Forget the Pills—This Mental Therapy Eases Chronic Pain
United States: Evidence from a recent trial demonstrates that patients with low back pain achieve benefits from mental pain treatment strategies.
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Multiple studies conducted by JAMA Network Open confirm that both mindfulness meditation and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) help decrease pain symptoms in people with chronic back pain.
The effective treatments that patients used led to reduced opioid painkiller consumption levels based on study results.
According to the senior researcher Eric Garland, a professor of health sciences and psychology at the University of California-San Diego, “These therapies aren’t a total cure, but they teach people how to develop the inner resources they need to cope with chronic pain and to live a better life,” US News reported.
Current research identified this study as the biggest investigation measuring the effectiveness of mindfulness treatment and CBT against opioid-dependent chronic pain.
The clinical study attracted 770 adults who received treatment for their lower back pain at locations in both Boston and Wisconsin.; Madison. Boston, and Salt Lake City.
Furthermore, as per the co-lead researcher Dr. Bruce Barrett, professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “The people in this study had quite severe back pain that interfered with their life and was bad enough to need opioid medication. Usually, in that condition, people don’t really get better over time on their own,” US News reported.
A research study used random assignment to divide patients between receiving mindfulness therapy sessions and CBT group therapy sessions over eight weeks.
The mindfulness therapy taught participants to recognize bodily sensations, which granted them better competency in managing both their pain responses and other symptoms, according to investigators.
The CBT group members learned strategies to transform negative behavioral patterns and thinking patterns that underlie the manifestation of back pain.
“Mindfulness is a self-regulated tool that comes from within, unlike surgery or medication where something is being done to you from the outside,” as Garland stated.
“By learning these techniques, patients continue to experience lasting benefits,” he continued.
