Michael J. Murray's powerful memoir chronicles his difficult battle to conquer his undiagnosed pain. Murray confides his emotional torment and near collapse as numerous doctors—most of whom don't actually take the time to truly listen to their desperate patient—promise relief but only deliver ineffective treatments, contradicting diagnoses, and often dispassionate care. In the end, Murray's chance discovery in a book on back pain leads to a dawning awareness of the emotional root of his near-constant agony. As he digs deeper into this line of medicine and therapy that connects the mind and body, he uncovers how significant moments from his past manifest as physical and emotional pains in his present.

Murray's recounting of his journey is honest and vulnerable, and anyone who is suffering from chronic physical or emotional pain or knows someone on this difficult path will appreciate what he learned about