They Can't Find Anything Wrong!: 7 Keys to Understanding, Treating, and Healing Stress Illness

I highly recommend this book. There have been many books about stress induced illness. Dr. Sarno is probably the most well known in the area of stress induced pain. His book, "Healing Back Pain" has been a best seller. Thousands of people have recovered from back pain without surgery as a result of his books. Many patients have problems accepting his theory because it is somewhat technical. They state that "the pain is real; it is not in my head," which of course is true but misses the point. Dr. Sarno recommends therapy for those who have followed his treatment program but still have pain. It appears that, although thousands have recovered, many do not recover completely from stress induced pain and remain pain free for the rest of their lives. The pain frequently comes back, moves around and never seems to go away. This situation is a common complaint on the back pain forums. Dr. Clarke's book provides an answer. Dr. Clarke refers to stress induced pain as "stress illness." His treatment consists of uncovering the emotions that are causing the stress and developing a course of action to react to these emotions and eliminate the pain. Dr. Clarke interviews his patient until he finds the cause of the stress and then guides his patient to a solution to eliminate the stress. He has been following this procedure with remarkable success at the rate of approximately 400 patients a year for over 20 years. At the present time, mainstream medicine does not understand stress illness and their patients suffer accordingly. Neither Dr. Sarno's nor Dr. Clarke's treatments can be considered alternative medicine. The treatments are more appropriately described as procedures to be followed as a result of a correct diagnosis of the patient's problem. Dr. Clarke doesn't try to convince the patient of Dr. Sarno's theory, that is, that the pain is the result of repressed rage. Dr. Clarke just goes ahead looking for the cause of the stress and suggests a way to eliminate it. He is successful and the patient is cured. This is adequate proof of the correct diagnosis. The case studies are fascinating. He seems to have the ability and technique of a therapist but his procedures are not too difficult to follow and can be very helpful to the reader. He guides the patient in discovering the cause of the stress and the relationship to the pain. Dr. Clarke maintains that the emotions that create the stress must be uncovered. Sometimes just the knowledge of the emotions involved is sufficient as illustrated in his case studies, but sometimes further action is required of the patient. This is an excellent book for understanding the complete process of resolving stress illness pain. Dr. Clarke's desire is that it be a self help book. Mainstream medicine has been slow in accepting the concept that stress causes pain. Dr. Sarno has been the pioneer; Dr. Clarke is continuing the process. Some day, hopefully, mainstream medicine will have the knowledge of

I'm one of the lucky few who discovered I had a stress illness. Mine was PTSD, but Dr. Clarke's so clearly illustrates how many of us get seriously ill before we get treatment for the effects of life's traumas. This book is filled with lessons for all of us; it's great medicine. Deborah Dozier Potter, author of Let Buster Lead, discovering Love, Post-Traumatic Stress and Self-Acceptance

"They Can't Find Anything Wrong" is an exceptional piece of valuable literature meant for all types of readers. Dr. Clarke has done a great job of taking complicated processes of the brain and body and has explained them in a way that anyone can understand. If you read this book you will become a very powerful person because you will finally understand what's causing your stress illness, and how to regain control of your life by implementing skills learned from the book. Every reader is guaranteed to walk away with valuable tools and skills learned from this book that will enable them to lead a more fulfilling life. The #1 piece of information I learned from reading this book is that if you suffer from stress illness you can find a cure. You don't have to settle for the roller coaster ride, the up's and down's and out of control feelings that stress illness causes. Being a health care worker myself I think that all health care workers nation wide should and need to read this book. "They Can't Find Anything Wrong" should be implemented into every medical school across the country so that all healthcare workers of every level can help detect and diagnose stress illness, in hopes that patients everywhere aren't subjected to unecessary testing where doctors "Can't Find Anything Wrong!" Sarah Willett, RN.

As a fellow digestive disease specialist, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of Dr. Clarke's superb work. Patients with years of distress and negative tests with no answers, hunger for not only relief of their symptoms, but also for respect, understanding, and dignity. The answers to their problems are not easily found, and do not conveniently lie at the tip of yet another endoscope or costly imaging procedure. Instead, sensitive, caring, and sophisticated investigation is required, the kind rarely taught in formal teaching programs. This book is a key for that puzzle; a crucial addition to any physician's library and for anyone dealing with a chronic physical problem. After all, even those of us with identifiable diseases often have superimposed and complicating stress components. The writing is compelling, touching, and replete with hope,inspiration, and healing via guided self-discovery. Dr. Clarke's book is required reading in understanding the complexities of the human physical condition - theoretically evolved to perfection after thousands of years, only to be brought to its knees by stress illnesses induced by the dysfunction of family systems, abuse, and personal tragedy.

Dr. Clarke is obviously the kind of doctor we all wish we had looking after our health concerns, especially those that other doctors have given up on without solving. Can't get your doctor to listen? Have the same awful symtoms with no concrete diagnosis? Going from doctor to doctor, test to test until they tell you you are crazy? Get this book and it will give you the tools to seek appropriate and successful health care, as well as addressing any "issues" that are adversely affecting your physical health. It's simple - but wise.