The implication by Sarno is that stress, or other psychological factors, is the whole reason for the physical pain. Not always, but in many (if not a majority)

The implication by Sarno is that stress, or other psychological factors, is the whole reason for the physical pain. Not always, but in many (if not a majority) of cases. The idea is the pain is very, very real, and very, very painful. But that the cause is psychological. The reason why RSI and back pain type issues persist is because psychologically they are very easy to justify. Of course we put load on our backs! Of course we do repetitive things! So it's easy to draw the conclusion that this is the cause, especially for your brain. This prevents people from exploring a root cause. It's interesting material, but I think you have to be pretty open minded to consider it.