Being a medical person, I am skeptical by nature, so I looked into Sarno's academic publication record. According to NYU, at least, he hasn't published in a journal for 7 years. That doesn't mean anything necessarily; it just calibrates my expectations.
His explanation for what is going on is not credible - but that does not mean that I don't find his solution credible. Biofeedback techniques are noninvasive and always merit a try.
In the absence of actual evidence, I cannot conclude that the technique works any better than placebo - but I am certainly glad that your pain is gone. The placebo effect (if that's what this is, which it may not be) is quite real.
You also have to completely believe in the TMS diagnosis.
That means that you have to completely accept the fact
that your symptoms are emotionally induced. If you still
believe that there may be something physically or
structurally "wrong" with you, you're not yet "cured."
You're not paying attention to the underlying emotions,
which means that the symptoms can still work as a
distraction, and it's likely that they will return.
Sounds like a self-imposed placebo to me. If it works it's still good, of course; it'd be very useful for "standard" medicine to learn how to use the placebo efficiently and ethically.
It also sounds like a good excuse to explain the people who aren't helped by the therapy - if they don't get better they don't believe in it enough and have themselves to blame (or they have the wrong diagnosis).
His explanation for what is going on is not credible - but that does not mean that I don't find his solution credible. Biofeedback techniques are noninvasive and always merit a try.
In the absence of actual evidence, I cannot conclude that the technique works any better than placebo - but I am certainly glad that your pain is gone. The placebo effect (if that's what this is, which it may not be) is quite real.