Recent Posts
Connect to Your Dark Side and Heal – Joy will Emerge
Overview Your survival reactions are meant to be deeply unpleasant, since they are protective danger signals. You have absolutely no ...
“Ride It Out!” Thriving After a Back-Breaking Horse Fall
Rachel is a therapist, specializing in trauma. She reached out to me a couple of years ago to learn more ...
“She Just Let Go”
My migraine headaches began on the Fourth of July when I was five years old. By age fifty, I had ...
Anger and Workers’ Comp Webinar
Our medical and political system has failed. Employers have abused workers as long as there have been employers and workers ...
Degenerative Disc Disease Isn’t a Disease
Surgeries being performed for axial neck, thoracic, and low back pain on normally aging spines was a major reason I ...
Physical versus Emotional Pain
The Swerve, by Steven Greenblatt is a historical account of a papal scribe’s discovery in the 1400’s of a poem, The ...
“The Journey of 1000 Moons”
“The Journey of 1000 Moons” by Ernesto Sanchez If you count the moon cycles you will experience in your lifetime, by ...
Permanent Disability – Needless??
Please do not let this happen to you, your family, or friends. The downside of failed spine surgery can be ...
Stay Out of the Surgical Scrap Heap
Objectives: Although there is no question about the dedication of physicians to providing excellent care, the rigors of training, the ...
Optimizing (Avoiding) Spine Surgery
About three years ago, my staff noticed that our surgical patients who participated in The DOC Journey principles were doing ...
Comprehending the Downside of Spine Surgery
Deciding whether to undergo spine surgery is one of the most important choices you will ever make. Currently, failed spine ...
The Myth of MUS (Medically Unexplained Symptoms) – It’s MES
There is a deadly diagnosis that has evolved and become increasingly embedded in chronic pain terminology – Medically Unexplained Symptoms ...
Stage 1 - Lay the Foundation
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Learn About Your Pain
Step 2 - Expressive Writing
Step 3 - Active Meditation
Step 4 - Sleep
Step 5 - Don't Share Your Pain
Degenerative Disc Disease Isn’t a Disease
Surgeries being performed for axial neck, thoracic, and low back pain on normally aging spines was a major reason I ...
Physical versus Emotional Pain
The Swerve, by Steven Greenblatt is a historical account of a papal scribe’s discovery in the 1400’s of a poem, The ...
The Myth of MUS (Medically Unexplained Symptoms) – It’s MES
There is a deadly diagnosis that has evolved and become increasingly embedded in chronic pain terminology – Medically Unexplained Symptoms ...
Motivated by “The Talent Code”
Dear Dr Hanscom, Having read (devoured actually) The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, I can now share with others the ...
My Story of Hope
I had a rough start living in a chaotic household with an angry mother who suffered from chronic pain. I ...
The Pain of Social Isolation
Many people suffering from chronic pain are socially isolated. When you are trapped in pain you have a difficult time ...
Science has the Answer to the Opioid Epidemic – Is anyone listening?
The Federal government has spent billions of dollars on combating the opioid epidemic. In 2022, 1.5 billion dollars was allocated ...
The Root Cause of Societal Disintegration – Untreated Anxiety
Being trapped by relentless untreated anxiety is the core driver of destructive human behaviour. Anxiety is the sensation generated by ...
Calming and Stabilizing Your Nervous System
Objectives When your nervous system is inflamed and hyper-reactive, lesser levels of stress cause your body to go into flight ...
Active Meditation – a simple starting point
Objectives: When you are suffering for any reason, you mind races, which makes it harder to think clearly. Doing battle ...
“The Abyss” – Honour your suffering
Objectives: Honor your suffering. You are trapped by physical and mental sensations without an apparent way out. You feel extremely ...
Solving Tinnitus – The Ringing in My Ears
Ringing in your ears, regardless of its intensity, is annoying. Actually, it is more than annoying; it is relentless and ...
Your Hand Stuck Over the Stove
I often encounter a perplexing situation: A patient experiencing severe chronic pain on my spine intake questionnaire rates him or ...
Verbal “Expressive Writing”
Freely writing your thoughts and immediately destroying them has been the starting point for almost every person I have seen ...
Marsha’s Three Unnecessary Spine Surgeries
Marsha was a 36 year-old businesswoman with two young children. She was referred to me by another patient and came ...
David Hanscom’s Mission and Resources
My mission falls into two broad categories. Connect mainstream medicine with existing science – most symptoms, illness and disease are ...
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Understand the Impact of Anger on Your Life
Step 2 - Acknowledge Your Disguises
Step 3 - Admit Your Victimhood
Step 4 - Choose Not to Remain a Victim
Step 5 - Forgive
Step 6 - Play
“She Just Let Go”
My migraine headaches began on the Fourth of July when I was five years old. By age fifty, I had ...
Anger and Workers’ Comp Webinar
Our medical and political system has failed. Employers have abused workers as long as there have been employers and workers ...
“The Journey of 1000 Moons”
“The Journey of 1000 Moons” by Ernesto Sanchez If you count the moon cycles you will experience in your lifetime, by ...
Humans – WAKE UP! Get Our Thinking Brains Online
Our lower brains are taking the human species down KEY POINTS Why do humans often not practice what they preach ...
Schadenfreude: Your Pain My Pleasure
Schadenfreude—the pleasure derived from another’s misfortune—is biologically rooted in the brain’s reward system. Brain imaging studies reveal that when we witness the ...
Anger Manifesto – “Humans, wake up!!”
Humanity Won’t Survive Without Engaging its Thinking Brain No Action in a Reaction The Human Survival Paradox Consider a time ...
Anger, Tall Poppy Syndrome, and Schadenfreude (The Luigi Mangione Story)
Dr. Doug Garland writes this post with some contributions by me. He is an orthopedic surgeon who was one of ...
The Tragic Decline of Luigi Mangione: Pain, Isolation, and the Human Survival Response
Luigi Mangione’s transformation from a promising academic star to an alleged murderer encapsulates the interplay of evolutionary instincts, physical struggles, ...
“Wake the Fun Up” – The DOC Journey App
Nurturing a sense of play is the main focus of the app. It is the optimal healing state of safety ...
Don’t Take on the World’s Suffering
Objectives Many of us become upset about the state of the world, which is definitely worrisome and disturbing. However, you ...
The Myth of Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is one of the worst concepts ever propagated. While the definition itself appears harmless enough on its surface, “confidence ...
Depression Masking as Pain
Patient’s Letter Hi Dr Hanscom, I have been meaning to check in with you for a while now and let ...
Our Need to Feel Safe
The deep need to feel and be safe is the driving force of all life, including humans. In this physiological ...
Bullying is Good for Your Health
Bullying is maybe one of the most irrational and unacceptable aspects of the human experience. Everyone at every age, including ...
Social Anxiety – Vulnerability Doesn’t Feel Safe
Humans want to feel safe. Feeling or being safe reflects profound shifts in your body’s chemistry to “rest and digest.” ...
Suicide – A Horrible Way to Escape from Pain
Objectives The root cause of suicide is feeling trapped and mental and physical pain are problematic.significant reasons to feel this ...
Stage 3 - Move Forward
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Commit to a Daily Practice
Step 2 - Create a Safe Haven - Family
Step 3 - Get Organized
Step 4 - Connect with the Life You Want
Step 5 - Create Your Vision
Connection – The Antithesis of Pursuing Self-esteem
Objectives The “C”quence of healing is connection, confidence, and creativity. You must first become aware of and connect with all ...
Calming Down and Healing with Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS)
The Relationship Between Chronic Stress and Health Stress is commonly perceived as a psychological term. That is simply not true ...
“Many Italians Choose Suicide” – People Need to Work
Overview The essence of healing is feeling safe. Your body regenerates and heals. Not being able to support yourself or ...
Who Do You Choose to be Today?
Objectives Most of us intellectually understand that the only moment we have in life is this very one. That is ...
If you want to be smarter and live longer, do this!
My wife and I started to play ping pong in our backyard about five years ago. We quickly discovered how ...
“Stars Through the Bars”
Many years ago I was involved with helping a young friend, Larry, in his 20’s deal with a difficult legal ...
Create a Safe Haven – Family
Pain = Frustration. In the presence of unrelenting pain this frustration can be intense. Anger is a survival reaction and it ...
Downhill Skiing is Dangerous – So is Life
Looking down a hill well beyond your skill level is terrifying. Downhill skis are designed to be fast, are long, ...
Navigating Life is Similar to Playing Major League Baseball
Feeling safe is the essence of enjoying life, healing, and thriving Healing chronic illness happens by moving towards health not ...
The “C”quence of Healing Chronic Illness
Objectives Connecting to every aspect of your life is difficult but is essential for allowing your body to heal. “Being” ...
“The Pit of Despair”
Modern medicine is evolving in a dangerous direction with regards to your care. The major factor in deciding to offer ...
Stress Kills – Don’t Allow it
Each of us has been given a profound gift – life. The meaning of life has been the focus of ...
Happy Holidays – Not
My first year in training I will never forget my first holiday season as an internal medicine resident in Spokane, ...
How healing happens
It really appears insurmountable, & the process stops and starts, but when you begin to take this course, to move ...
Why are New Year’s Resolutions So Hard to Keep?
Each new year, many of us spend time figuring out how we’ll make it better and also to really complete ...
No One Can Take Away Your Holiday Joy – But You
Dealing with Holiday Triggers This blog is written in conjunction with Dr. Les Aria, who is an experienced pain psychologist ...
Stage 4 Posts - Expand Your Consciousness
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - Pass Through the "Ring of Fire"
Step 2 - Step Into Your New Life
Step 3 - "Failing" Well
Step 4 - Look Up - Your Spiritual Journey
Step 5 - Giving Back is Healing
Connect to Your Dark Side and Heal – Joy will Emerge
Overview Your survival reactions are meant to be deeply unpleasant, since they are protective danger signals. You have absolutely no ...
Powerful Pain Relief-Schadenfreude or Altruism-Your Choice
Watching others suffer is a powerful way to alleviate one’s pain (schadenfreude). So is altruism – giving back with no ...
I Took a Walk with Bella Today – A consideration of what we can learn from other species.
This article was written by my close friend, DR Clawson. He is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, ...
“I Wish You Well” – Not as Altruistic as it Sounds
We do not see things as they are; we see them as we are. Anaïs Nin A fundamental concept in ...
Quit Fighting Darkness and Turn on the Light
Objectives We are trained that if we can solve enough of our problems, we’ll have an “enjoyable life.” Life’s challenges ...
Why You Do Need an Ego? Dissolve it with Awareness
Objectives Our survival reactions and ongoing negative program cause us to feel guilty and inadequate. We create “stories” about ourselves ...
Kogos: Why Anxiety is the Real Gift of Life
This article was written by a journalist that I met in New York City about five years ago. My wife ...
“The Bottom”
I have observed from my personal experience and others, that anger drives depression. It is not great to have down ...
“Our envy of others devours us most of all”
What about the main thing in life, all its riddles? If you want, I’ll spell it out for you right ...
Be an Expert at Living life
This post is the introduction for the last leg of the updated DOC Journey course. The main course is presented ...
Mindfulness Should not be Taught in School – Really??
Mental rigidity is a variation of suppressing thoughts in that you allow yourself only certain sets and types of thoughts ...
Understanding the “Curse of Consciousness”
RUTs (repetitive unpleasant thoughts) are driven by our unconscious brain Here is the essence of the problem with RUTs and ...
AI and the Cumulative Effects of Trauma
Objectives AI and the human brain both are blank slates whose functionality depends on what is loaded into them. Your ...
Four Aspects of Solving RUTs
Objectives Mental and physical pain are processed in similar regions of the brain. Our inability to escape from RUTs relentlessly ...
“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
A way into “The Abyss” of chronic illness The title of this song1 is a common way many of us ...
Your “Authentic Self”
The only “authentic self” that exists is the one who is present today – right this very second. Your actions ...
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - General Principles - The Grid
Step 2 - The Source of Your Pain
Step 3 - The Impact of Stress on Your Pain and Decision-making
Step 4 - Understanding the Magnitude of the Surgery
Step 5 - Making the Final Surgical Decision
Step 6 - Stories of Surgical Despair
Permanent Disability – Needless??
Please do not let this happen to you, your family, or friends. The downside of failed spine surgery can be ...
Stay Out of the Surgical Scrap Heap
Objectives: Although there is no question about the dedication of physicians to providing excellent care, the rigors of training, the ...
Optimizing (Avoiding) Spine Surgery
About three years ago, my staff noticed that our surgical patients who participated in The DOC Journey principles were doing ...
Comprehending the Downside of Spine Surgery
Deciding whether to undergo spine surgery is one of the most important choices you will ever make. Currently, failed spine ...
It is Becoming Harder to Make a Living as a Surgeon………
When I began my surgical practice in 1986, I was convinced that spine surgery was a definitive solution for pain, ...
Spine Surgery in the Presence of Chronic Pain – Mangione Situation
I am part of a documentary titled “Who is Luigi Mangione?” It will air this coming Monday evening, February 17th, ...
Avoid Surgery by Raising the Pain Threshold
A friend of mine asked me for an opinion a couple of years ago about his back. I was giving ...
CEO Shooting vs. A Healing Journey
There was a front-page story in the NY Times about the shooting of the CEO of United Healthcare. The suspect ...
“My Son Just Died”
George was a 78 year-old businessman who acted and looked about half his age. He was pleasant and talked freely ...
Make the Right Decision About Spine Surgery – The Grid
Objectives Chronic mental and physical pain are complex. Isolated interventions cannot and don’t work. Surgery is often considered a “definitive ...
The Impact of Stress on Pain and Decision-Making
A person’s stress level has a marked effect on both your central and peripheral nervous systems. The central nervous system ...
How Many More Neck Surgeries?
One middle-aged patient sought me out in Seattle from the East Coast for a second opinion regarding his neck. He ...
Do You Really Need Spine Surgery?
Do You Really Need Spine Surgery? Take Control with Advice from a Surgeon considers all factors affecting your perception of ...
My Early Surgical Philosophy
I started my practice in Seattle in 1986. I was feeling pretty beat up from my spine training. I felt ...
Anger Altering a Surgical Decision
Objectives Spine surgery is not an option if there is not a structural problem with matching symptoms. Back pain does ...
My Call to Action
Jean was a 48 year-old woman who came to me from a neighboring state for a second opinion. She filled ...
Stage 6 Posts - Procedures
Select a step from the dropdown menu below to view the posts in that step. The steps are:
Step 1 - General Considerations: Magnitude vs. Benefit
Step 2 - Decompressions
Step 3 - Lumbar Fusions
Step 4 - Deformity Surgery
Step 5 - Other Spine Surgeries
Step 6 - Stories of Surgical Despair
Posterior Lumbar Fusion
Video animation of a lumbar fusion The purpose of this letter is to explain what is involved when a posterior ...
Lumbar Laminectomy/Laminotomy
Print this letter Laminectomy: Video animation Laminotomy: Illustrations What is a laminae? The spinal column consists of vertebra and disc ...
Lumbar Microdiscectomy
Print this letter Video animation: Microdiscectomy The purpose of this letter is to explain the microdiscectomy procedure. A microdiscectomy is ...
Trapped for 18 Years from Scoliosis Surgery
I first met Georgia when she was 15 years-old. She had undergone a fusion for adolescent scoliosis at another hospital ...
A New Life at 72
Crystal is a woman from the southern part of Washington. When I first met her, she was over 70 years-old ...
My Low Back Surgery–and Infection
I started my working life as a carpenter at age fourteen. I worked every summer and vacation doing residential construction ...
Important Posts
Degenerative Disc Disease Isn’t a Disease
Surgeries being performed for axial neck, thoracic, and low back pain on normally aging spines was a major reason I ...
Do You Really Need Spine Surgery?
Do You Really Need Spine Surgery? Take Control with Advice from a Surgeon considers all factors affecting your perception of ...
David Hanscom’s Mission and Resources
My mission falls into two broad categories. Connect mainstream medicine with existing science – most symptoms, illness and disease are ...
Anger Academy
Objectives Processing anger is more doable if it is broken down into its components. Anger is a powerful, necessary, and ...
Dynamic Healing
A new, data-based dynamic approach is needed for medicine to successfully deal with our epidemic of chronic disease. It must ...
Plan A–Lowering Inflammation Lengthens Life
The COVID-19 virus is a member of the Corona virus family that usually just causes the common cold. The problem ...
Essence of Illness
The burden of chronic disease is crushing us while we have the answers right in front of us. A recent ...
Navigating the Entire Circle of Your Life
The DOC (Direct your Own Care) Journey is a collection of resources that reflect the ones many people have used ...
Clarifying the New IASP Definition of Chronic Pain
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) is highly regarded international society committed to research and education about ...
Anxiety Basics
Anxiety is the body’s neurochemical reaction to a mental or physical threat. Without it you can’t survive. It’s the sensation ...
Learn Another Language – “An Enjoyable Life”
To master a new language requires a focused commitment for an extended period of time. Say you wanted to become ...
Healing Begins at Home – The DOC Journey Starting Point
The DOC Journey began to evolve in 2003, as I emerged from my own 15-year struggle with chronic pain. It ...
Happily Ever After
My wife and I were at a wedding this weekend. The bride was the daughter of some of our closest ...
“Ride It Out!” Thriving After a Back-Breaking Horse Fall
Rachel is a therapist, specializing in trauma. She reached out to me a couple of years ago to learn more ...
Optimizing (Avoiding) Spine Surgery
About three years ago, my staff noticed that our surgical patients who participated in The DOC Journey principles were doing ...
From Bedbound Back to the Beach
I am sharing an email I recently received from someone I have gotten to know over about a year. I ...
Freed by Persistence and Play
I first met Mark at our 2017 three-day “Rewiring Your Brain” workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. He ...
Motivated by “The Talent Code”
Dear Dr Hanscom, Having read (devoured actually) The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, I can now share with others the ...
Why I Keep Pushing Forward – A Mother’s Story of Healing
I am sharing these letters from a former patient to explain why I continue to work to help people escape ...
My Story of Hope
I had a rough start living in a chaotic household with an angry mother who suffered from chronic pain. I ...
The Pain of Social Isolation
Many people suffering from chronic pain are socially isolated. When you are trapped in pain you have a difficult time ...
Learning to Heal with Awareness – Gail’s Story
Gail is a woman who has been working with the DOC Journey concepts for almost a year. She had been ...
Depression Masking as Pain
Patient’s Letter Hi Dr Hanscom, I have been meaning to check in with you for a while now and let ...
“Love Heals” – Moving into a New Life
I met Dana a few years ago after she had undergone two low back surgeries and was still experiencing a ...
Solving Tinnitus – The Ringing in My Ears
Ringing in your ears, regardless of its intensity, is annoying. Actually, it is more than annoying; it is relentless and ...
Spastic Bladder Resolved – Being with Anger
This is a letter I recently received from a young woman with interstitial cystitis or spastic bladder. It is a ...
How to Heal – A Patient’s Story
Essentially every person that has experienced deep healing has learned to process anger and nurture joy. It is much more ...
No More Back Pain – A Story of Healing
When I discuss the idea that you can reprogram or shift your brain circuits around away from pain, there is ...
Positive Thinking vs. Real-time Reprogramming
You can heal by connecting to your own body’s capacity to heal. But that means connecting with every aspect of ...
The Equina Way. The path I discovered in my recovery from my back breaking horse fall.
This powerful collage captures the complete arc of Rachel’s remarkable comeback story—from the hospital bed where her young daughter, Julia, ...
The Walk Home
Poem by Susan Angelis Photo by Susan Angelis October 29, 2023 The Walk Home The walk home from Sunday church ...
Fierce Pain – Medically Explainable Symptoms (MES)
This is a piece sent to me through the expressive arts gallery. My arms reach upward as the mind and ...
“MdDS: She is a Beautiful Flower” (acrylic on black watercolor paper, Feb 2017)
Julie Graber, 2017: July 2016, a Mal de Debarquement. Rocking, Bobbing, Swaying … 24×7 … circling in a counter-clockwise direction ...
“Mystic Fragmentation … a medicine painting” (acrylic paint and collaged feet on 48×60″ canvas, 2021)
Julie Graber, 2016: a chronic neurological disorder after 8-day river cruise Prague to Budapest, Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS), for ...
Shadows Dancing in the Fire
Painted in 1971 by Gabrielle Schang and Babs Yohai. Dancing through the ring of fire. Dancing through the ring of ...
Emotional Turmoil
A great life isn’t just about waiting for the storm to pass, It’s about learning to dance in the rain ...
Somatic energy
I am a Registered Art Therapist in Victoria, BC. My husband is your big fan and introduced me to your ...
With or Without
Without or With Without desire I die Without touch I die Without conversation I die Without inspiration I die Without ...
“Compassion”
As I grow through my journey of coming to peace with chronic pain, I see the need for deep self ...
Autumn Leaves
I find such tranquility in nature & creating these hidden lid gourd containers helps me feel that I am in ...
A selection from my mask project
The range of expressions tell the story. The wall in the studio is from 1972-72. They are collage friends. The ...
The Lone Ranger
My Mask project is part of my fie art practice that began around 1970 and continues today. The series includes ...
Other Posts
- RUTs – Can’t Take Your Hand Off the Stove? Turn Down the Heat
- Stories of Hope
- We have no protection from mental pain
- Create a Safe Haven – Family
- Accept the Gift of Consciousness – Choice
- Threat Physiology Can’t be Controlled with Behavioral Approaches
- Mental Rigidity – A Core Trait of Many Mental Health Diagnoses
- The Popcorn Machine – Healing RUTS
- Make the Right Decision About Spine Surgery – The Grid
- Everyone Needs Support
- The “Five E’s” of Chronic Pain
- Video 14/19: Chronic Pain: Pain Free is Not Only Possible, it’s Probable.
- Compassion and an Italian Dinner
- Video 8/19: Fusions For LBP Don’t Work
- Problems are Opportunities
- Video 7/19: The Catastrophe Index
- Examiners from the Worker’s Perspective
- Video 4/19: Listen When Your Surgeon Says “No”
- Arm the Worker
- Video 8 of 19: Finding the Source of The Pain
- Video 5 of 19: An Alternative Approach to Chronic Pain & Spine Surgery
- It Really is Upside Down
- “I Want to Believe”
- The Catastrophe Index
- Your Doctor Might Not be Listening
- Worsening Prognosis with Time Off of Work
- Two Kinds of Anger
- Anger Affecting Nerve Pain
- Stress Management Overview
- How am I Going to Get There?
- Where am I Going?
- Where am I?
- Setting Goals with Three Questions
- Anti-Spasm
- Anti-depressants
- Anti-seizure
- Anti-anxiety
- Non-Narcotics
- Narcotics
- Medication Management
Click a Show Section button below to view the posts in that section.
Section 1 - Overview of RUTs
Section 2 - Solving RUTs
Section 3 - The Evolution of RUTs
Section 4 - Consequences of RUTs
