Decoding the Secret Language of Your Body Book

Itchy palms...cold feet...a pain in the neck. Not a day goes by that our bodies don't "speak" to us through tickles and tingles, belches and bellyaches -- and psychiatrist Martin Rush takes us on an entertaining, enlightening exploration as he teaches us how to decode these secret signs and signals.

Rush reasons that many of the twitches and twinges we experience may have psychological roots, rather than physical ones. The runny nose, lower backache, and cough signify some underlying wants or needs that the body is trying to convey. Because we aren't always aware of our feelings, the sudden symptom may be a physiological way of drawing our attention to an unnoticed emotion. By recognizing these signals, and then deciphering them, we can better understand the meanings in our aches, pains, and other symptoms.

So, if you're itching to know why you have sudden chronic sneezing attacks, or why your eyelid occasionally twitches uncontrollably, or what is behind that unexplainable rash, then perhaps it's time for a visit with Dr. Rush. The quintessential example of the mind-body connection, Decoding The Secret Language of Your Body makes everyone aware of even the most subtle interaction between feelings and body responses.

Publishers Weekly

The idea that emotions and health are interconnected is not new: for centuries, we've believed mind can influence body and emotions can dramatically affect health. But after 31 years as a psychiatrist, Rush, a former family physician, is convinced that signals from the body can provide valuable insight into our emotions. This book is based on his observation of more than 9000 group meetings and more than 40,000 individual psychotherapy sessions. The author freely admits that his conclusions remain to be substantiated or disproved by scientific methods. Nevertheless, he believes an emotional event corresponds to every illness, from stomach pains and headaches to cancer. ``Each time we become ill, it is likely that it was `caused' by some unhappiness or stress in our life,'' he explains. ``It made us feel bad, we couldn't handle it and our body expressed this through discomfort, pain or illness.'' The book translates the body's symptoms as either whispers (e.g., goose bumps), cries (e.g., nausea) or screams (e.g., asthma); Rush presents carpal tunnel syndrome as a severe manifestation of the fear of reaching for what one wants. The problem inherent in his view of the mind-body connection is that it seems to suggest that people are responsible for getting, as well as curing, their own diseases. (Dec.)