Do I Have a Mind Body Syndrome? (Also known as TMS)
I have created a short questionnaire to help people ascertain whether their condition has a mind body component.
It is very important it is to rule out any serious medical conditions first with a medical doctor, or if you develop a new or debilitating symptom or level of pain.
Mind Body Syndromes (MBS) is also known as TMS (Tension Myositis) and PPD (psychophysiological syndrome). All of these create symptoms that are real and often very severe. These names are not suggesting these are in the mind. They are real conditions created by stress response conditioning in the nervous system and perpetuated by our mind (beliefs, emotions, thoughts, personality traits) that can impact every system in the body.
This questionnaire will bring to light situations and factors that make an individual more likely to experience MBS, including personality parts that are very commonly exhibited by MBS sufferers. If you’ve already been examined by a medical professional and they couldn’t find anything wrong, OR your condition has been blamed on a past injury/accident, muscle imbalance, fibromyalgia, a herniated disc, a pinched nerve, muscle tightness, repetitive stress injury, chronic fatigue, or env environmental illness, then you could have MBS.
Mind Body Syndrome Syndrome Questionnaire
1. Have you been suffering from chronic symtoms for over 4 months?
2. Does your pain or symptoms tend to move around?
3. Do you suffer from any other chronic condition? Such as IBS, vertigo, acid reflux, tension headache, fatigue, infections, migraines, sinus problems that tend to keep recurring in your life?
4. Do you suffer from chronic pain or symptoms in different areas of the body (for example back pain and neck pain, or the same pain on different sides of the body, waxing and waning symptoms in different areas)
5. Do your symptoms vary in intensity throughout the day? (for example worse in the morning, better in the evening, or vice versa?)
6. Does your pain or symptom presentation have a pattern or a threshold? (i.e does it always result after certain movements or activities OR, after you have been doing an activity for a certain amount of time - for instance, after sitting down for longer than 30 minutes?)
7. Do you identify with any of the following personalities?
Ambitious & perfectionist - you want to be as perfect as possible in anything you do, and often put pressure on yourself or find yourself criticising the work of others. If you do good enough you will BE good enough.
People-pleaser - you tend to always put others; needs first, and are very afraid of conflict with the people around you
Helper - you like helping people, but often put others needs first. Without realising this means you can be disconnected from your own feelings and needs. Resentment may build, but the caretaking of others continues
Catastrophic/anxious personality - you often tend to think of the worst (find out more about catastrophic thinking here)
Conformist - you are afraid for your self-image and of how other people perceive you
Victim - you think of yourself as an unlucky victim to external circumstances, and often feel powerless
Stoic - expressing your feelings doesn’t come naturally to you; you see it as a sign of weakness, or you often don’t know how you feel
Legalist - you are very critical of others and determined to be ‘always right’.
Low self-esteem - you often feel like you’re not good enough and are scared to voice your opinions and feelings, or to pursue your ambitions
Dependent - you are afraid to take on challenging tasks, like to delegate responsibility and decision making to others, and believe that happiness comes from other people and external circumstances. You are very scared of rejection.
8. Were you going through a particularly stressful time when or right before the symptoms or escalation of the condition started?
9. Did you go through a significant change in your life when or right before the condition started? (for example a wedding, birth of a child, change in career, loss of a loved one)
10. Is your condition preventing you from doing an activity that you may unconsciously want to avoid? It could be preventing you from going to work, travelling to see someone, or practising a sport.
11. Does the condition help you say no to things that you may not have had the confidence or ability to say no to before? A life path, job, social interactions, role in family/partnership?
12. Did your condition get worse when other people (including medical professionals) warned you to ‘be careful’ lest you make it worse, or told you it could not be healed, or shared their own painful experiences with you?
13. Did you have a difficult childhood, or were bullied, or were highly sensitive as a child?
If you’ve answered YES to the first question and to more than 3 additional questions from the list above, then you are likely to suffer from MBS.
Again, please consult a medical professional to have tests and/or scans. We have some great referral names for MBS aware doctors who can assess X-rays and other tests for chronic pain conditions. Our own clinic can assist with functional medicine assessment for environmental illness.