While mortality rates from heart disease, cancer, and stroke continue to decline, another silent epidemic is exploding: chronic pain, anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia, IBS, chronic fatigue, and related conditions that rob millions of their ability to truly live. Modern medicine excels at acute care and life-saving interventions—but for these persistent mind-body syndromes, the standard playbook of scans, surgeries, and medications has fallen short.
Enter Dr. Howard Schubiner, a clinical professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and a pioneer in mind-body medicine. In his groundbreaking new book, Unlearn Your Pain: The Science of Recovering from Chronic Pain, Fatigue, Anxiety, and Depression (releasing May 26 via Maria Shriver’s Open Field imprint at Penguin Life), Schubiner delivers a paradigm-shifting message backed by over 800 scientific references and decades of clinical trials: much of chronic pain isn’t “in your head”—but it is generated by your brain. And the brain can unlearn it.
“Dr. Howard Schubiner is at the forefront of a paradigm shift in understanding and overcoming chronic pain,” says Maria Shriver. The book—praised by Sanjay Gupta, Gabor Maté, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee (whose interview with Schubiner has racked up over 3 million views), and leading pain psychologists at Stanford—offers a comprehensive roadmap: the neuroscience, real patient stories, and proven treatments like Emotion Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET) and Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), all validated in randomized controlled trials.
In a recent conversation with AMFM’s Paul Salfen, Schubiner unpacked the revolution—one that began with his own debilitating neck pain in his 30s and 40s.
“All Pain Is Real—But Not All Pain Is Structural”
The biggest myth Schubiner confronts? The assumption that pain always signals tissue damage. “Everyone knows that if you have pain, there must be something wrong in the body,” he told Salfen. “It only makes sense. What else could you possibly think?”
But hard neuroscience tells a different story. MRIs of the neck or back often reveal “abnormalities”—arthritis, bulging discs, degeneration—in perfectly pain-free adults. Injuries heal. Yet pain lingers or returns. Why?
“Because the brain can learn neural circuits that cause pain,” Schubiner explains. “And it can unlearn them.”
He shares a striking example from his own life: years of recurring neck pain vanished not through surgery or physical therapy, but when he balanced his life and adopted a meditative practice that calmed his nervous system. Only later did he discover the research confirming what he’d experienced: structural findings on imaging frequently don’t correlate with pain.
The brain, it turns out, doesn’t just register pain—it creates what we feel, see, and hear. Stress, emotions, and perceived danger light up the same brain regions as physical injury. Guilt, shame, betrayal, micromanagement, or even anticipatory fear can trigger symptoms as a protective alarm. “Your brain can’t speak English,” Schubiner says. “So it turns on anxiety or pain or fatigue as a warning sign.”
Neural Circuits, Triggers, and Dramatic Recoveries
Schubiner illustrates the power of these learned circuits with unforgettable stories. A soldier injured by shrapnel in a war zone healed completely once safe—only for the exact same leg pain to return 20 years later at the sound of a helicopter. The neural pathway had been etched and reactivated by a sound trigger.
Then there’s the man who endured 25 years of excruciating back, leg, and foot pain. Confined to a recliner, suicidal, and failed by every conventional treatment, he finally understood the brain’s role during a simple trip to the pharmacy. Seeing a long line—before he even stood—his pain skyrocketed from a 5 to a 9. “Oh my God,” he realized. “That’s my brain doing that because I anticipated it.”
That “aha” moment changed everything. By walking, bending, and moving despite the pain, with reduced fear and growing confidence that the signals were neural rather than structural, he was pain-free in just six weeks.
These aren’t anomalies. Schubiner has witnessed recoveries from back pain, migraines, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, IBS, anxiety, and depression when patients address the underlying mind-body connection.
Practical Steps to Unlearn Pain
Schubiner’s approach isn’t woo-woo—it’s rigorously scientific and deeply practical. First, rule out serious structural or medical issues with your doctor. Then, shift perspective:
- Ask the open question: “Is there something in my life this symptom might be signaling?” A gym-goer’s tight shoulder eased when she connected it to worry about her husband’s upcoming heart procedure.
- Practice self-compassion: Talk to yourself kindly. “I’m okay. This is temporary. I’m safe.” Calming practices, walks, journaling, or meditation create space for the nervous system to settle.
- Address emotional stressors: Honest conversations, setting boundaries, or releasing what you can’t control (hello, global geopolitics) often quiet the alarm.
- Move with confidence: Fear amplifies pain circuits. Gradual exposure—moving through discomfort while knowing it’s safe—rewires the brain via neuroplasticity.
Schubiner developed and studied EAET and PRT precisely for this. Both therapies help patients reprocess emotions and reinterpret pain signals, with impressive results in controlled trials. His work also features prominently in the documentary This Might Hurt, which follows patients transforming through similar mind-body approaches.
A Message of Hope—and a Call to Action
Schubiner emphasizes: “You’re not crazy. It’s not your fault. It’s not all in your head. The pain is real—but you don’t have to live with it.”
His Hail Mary moment? Deciding to pursue this “out-of-bounds” work despite potential criticism. “I just decided, you know what? I want to try. I’m going to take the leap.” That courage has helped thousands worldwide.
The book’s final pages include hundreds of patient testimonials from across the globe—France, Idaho, Texas, Germany—who wanted their names listed to affirm: This works.
For more, visit unlearnyourpain.com for the book, meditations, and resources. The free nonprofit Association for the Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms (symptomatic.me) offers practitioner directories, training, and community support.
In a medical landscape that has transformed cancer and heart disease treatment, Schubiner’s message offers the same hope for the chronic pain crisis: relief isn’t just possible—it’s already happening through science, courage, and the brain’s remarkable ability to change.
Everyone knows someone suffering. This conversation could be their turning point. As Schubiner puts it, “The only thing you have to lose is your pain.”
Unlearn Your Pain is available now. Read it. Share it. Start unlearning today.
