Unlearn Your Pain: The Science of Recovering from Chronic Pain, Fatigue, Anxiety, and Depression

by Howard Schubiner MD

Based on more than twenty years of clinical trials and practice, Unlearn Your Pain is a groundbreaking guide to reversing chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression.


AN OPEN FIELD PUBLICATION FROM MARIA SHRIVER

Migraines, headaches, back pain, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, and a host of other chronic illnesses have caused hardship worldwide. For the past twenty years, Dr. Howard Schubiner has conducted clinical trials and authored more than 100 scientific papers to uncover the root cause of these in challenging illnesses. In Unlearn Your Pain, he shares in inspiring and step-by-step detail the program that has proven to be effective in reversing chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. For most people, the answers lie in the science of neuroplasticity, and this book details a revolutionary program that has saved thousands from a lifetime of misery and depression.

Using the latest research and mind-body practices all confirmed by clinical trials and studies, Dr. Schubiner leads readers to a new understanding of how the mind affects pain and physical and emotional health, and how we can live healthier and better lives.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing illustrations, diagrams, tables, and lists from the book as well as the Glossary, Resources, Acknowledgements, and a list of people who've benefited from this work.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Science

448 pages, Hardcover

Published May 26, 2026

Reviews

[Steve Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a retired physician who practiced Family Medicine for over 30 years, managing chronic pain was a daily nemesis. The pain most always won. I had many sad cases that I called my "permanently broken people". If only I had had the knowledge contained in this book and the training and time to implement these methods. Both my professional life and the lives of my patients would have been better.
I have read a lot about chronic pain and "incurable" conditions like fibromyalgia but this book tops them all. As a personal sufferer of chronic low back pain for the past 6 years, just reading this and making baby steps to implement the lessons contained here has already made a difference.

Very recommended.

[Jeni Quigg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The brain can learn symptoms, anxiety, depression and it can unlearn it. Life Changing. Hope.

I've worked with earlier versions of Unlearn Your Pain for years — it is one of the core texts of the neuroplastic pain recovery field, and a framework I return to constantly in my clinical work and as a Pain Reprocessing Therapy practitioner and educator.

This edition brings that foundational work to a mainstream audience at exactly the right moment. The science has caught up. The cultural conversation is shifting. And Dr. Schubiner — one of the architects of Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy and a researcher whose work spans decades — has produced something that is both rigorously evidenced and genuinely readable.

The central argument that much chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression originates in learned neural circuits rather than structural damage is no longer a fringe position. It is where the evidence points. This book offers a path people can actually use — without flattening the complexity of what's happening in the brain and body.

For clinicians: this belongs in your lending library and your clinical orientation. For anyone living with chronic symptoms: this may be the book that finally makes sense of what you've been experiencing.

Dr. Schubiner has given a lot of people their lives back. This edition will reach even more. And the most important part is - I've interacted with Howard through out the years and he is one of the most compassionate human beings I've ever met. He works tirelessly to help people. I hope for more doctors/humans like him.

— Jeni Quigg, LMHC

[Natalie H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love you Dr. Schubiner, you changed my life fr <3

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book that challenges many of the diagnostic assumptions of modern medicine.

[River Crabbe]

I think there is some valuable work here that is undoubtedly life changing for some people. Simultaneously the reductionism that pervades the world of chronic illness treatment is infuriating and the application is easily harmful.

I've been grateful for Nkem Ndefo's insight on this. She speaks of people who had chronic anxiety which disappeared when eliminating a food allergy. Pervasive dissociation which resisted years of somatic work only to resolve when a heart defect was repaired.

Yes, Schubiner recommends ruling out all biomedical factors that can cause chronic conditions but under our current healthcare system many of us are unable to do that. Of the millions impacted by the above, how many can actually obtain extensive screening and labs? How many instead think they need to just 'work on themself' in order to feel better...and inevitably fail.

What we end up with is a narrative that asks for individual responsibility (some might say grit) to transform chronic symptoms while lacking the supportive oversight of a doctor/care coordinator/social worker etc. The more I consider the world of neuroplasticity - especially in the reality of healthcare in 2026 - the more it seems to replicate neoliberal political frameworks in imagining we can control or will our bodies. That we can heal ourselves if we work hard enough. What then, if our pain and fatigue persists?

Nonetheless, there is some well presented research in this interesting book. It's hopeful and empowering. It shows compassion and offers useful tools and insight which I find helpful, especially around chronic pain. AND: I am just really fed up of clinicians who are doggedly invested in their framework as the correct or only way.

Nb: I listened to this on audiobook, and this topic is currently very hot on my mind, so my thoughts on this book are intermingled with my thoughts on other aspects of this movement rather than solely being about the book.

[Kate Horrocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

No notes. A must read for all medical professionals or sufferers of chronic symptoms

[Julie Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be the most comprehensive, scientifically grounded, and practical guide available on the subject of neuroplastic pain. What sets this book apart is his ability to seamlessly bridge the gap between complex neuroscience and the lived experience of chronic suffering, validating the reader's pain while offering a clear, concrete path out of it.

The book covers an incredible amount of ground, diving deep into the specific psychological and physiological causes of neuroplasticity—how the brain inadvertently learns to perpetuate a physical alarm response. Schubiner doesn't just stop at explaining the "why"; he dedicates a significant portion of the book to the "how." He provides brilliant, actionable guidance on treatment, detailing a structured protocol that includes mindfulness techniques, expressive writing, and behavioral experiments designed to systematically retrain the brain's neural pathways.

Ultimately, this is the definitive roadmap for anyone looking to understand and overcome neuroplastic pain. Schubiner strips away the dense clinical jargon and replaces it with daily exercises that give the reader a true sense of agency over their own recovery. It is an absolute must-read for individuals living with persistent symptoms, as well as any clinician looking to understand the cutting edge of mind-body medicine.

[Eva Hylander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fascinating news about how mind and body affect each other. Our brains can create pain and a lot of other symptoms without a physical reason. The brain's main task is to be alert for danger and protect us against it and one of its warning signals is pain. Its is really complicated when you start to think about how your own thinking makes your pain worse or gives new pain. But it's also very hopeful. So many real stories in this book about persons getting better or being painfree after years of chronic pain. The book shares a lot of results from scientific reports and a step by step instruction how you can unlearn some of your symptoms.

[Vinani Mwazanzale · Rating 5 out of 5]

life changing

[Leila M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an eye opening read. While I don’t have standard chronic pain, I have components of headaches that I now see as neuroplastic pain.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Unlearn Your Pain" explains how it is actually your brain that generates pain based on perceived danger, either from further physical damage or emotional distress. While injury can be the cause of pain, this usually resolves when the injury heals. Yet chronic pain and things like depression or anxiety might linger even after the damage is healed--or even be generated because the brain thinks it's keeping you from danger. The author provided many examples of this.

He carefully evaluates patients to see if tissue damage is behind the pain or not. If not, he's developed a couple ways to help your brain feel safe again--safe to move, have energy, and be joyful. The one thing that I felt the author overlooked is how the body can go into "freeze" (of fight, flight, or freeze fame) when a person feels overwhelmed, powerless, or in danger and that's what he's trying to reset with his methods.

The author then described in detail and with real examples how to use his methods on yourself or what a practitioner using these methods will do with you. He also described a number of clinical trials that have tested his methods against other popular chronic pain alternatives like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The results with his methods worked better (greater relief from symptoms) and lasted longer. So if you have chronic pain, fatigue, depression, or anxiety you might try this an see if it helps.

I received a free ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Jennie Reads Plenty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I had known more about this book before starting it. The author is clear that these ideas are aimed primarily at people with chronic symptoms despite normal testing and no obvious structural disease. As someone with multiple documented medical conditions, I realized fairly quickly that I wasn't the target audience.

There were some interesting concepts, and I can see how this approach might help certain people. However, many of the examples didn't resonate with me. When conditions like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome were discussed, I found myself skeptical. Therapy and increased activity may help some people function better, but they don't stop joint dislocations or reverse connective tissue disorders.

This wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't the book I thought I was picking up, and if I'd known its focus going in, I probably would have chosen something else.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having had and recovered from a number of neuroplastic symptoms caused by stress and emotional issues, I found this book to be informative and validating. Schubiner is careful to emphasize that not every pain is neuroplastic, and that biomedical issues require biomedical treatments in their various forms. The methods for addressing neuroplastic conditions are, as he admits, deceptively simple, involving various techniques familiar to anyone vaguely accustomed to cognitive behavioral therapy. Fantastic for someone struggling with an issue that may be revealed to be neuroplastic, but less useful if the reader is already definitively aware of the cause(s) of the problem.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such an interesting book. I fit the bill for a lot of the conditions mentioned in it and I do believe that a lot of these things I am already working towards. It was a hopeful and inspiring read and I would recommend people follow the steps in it which are well laid out. Thanks to NetGalley and the open field for the ARC.

[Lone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough, well written and documented science in a book about chronic illness from a another perspective than traditional medicine when there are no obvious finds even though patients suffers terrible with various pains, fatigue, headaches and so much more. Howard Schubiner is a pioneer in a field that should be common knowledge in every health care system.

[Lulu La · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I refer clients to it all the time and the concepts in this book have completely changed my relationship to pain. The y have also changed and affected so many of my clients only positively. As a long time movement therapist, I can wholeheartedly recommend this amazing book.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great addition / follow-up to Gordon’s The Way Out. My (functional) back pain left after few pages. Nevertheless, I read the whole book in several days and recommend it to my friends with range of (seemingly) neuroplastic issues.

[Ann Otto · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a great interest in this book at a conference I attended. Dr. Schubiner is a good speaker, but the book wasn't helpful. It was to include help for anxiety, depression, and fatigue in addition to physical pain, but mostly concerned the latter.

[D'Anne Mosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Print—research on neuroplastic pain and recovery by creating new neuro pathways.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio

[Lauren Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed learning about how powerful our brains really are. Super interesting.

[Courtney Hartog · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book felt more like an ad for a specific app than an actual book with helpful information.

[Anna M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all medical professionals.

[Olivia Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the version of the body keeps the score that we all actually need. so life changing and important, shoutout Howard fr

[Emma :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant. life changing