Many of us who have recovered, or are in the process of recovering, from TMS are keen to spread the word to others. This page is for sharing tips on ways to do that.

Write your Success Story

- and post it on the Success Stories forum and in your TMS Wiki profile page. By reading your story, others will be encouraged to try Dr Sarno's method and / or persevere if they are having doubts. If you're short of time, even a short post will do. You can always go back to it when you have more time. You can even write a poem if you wish, and we'll be happy to post it!

Once you have written the story, you can add it to the relevant Specific Symptoms & Diagnosis pages, so that people who have TMS that is similar to yours can find it more easily. You can get help in this by contacting Forest or other members of our technical mentoring group.

If you are very courageous, you may want to consider doing your success story as a video, as there is something undeniably powerful about being able to see and hear someone explain how their life was transformed by TMS. For example, see these two very short videos, which appear to be the only free video success stories that exist so far. Forest knows a little bit about video production and knows other people who know more about, so if you can get access to a video camera (or live close to Boston) and are interested in doing this, you should contact him. It would take some courage on your part, but if you would like to help the largest number of people, we could help get your video success story seen as widely as possible. For example, if you wish, the video could be posted to YouTube and similar sites (with keywords chosen so that it is shown to the right people), could be linked to from the TMSHelp success stories forum, and could be embedded in our video gallery, success stories page, your wiki profile page, and the relevant Specific Symptoms & Diagnosis pages.

Tell your friends!

They can see first-hand that you have recovered, and they are bound to be curious as to how you recovered.

Not everyone is going to respond in a positive way, because they've had years and years of conditioning. But even if they respond negatively, don't be discouraged. This is very likely the first time they've heard of such a thing and some people need to hear / see things from a few sources before they will begin to consider it seriously. You've made the first step for them.

Be a TMS Ambassador at a non-TMS online forum

There are many online support groups of people who probably have TMS, but unfortunately have never heard of the diagnosis or how it could help them. For example, click here for a list of non-TMS forums designed for back-pain sufferers. By telling your own success story at these sites and linking to TMS resources, you have a great opportunity to reach people who otherwise may have never heard of TMS.

Some ideas to bear in mind:

• Encourage readers to ask for advice on the TMSHelp forum or one of the three TMS Yahoo Groups.
  
• There are a number of pages on the wiki that might be especially helpful to link back to. For example, the Specific Symptom & Diagnosis page for the diagnosis that the forum is about will have other success stories that would be very relevant to your readers. Likewise, the So You Think You Might Have TMS and An Introduction to TMS (which includes the famous 20/20 segment) pages may be especially helpful if they aren't yet ready to purchase a book.
  
• Try to be as polite and tactful as you can. For example, remember that you are a guest, so try not to bombard the board with messages. Instead, be patient. Likewise, recognize that many people may be very resistant to the idea that their may be a mind body connection. Emphasize that their pain is real and let TMS success stories speak for themselves. Mention that the approach was developed by doctors.
  
• Try to make your post as personal as possible, emphasizing your own experiences and the commonality between your experiences and your readers' experiences.
• Be patient. Many people won't be ready to accept what you say, but if you can help just one person, none of that matters. What matters are the people you do reach--people whose lives may be transformed by what you are doing.
  

Tell your doctor / other people who have treated you

A personal letter can go a long way in opening up a doctor or other medical professional's mind to the idea of TMS. Better yet, there are several sample letters that you can use or customize to save you from having to write your own.

• David Schechter, MD, has written a letter to doctors that you can bring with you to appointments with doctors to give them a concise overview of the condition. Because it is written by a doctor for doctors, it may be a good compliment to a more personal description of your own success story.
• Pandamonium has shared a letter that she has written to her doctor. It includes some information about her own condition that you could replace with information about your condition.
• HilaryN has also added a letter she wrote to her doctor.
• Here are some tips on writing a letter
  

Write to your Health Insurance company

Tell them how the cost of your cure compares with the cost of other cures you have tried.

Write to newspapers and magazines

Local papers are probably more likely to respond at this stage.

Give talks

HilaryN writes, "Being a former RSI-sufferer, I and others give talks at my local RSI Support Group and also at the National RSI Awareness Day. Here are the notes and handout for the talk I give. I also sometimes go along to the RSI Support Groups meetings and talk to people individually."

Find out if there is a support group for your condition and see if you can go and give a talk, or go along and talk to individuals about Dr Sarno's books. A talk can reach more people, but sometimes people respond better when you talk to them individually and have a conversation with them because it's easier for them to ask questions. If you feel nervous about giving a talk in front of lots of people, this could be a better option for you, too.