To tell my recovery story, I must go back 4 years to before I started my treatment with Lihi. I finished my training in a special unit of the army and I was sent to a medic's course without my staff. I felt on top of the world because I finished the difficult training and now I was a combat soldier. But then, I experienced a very unpleasant outbreak of psoriasis (skin rash) in my groin, which kept coming and going. I would walk around on a regular basis with antibiotic ointments to put on my skin because it was very itchy and unpleasant; today I understand, in retrospect, that it was the first physical reaction to an emotional state I was in at the time.
Two years later, after I was released from two years of regular army service, I began experiencing pain in my back that got increasingly worse. After 3 months, I went to seek a diagnosis, and they discovered a benign tumor in my back. From that moment a very long process began that took 8 months of examinations by all the specialists, physical therapies, and chiropractic therapy — all the experts I consulted told me that I needed to have surgery and there was no other solution for my tumor.
After consulting with all the surgeons, I underwent surgery with a specialist at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. The surgery was successful and nothing in my back was harmed (all the other doctors mentioned that there would definitely be a break in the vertebra next to the tumor; this doctor operated with a special robot, and that’s an interesting story in and of itself).
After a month of rehabilitation, I felt good as new and I went on a trip around the world for a year. When I came home, I started experiencing strong pain when I was going to the bathroom, and the pain just got worse and worse. 6 months passed, during which I found myself going again to all possible treatments (diets, alternative doctors, and proctologists). Every time, when I started a new treatment, the pain would get a little better, and then get worse after a few days. At this point, all the doctors I saw told me I needed to have another surgery and there was no other option.
After reading the book, I searched for a therapist who could treat me using Dr. Sarno’s method, and I found Lihi. It’s important for me to mention that during that period, aside from the terrible pains I was experiencing in the bathroom, I didn’t imagine that I had any unresolved problems with myself. I was sure I was totally aware of what I was going through and that everything was fine with me. Aside from that, I was skeptical about everything to do with emotional therapy for such clear physical pain, because the pain was real, I wasn’t imagining it, so how could it be connected to emotions?
In my first session with Lihi, she ensured that I understood that this would be a process and not just a few sessions. I arrived at the treatment in such a desperate situation that I was willing to accept anything. Additionally, because I was always on some kind of diet to alleviate the pain, Lihi advised me to eat and drink whatever I wanted and commit to the idea that the source of the pain will be resolved emotionally and not by some diet or other.
Exactly 3 sessions in, I cried tears I didn’t even know were within my body. Right after that session, when I went to the bathroom, the pain was far less present. After a few more sessions, it was completely gone. At the time I was working at a job that I really suffered from and I wasn’t aware of the dreams I wanted to pursue and real things I wanted to achieve in my life. The sessions with Lihi released from within me the persona I had built for myself throughout my life, and gave me a pair of glasses that allowed me to see myself clearly, honestly, and without judgment.
As a result of the therapy, I quit that job and moved to a different country to study the music industry, hoping to become a businessman in the industry. Today I have been in therapy with Lihi for more than two years, understanding that this is the right thing for me, to give myself a place to unload and talk about the journey I’m on in my life.
The therapy helps me focus on my intentions and on the way my body works. Today we’re not even talking about the pain I had two years ago, because it’s been out of the picture for a long time!
The fact that I underwent all the physical experiences that I have and no doctor ever mentioned the emotional factor and they all recommended technical solutions, made me lose faith in conventional medicine on some level. In my opinion, the public doesn’t get enough information on this topic, and many of the problems could be resolved with psychotherapy. I would like to see more therapists speaking about TMS in more central streams of medicine. I am an example of a real case where this type of therapy works and is effective.
