I'm 48, and suffered from debilitating back pain until the last few years; it started when I was badly beaten up when I was 19, and got worse as the years went

I'm 48, and suffered from debilitating back pain until the last few years; it started when I was badly beaten up when I was 19, and got worse as the years went on - each episode would become worse and longer-lasting until around 7-8 years ago it was so bad I was in constant pain all day, every day, but with episodes of pain so bad I can't really describe it every couple of months or so. I've never been overweight or had any other issues, and people couldn't understand why my back was so bad or the pain so intense. (me included) It was only learning to relax (and starting meditation) and stopping seeing my body as the enemy (thanks to the kind encouragement of my girlfriend as well as working with Alexander technique teachers) that I started to make any improvement, and this combined with appropriate physical exercises has meant that I've been fortunate to have nearly 2 years of normal life (which to me in the past would have just been a dream) - no spasms, no 'episodes', and now I can do normal things like go for a walk and not worry if I'll make it back, etc. I was physically abused by my father when I was a child (fortunately he died when I was 8), and I really didn't think it had effected me much, but I now realise I spend most of my time out in public assessing who poses a physical attack risk to me, and it's only since talking my my girlfriend about it (she's training to be a counsellor and has this book by her bed) that I've realised that this is -not- normal! My life is unrecognisably better since taking this sort of thinking on board. I'm definitely a 'science' person - lifelong atheist, try to be as rational as possible, etc - but we still don't know everything, particularly of how incredibly complex the human brain is, and how it can control so much of not only our experience, but our existence.