Thread by @TheStoryOfPain

I am an artist, not a scientist, yet I believe that science can lead to innovation. However, when science gets stuck in a framing that is out of balance; like the idea that our emotions don’t impact our health, artists can’t help challenge these stuck ideas through metaphor.

Ever since 1948, with the innovation of the first randomized control trial, science has been increasingly stuck in that framing. Any discussion of the emotions is dismissed as “woo”, because the way people used RCT’s generally ignored emotions because they are messy

If trials don’t include data related to emotional content then there’s very little data about emotions and the leap becomes- you can’t discuss emotions because you haven’t proven they impact health - but also you can’t study emotions because …. We don’t do that in medicine

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the traumas of two world wars impacted the scientific retreat from emotions. If you step back it’s clear that this denial of the import of our emotions was absurd. However it was very powerful in its impact on our culture and on medicine

When Dr Sarno came to see the import of emotions he developed a way of helping his patients make the connection between the repression of their feelings, due to childhood traumas, and their pain, he helped them to heal. Dr Sarno was an artist and a scientist. He was shunned

When we tried to make a film about him and it felt impossible. There was an impulse to prove he was right. We found that this only led to more resistance. Eventually we found that making it art (it’s very personal) it connected with people and helped them heal

Now science is catching up - studies are finally being done and trauma awareness is rising in import - we can see it in Ted Lasso -which is about healing from traumas both big snd small washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/1…

Dr Sarno was practicing with this awareness and was disregarded as unscientific. It wasn’t true

Our film about Dr Sarno, All The Rage, can be found at alltheragedoc.com

In the show Ted Lasso, the titular character is big on belief but short on awareness. The arc of the show is based around how rising awareness can challenge our belief systems, and that this can feel profoundly dangerous. Each episode turns on the healing of small traumas

Ted’s trauma is deeper and the riding awareness related to that shakes his belief system, inducing panic attacks. Trauma can lead us to beliefs that we think keep us safe but instead keep us stuck. Sometimes art can help us see things we don’t want to see.

I am an artist, not a scientist, yet I believe that science can lead to innovation. However, when science gets stuck in a framing that is out of balance; like the idea that our emotions don’t impact our health, artists can’t help challenge these stuck ideas through metaphor.

Again, we often feel like a solid belief system keeps us safe. Our bio technical belief system about the science of medicine protected us from having to deal with looking at our emotions over the past 70 years. It kept us safe from them- but did that make us safe?

If the science of medicine was working, we could assume that health care costs would not rise exponentially. We could also assume that there would be less illness and pain. That is clearly not the case. I believe that a cultural demand that we repress our emotions is a driver

If the health care crisis. Learning to integrate emotional awareness will help solve that problem. We are entering g a revolutionary moment in regards to trauma awareness. We will see violent opposition to this awareness. If we meet that with anger we will stay stuck

Rage often inspires rage in reaction. What we need is grace and awareness. Almost every review of our film shamed me for being in it and for being emotional. Thankfully I understood that the reaction wasn’t really about me.

If we have a strong aversion to our emotions then the expressing of them can lead to revulsion. In systems we also get stuck in expectations. Our film did not do what the film or medical systems expected or accepted

It didn’t prove that Dr Sarno was right (though science is now doing that), and it was very personal when film reviewers felt that it shouldn’t have been, and that I was narcissistic for being in it. I understand that. However, it works to help others connect to their emotions.

That is helping to see things they previously could not see or accept. This is what Ted lasso is doing as well. @jasonsudeikis @brettgoldstein and crew are trauma awareness pioneers. Sometimes art pushes the culture to see things we don’t want to see.

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