Let me start by saying if you have chronic pain and have never actually seen a doctor/specialist about your pain, it is important that you still go through all the precautionary measures of being evaluated and getting any sort of scans or imaging done to rule out anything actually dangerous such as cancer.

With that said if you can relate to any of the following traits, there’s a good chance some if not all of your pain is a result of Tension Myositis Syndrome and is therefore curable:

• Perfectionism – You set very high, or unrealistic standards for yourself.
• People-Pleasing – You have a strong desire to gain approval from others, even at your own expense. You tend to carry a lot of guilt/shame associated with telling people no or something they don’t want to hear.
• Highly Driven/Ambitious – Goal oriented, ambitious, and driven to succeed, you often push yourself past your limits in both your personal and professional life.
• Self Critical – You are your own harshest critic, and you tend to come down hard on yourself for any little mistake.
• High Sense of Responsibility – You tend to take on an excessive amount of responsibility, feeling like you must take care of everything yourself and that you are responsible for others’ well-being.
• Suppression of Emotions – You would rather repress or distract yourself from emotions like anger fear, sadness, or frustration rather than acknowledge or express them.
• Anxiety and Fear – You constantly experience high levels of anxiety and worry, particularly about your health, performance, or relationships.
• Low Self-Esteem – You have a negative view of yourself, even when others give you praise.
• Inability to Relax – You are unable to relax or unwind, feeling uncomfortable with rest or downtime and feeling the need to constantly be productive.

These are just some of the most common traits of those who have Tension Myositis Syndrome, but even if you don’t relate to any of these characteristics, that doesn’t preclude you from suffering from Mind Body pain. The reality is, life is hard, and our emotions and brain are very complicated — to just boil down who can have TMS or Mind Body pain to an exclusive list of personality traits would be a disservice to the complexity of the human experience.

If you feel like you may have TMS and that just maybe there is a possibility the source of your pain is from your brain and not from your body, I have curated a list of resources to help you further evaluate whether yourself, as well as provided links to find an alternative medicine practitioner that can give you a second opinion on your individual case.