The Pain Secret:
Discover the ‘Secret’ Triggers behind your Pain and Symptoms

I’m pleased to announce the release of my book, The Pain Secret: Unlocking the MindBody Connection to Overcome Chronic Pain and Symptoms, written by myself - Miriam Gauci Bongiovanni - with a Foreword by Dr David Schechter, M.D. and released in May 2025.

I’ve written this book with you, the chronic pain sufferer, in mind. I know that you may be feeling discouraged. I know the overwhelm and the confusion that arise as you attempt to take action to heal. I understand that you really want to recover, but that you feel a bit lost right now.

the pain secret mindbody book

You need a sound understanding of how your symptoms operate. And you need a plan and a process to follow in order to change the underlying patterns.

In The Pain Secret, I take you on a personal journey of healing through Three Stages:

  • The Awareness Stage - learn what triggers chronic mindbody pain and what makes it persist. Understand exactly how mindbody symptoms work so you don’t end up second-doubting your recovery or blaming symptoms on the wrong reasons!

  • The Action Stage - this is where I reveal the processes and tools that can help you recover completely from your symptoms. In particular, I make you aware of the internal conflicts and the exact beliefs and patterns that keep us stuck in pain, and what to do in order to change these patters. This stage contains exercises for readers to follow.

  • The Maintenance Stage - here I explain how one can maintain a pain free state by cultivating the right internal and external circumstances.

Inspiration and Research

The Pain Secret is inspired by the work of Dr John Sarno, and by the additional research in Neuroscience and Pain Psychology that has been carried out since then.

John Sarno’s books have contributed to the healing of thousands of chronic pain sufferers. In this book, my aim is to simplify the process, provide additional tools that have proven effective with me and my clients, and to help weed out the most common obstacles to recovery. My hope is that you find The Pain Secret a practical fuss-free complement to your recovery.

“You will have recovered from chronic mindbody symptoms when you are pain free and also free of the fear of pain. Both conditions are necessary. Being pain free but dreading a recurrence isn’t really true freedom.”
— Miriam Gauci Bongiovanni, The Pain Secret
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