Neuroplastic Pain, TMS, and the Science of Unlearning Chronic Symptoms with Dr. Howard Schubiner

Of all the conversations we have on this podcast, this one feels especially important because Dr. Howard Schubiner has been standing at the intersection of medicine, neuroscience, research, and mindbody healing for decades. In this episode, Howard shares the personal and professional path that led him from traditional medicine to Dr. Sarno’s work, and eventually to becoming one of the leading voices in neuroplastic chronic pain and illness. We talk about why pain is never “all in your head,” but is always created by the brain, how predictive processing helps explain why symptoms feel so real and so frightening, and why curiosity is often the first crack in the fear that keeps people stuck. Howard also walks us through the growing body of randomized controlled research behind Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Emotion Awareness and Expression Therapy, including why these approaches are showing such meaningful results compared with more traditional coping-based therapies. We talk about chronic pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, fibromyalgia, migraines, pelvic pain, IBS, and the many symptoms that can arise when the nervous system is operating from fear, learned danger, and unprocessed emotional experience. What I love most about Howard’s work is that it is deeply scientific and deeply compassionate at the same time. His message is not that your suffering is imagined. His message is that your suffering is real, your body is not broken, and there may be a way forward that you have not yet been offered. Joins us! XO n.