foundational videos, audio, and articles. Having a basic knowledge of the mind-body connection as it relates to mind-body symptoms is a crucial first step on your journey.

YouTube Videos

What is Pain? In this video, Dr Howard Schubiner is joined by a spinal surgeon to explore the definition, origin, cause and treatment of chronic pain. These six short videos break down the neuroscience in an easy to understand way. It also explains normal abnormality, predictive coding and why your brain chooses pain in some circumstances and not in others.

Explaining chronic pain: The role that stress plays and the creation of learned nerve pathways: In this video, Dr Howard Schubiner explains how past and current stressors create brain pathways for pain and other mind-body symptoms, such as migraine, fatigue, Irritable Bowel Syndrome etc.

Neural Pathways: This video describes how the brain learns pain. This is the same process for other mind-body symptoms such as migraine, fatigue, Irritable Bowel Syndrome etc.

Trauma and the Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective: This video provides an overview of how chronic stress and trauma affect our nervous system and how different nervous system states affect our physical and emotional health and well-being.

Websites

Psychophysiologic Disorder Association (PPDA): Use this link to complete a self-assessment questionnaire to understand if your symptoms are mind-body related. Scroll down the page to view a list of common mind-body symptoms (defined on the website as “Common Psychophysiologic Disorders”).

Podcasts

Feel Better Live More: In this podcast, a British GP and Dr Howard Schubiner discuss the origins and treatments of mind-body conditions such as chronic pain, long covid and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This is a great episode!