ACCORDING TO THE INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE, OVER 100 MILLION AMERICANS SUFFER FROM CHRONIC PAIN. PAIN IS A BIG PROBLEM. CHRONIC PAIN IS CRIPPLING AMERICA. THE CURRENT COST OF TREATING CHRONIC PAIN HAS SKYROCKETED TO CLOSE TO A TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. THIS NUMBER DWARFS THE COSTS OF CANCER, HEART DISEASE AND DIABETES COMBINED. CHANCES ARE THAT YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING SOME FORM OF CHRONIC PAIN.
He changed shock jock Howard Stern’s life. Veteran Senator Tom Harkin was inspired to campaign for his cause, and he gave comedian Larry David “the closest thing to a religious experience” he’s ever had. Dr. John Sarno’s bestselling book “Healing Back Pain” was first published in the 1980’s, and when co-director Michael Galinsky’s father read it he was cured of chronic whiplash. The book – which connects pain with emotions rather than structural causes – put Sarno at blunt odds with the medical system, which shunned his unorthodox approach. Many years later, when Michael was immobilized by excruciating back pain, he met with Dr. Sarno and was put on the mend. Thus began a 12-year odyssey to chronicle his personal journey of healing with the story of Dr. Sarno and his work.This artful and personal film, “All The Rage,” braids Galinsky’s universal story of pain and emotion together with the story of Dr. Sarno’s work, connecting the audience to both the issues and the emotions at play. Featuring interviews with Howard Stern, Larry David, reporter John Stossel, Dr. Andrew Weil, Senators Bernie Sanders and Tom Harkin, and other luminaries, ALL THE RAGE offers a profound rethink of our health care.
ABOUT DR. SARNO
While practicing at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation at NYU medical center, Dr. John Sarno came to understand the problem and predicted the epidemic of chronic pain beginning in the 1970′s. When Dr. Sarno compared his patients’ charts, he found that more than 80% of them had a history of at least two other psychosomatic illnesses like ulcers, migraines, eczema, or colitis. He postulated that the stresses of life might be causing the pain. When he talked to his patients further, he found that most of them were perfectionists who put themselves under unreasonable amounts of unconscious pressure to be perfect and good.
When Dr. Sarno suggested his patients make the connection between their emotions – including their tendency to put themselves under extreme pressure – and their pain, they rapidly improved. His visionary insights revealed that the unconscious mind was activating the autonomic nervous system, and that the repression of unconscious rage was a major contributor to pain. Over the course of his 50+ years in practice, he developed and adapted his treatment program into four bestselling books, which have been translated into over 30 languages.