Beat Pain with Mindfulness

January 8, 2016 psyjdc 1 Comment

“A common but unfortunate saying is that the pain is in your head….this saying implies that it’s not real, but fabricated. This is not true. However, pain is located in your head, within your brain. When you have pain, the brain is very active processing it. How your brain processes it determines the pain you experience. So yes, your pain experience is in your head, but it’s real. It can be measured, and it can be changed for the better.” – Adriaan Louw

Mindfulness practices including meditation have been shown to reduce perceived pain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/pain/). The studies that examined mindfulness and pain, however, did not include any control conditions to account for the effects of a placebo or participant expectations about the efficacy of the treatment. The placebo effect is powerful and can produce outcomes that are very similar to those produced by different forms of treatment including therapy and drugs. This effect is based upon the psychological tendency of people to produce outcomes that conform to their expectations. So, if the participant believes that a treatment will make him/her better, it will, regardless of whether the particular treatment is actually effective or not.

The placebo effect presents a difficult issue for treatment research and most studies do not include any mechanism for assessing the expectations of the participants. Thus many reported positive results may in fact be due to the placebo effect rather than an actual effect of the treatment. So, it is possible that the reported efficacy for mindfulness training to reduce perceived pain may in fact be due to a placebo effect. Even if a treatment is actually effective, the placebo effect may be so strong that the true effect cannot be distinguished from the placebo effect. It is very difficult to separate the two.

A potential method for examining whether an effect is due to a treatment or a placebo is to look at the neural mechanisms underlying the two. In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness Meditation-Based Pain Relief Employs Different Neural Mechanisms than Placebo and Sham Mindfulness Meditation-Induced Analgesia”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1144956498861608/?type=3&theater

http://jn.sfn.org/press/November-18-2015-Issue/zns04615015307.pdf

Zeidan and colleagues implement this strategy and investigate the neural systems that respond to meditation vs. placebo for pain. They actually implement three control groups, placebo conditioning, sham mindfulness meditation, and book-listening for comparison with meditation and also record functional neuroimaging for each group while responding to an experimental pain condition. The placebo condition involved telling the participant that they were being administered a pain killing cream which was in actuality an inert petroleum jelly. The sham meditation condition only instructed the participant to close their eyes and breath and meditate but without specific instructions as to how to meditate. The experimental pain procedure involved the application of a non-damaging hot probe. During the application of the probe the participants rated their pain and also had their brains scanned with functional MRI.

They found that only the meditation group had an increase in mindfulness and that all groups except the book-listening control group had decreased pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings. The meditation group, however, had the largest decrease in perceived pain and pain unpleasantness. They also found that different neural structures were activated with the pain manipulation with the different conditions. Meditation produced a greater activation in brain regions associated with the cognitive processing of pain, including the orbitofrontal, subgenual anterior cingulate, and anterior insular cortex. While the placebo produced increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and deactivation of sensory processing regions. Sham meditation did not produce significant neural activity, but rather greater reductions in the respiration rate.

These results are interesting and important. They demonstrate that meditation is more effective than either a placebo or a sham meditation in reducing perceived pain and pain unpleasantness. In addition, they demonstrate that there were different neural mechanisms involved in the effects of each on pain. The fact that they work differently in the brain indicates that meditation’s effectiveness at relieving pain is not due to a placebo or subject expectancy effect or to the conditions of meditation. Hence, meditation is an effective treatment for pain.

So, meditate and beat pain.

“Your brain plays a major role in controlling your pain. How you are feeling or what you are thinking about your pain has a direct impact on what happens to the pain signal in the spinal cord, and thus has a huge effect on how much pain you feel.”- Charles Argoff

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Headaches are a Headache – Reduce them with Mindfulness 2

January 7, 2016 psyjdc Leave a comment

“To diminish the suffering of pain, we need to make a crucial distinction between the pain of pain, and the pain we create by our thoughts about the pain. Fear, anger, guilt, loneliness and helplessness are all mental and emotional responses that can intensify pain.” ~Howard Cutler

Headaches are the most common disorders of the nervous system. It has been estimated that 47% of the adult population have a headache at least once during the last year. The most common type of headache is the tension headache with 80 to 90 percent of the population suffering from tension headaches at least some time in their lives. The second most common type of headache is the migraine headache. Around 16 to 17 percent of the population complains of migraines. It is the 8th most disabling illness in the world with more than 90% of sufferers unable to work or function normally during their migraine. American employers lose more than $13 billion each year as a result of 113 million lost work days due to migraine.

There are a wide variety of drugs that are prescribed for chronic headache pain with varying success. Most tension headaches can be helped by taking pain relievers such as aspirin, naproxen, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen. A number of medications can help treat and prevent migraines and tension headaches, including ergotamine, blood pressure drugs such as propranolol, verapamil, antidepressants, antiseizure drugs, and muscle relaxants. Drugs, however, can have some problematic side effects particularly when used regularly and are ineffective for many sufferers. So, almost all practitioners consider lifestyle changes that help control stress and promote regular exercise to be an important part of headache treatment and prevention. Avoiding situations that trigger headaches is also vital.

A Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program has been shown to be an effective treatment for tension headache (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/07/headaches-are-a-headache-reduce-them-with-mindfulness/). Unfortunately, migraine sufferers were not included in the study. In today’s Research News article “The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Perceived Pain Intensity and Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Headache”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1144418128915445/?type=3&theater

Bakhshani and colleagues examine the effectiveness of an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program compared to a treatment as usual (primarily drugs) control group for chronic headaches including tension and migraine headaches. They found that in comparison to the control group which primarily controlled pain with drugs the MBSR group had a clinically significant reduction in pain intensity with a moderate effect size. They also found that MBSR produced a significant improvement in quality of life including role limitation due to physical health, bodily pain, general health, energy and vitality, emotional health and physical and mental health. These results indicate that MBSR is a clinically meaningful effective treatment for both tension and migraine headaches, not only reducing pain but also improving the patients’ quality of life. Importantly, MBSR effects were superior to drug treatment.

MBSR is structured to reduce stress and has been empirically shown to significantly reduce both the physiological and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/29/get-your-calm-on/). Since tension headaches are primarily produced by stress and migraine headaches are frequently triggered by stress, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the stress reduction contributed to the effectiveness of MBSR for chronic headaches. Mindfulness training, by focusing attention on the present moment has also been shown to reduce worry and catastrophizing (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/worry/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/). Pain is increased by worry about the pain and the expectation of greater pain in the future. So, reducing worry and catastrophizing should reduce headache pain. In addition, negative emotions are associated with the onset of headaches. Mindfulness has been shown to increae positive emotions and decrease negative ones (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/15/spiraling-up-with-mindfulness/). Finally, mindfulness has been shown to change how pain is processed in the brain reducing the intensity of pain signals in the nervous system.

Regardless of the mechanism, it is clear that MBSR is a safe and effective treatment that is more effective than drugs for chronic headaches. So, reduce headache pain and improve quality of life with mindfulness.

“The way to live in the present is to remember that ‘This too shall pass.’ When you experience joy, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ helps you savor the here and now. When you experience pain and sorrow, remembering that ‘This too shall pass’ reminds you that grief, like joy, is only temporary.” ~Joey Green

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Stop Being Angry, Anxious, and Depressed over Fibromyalgia with Mindfulness

December 22, 2015 psyjdc Leave a comment

“Fibromyalgia is not a cookie-cutter illness. Each of us is different and unique. There is no cure or control over this, hence each day we must continuously adapt to our disease state.” – Dear Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a mysterious disorder whose causes are unknown. It is very common affecting over 5 million people in the U.S., about 2% of the population with about 7 times more women affected than men. It is characterized by widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbance, and fatigue that lead to psychological distress. Fibromyalgia may also have morning stiffness, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, headaches, including migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disturbances, thinking and memory problems, and painful menstrual periods. The symptoms are so severe and debilitating that about half the patients are unable to perform routine daily functions and about a third have to stop work. Although it is not itself fatal, suicide rates are higher in fibromyalgia sufferers.

Many studies have linked fibromyalgia with depression. In fact, people with fibromyalgia are up to three times more likely to be depressed at the time of their diagnosis than someone without fibromyalgia. In addition, the stress from pain and fatigue can cause anxiety and social isolation. As a result, many patients experience intense anger regarding their situation. The emotions are understandable, but can act to amplify the pain. Hence, controlling the emotions may reduce the perceived pain.

Mindfulness practices have been shown to be effective in reducing pain from fibromyalgia (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/10/05/reduce-fibromyalgia-pain-with-mindfulness/). This may occur directly or indirectly by reducing emotions or both. Since mindfulness has been shown to improve emotion regulation, it would seem reasonable that this could be a route of effectiveness. In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness training for reducing anger, anxiety, and depression in fibromyalgia patients”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1135018156522109/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4290530/

Amutio and colleagues investigate the effects of a 7-week, 2-hour per week mindfulness practice on the heightened emotions that accompany fibromyalgia. Results were compared to those obtained from a wait-list control group. It was found that the mindfulness training significantly reduced anger, anxiety, and depression at the end of training and these improvements were maintained three months later.

These are exciting results and suggest that mindfulness training is effective for the heightened emotions associated with fibromyalgia. It is unfortunate that Amutio and colleagues did not measure levels of pain. So, it is impossible to ascertain whether the emotional reductions also produced pain reductions. But, even if the mindfulness program only affects emotions, that by itself would be a significant contribution to the patients’ well-being.

Mindfulness has been shown to improve emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/) which allows the individual to experience the emotions fully but to respond to them in a constructive, productive fashion, thus taking away the amplifying effect of the emotions on pain. Mindfulness training also improves the individual’s ability to focus on the present moment and this has been shown to reduce rumination and catastrophizing (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/) which can produce anxiety and depression. These would also amplify the pain. Regardless of the mechanism it is clear the mindfulness training can be beneficial in controlling the emotional sequela of fibromyalgia pain.

So, stop being angry, anxious, and depressed over fibromyalgia with mindfulness.

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.” ― Haruki Murakami

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Up to your Neck in Pain – Try Yoga

December 2, 2015 psyjdc 6 Comments

“For many people, managing pain involves using prescription medicine in combination with complementary techniques like physical therapy, acupuncture, yoga and massage. I appreciate this because I truly believe medical care should address the person as a whole – their mind, body, and spirit.” – Naomi Judd

We all have to deal with pain. It’s inevitable, but hopefully mild and short lived. But, for many, pain is a constant in their lives. The most common forms of chronic pain are back and neck pain. Indeed, back pain is the number one cause of disability worldwide. In addition, neck pain is the number three cause of chronic pain; affecting more than a quarter of Americans. People who experience chronic back and neck pain are limited in their daily activities and may compensate in order to walk, run, sit, etc. and the compensatory postures can produce further sometimes different problems.

There are a myriad of causes for chronic back and neck pain, including something as simple as improper positioning while sleeping, or even sitting or standing with bad posture. It can also occur due to injuries, accidents, heavy lifting or other spinal issues. These types of pain are not only a problem for the individual but are also costly for society as they constitute the largest category of medical insurance claims.

Just as there are many different causes there are also a plethora of treatments for back and neck pain. The most common is the use of drugs, including over –the-counter pain relievers and at times opiates. These are helpful but have limited effectiveness. Sometimes the pain can lead to surgical interventions that can be costly and are not always effective. So, alternative treatments such as acupuncture have also been used with some success. Yoga is another promising alternative treatment for back and neck pain. Many forms of yoga focus on the proper alignment of the spine, which could directly address the source of back and neck pain for many individuals.

We’ve seen in previous posts that yoga can be effective for the relief of chronic low-back pain

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/23/treat-back-pain-with-yoga/. Indeed, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) which includes yoga practice is effective for low back pain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/10/17/control-low-back-pain-with-mindfulness/).In today’s Research News article “Effectiveness of Iyengar yoga in treating spinal (back and neck) pain: A systematic review”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1124994394191152/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4278133/

Crow and colleagues review the published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the application of yoga for the relief of back and neck pain. They found that yoga produced clinically significant improvements in pain intensity. There was clear and strong evidence for effectiveness on the short term. Only three trials had long-term follow-up but were supportive that yoga has sustained effectiveness.

Yoga has many positive benefits for the physical and psychological well-being of the individual and can even provide spiritual benefits. It is generally safe when taught by well-trained yoga instructors, but can still have some adverse effects and practice needs to be tempered with moderation and caution. The present review, hiowever, provides strong support for its use in treating chronic back and neck pain.

So, practice yoga and relieve chronic back and neck pain

“The practices of Yoga equip us with tools for transcending this suffering – and for transcending our moments of happiness, too. Even moments of elation, contentment, and joy carry the future pain of their termination, after all.” – Sharon Gannon & David Life

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Treat Back Pain with Yoga

November 23, 2015 psyjdc 6 Comments

“Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.” ~B.K.S. Iyengar

Low Back Pain affects a wide swath of humanity (6% to 15%) and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. It affects almost everyone with 80% of the population experiencing back pain sometime during their lives. There are varied treatments for low back pain including chiropractic care, acupuncture, biofeedback, physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, massage, surgery, opiate pain killing drugs, steroid injections, and muscle relaxant drugs.

The therapies are sometimes effective particularly for acute back pain. But, for chronic conditions the treatments are less effective and often require continuing treatment for years. Obviously, there is a need for effective treatments for low back pain that are low cost and don’t have troublesome side effects. Since many yoga poses focus on stretching and strengthen in the back, it makes sense that yoga practice when done properly should be helpful for low-back pain. Indeed, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) which includes yoga practice is effective for low back pain http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/10/17/control-low-back-pain-with-mindfulness/.

In today’s Research News article “Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Efficacy of Iyengar Yoga Therapy on Chronic Low Back Pain”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1120568141300444/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393557/

Williams and colleagues examine the effectiveness of 24 weeks of Iyengar yoga practice on adults who have been suffering from low-back pain for longer than 3 months. They randomly assigned participants to either yoga practice or to receive standard medical care.

They found that the pain sufferers who participated in yoga had a 42% greater reduction in pain intensity than the group receiving standard medical care. This resulted in a trend toward a greater reduction in the use of pain medications in the yoga group. Importantly, the yoga participants showed a 24% greater improvement in their ability to carry on with normal activities, with a larger number of yoga participants having a clinically significant decrease in functional disability. In addition, the yoga participants showed a large, 47%, reduction in depression levels in comparison to the standard medical care participants. These effects were produced without any significant adverse effects and were still present 6-months after the conclusion of the active treatment.

These results confirm that yoga practice is a safe and effective treatment that produces long-term improvements in chronic low-back pain and in turn improves the patients’ abilities to carry on everyday activities and in turn reduces depression. This also appears to reduce the individuals use of drugs to treat their pain symptoms. Yoga has so many beneficial effects (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/contemplative-practice/yoga-contemplative-practice/) in addition to the assistance with pain that it would seem to be an almost ideal treatment.

So, practice yoga and improve low-back pain and disability.

“Hatha is the sanctuary for those suffering every type of pain. It is the foundation for those practicing every type of Yoga.” ~Svatmarama

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Control Low Back Pain with Mindfulness

October 17, 2015 psyjdc 20 Comments

“When I was able to concentrate I had a great experience. The only time I had a sensation is when I was concentrating on my lower back. I felt like something was happening to that section of my body and … the pain would disappear”

Low Back Pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and affects between 6% to 15% of the population. It is estimated, however, that 80% of the population will experience back pain sometime during their lives. There are varied treatments for low back pain including chiropractic care, acupuncture, biofeedback, physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, massage, surgery, opiate pain killing drugs, steroid injections, and muscle relaxant drugs.

The therapies are sometimes effective particularly for acute back pain. But, for chronic conditions the treatments are less effective and often require continuing treatment for years. Obviously, there is a need for effective treatments for low back pain that are low cost and don’t have troublesome side effects. Mindfulness training has shown promise in the treatment of a variety of pain conditions (see links at the bottom). But, there is a need for testing with chronic low back pain patients.

In today’s Research News article “Effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on pain and quality of life of patients with chronic low back pain”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1103506393006619/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4479890/

Banth and colleagues compared the meditation and body scan components of an 8-wk Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program to medical treatment as usual for chronic low back pain in women. They found that treatment as usual had very little if any effect. But, the mindfulness treatment markedly reduced pain by the end of the 8-wk treatment period. In addition,, the pain was reduced further for the subsequent 4-wks to the point where the pain scores were nearly cut in half. They also observed a large improvement in both mental and physical quality of life. These are remarkable results and suggest that mindfulness training is a safe and effective treatment for chronic low back pain.

Pain usually has a physical cause but it is greatly affected by the psychological reaction to pain. Mindfulness training is thought to modify pain sensitivity by both affecting the psychological and physical aspects of pain. Mindfulness training appears to uncouple the pain from the emotions and thought process such as worry and rumination that accompany chronic pain. These psychological processes can have the effect of amplifying the perceived pain. So, uncoupling them from the pain can greatly reduce the perceived pain. In addition, mindfulness training appears to reduce the nervous systems response to painful stimuli by reducing the activity of the brain areas that normally respond to painful stimuli.

So practice mindfulness and control chronic pain.

“There is a way to work with all this, based on Buddhist meditative practices, which can liberate you, to a very large extent, from the experience of pain. Whether or not you can reduce the level of sensory pain, the affective and cognitive contributions to the pain— which make it much worse—usually) can be lessened. And then, very often, the sensory component of the pain changes as well.” – John Kabat-Zinn

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

MBSR is effective in reducing pain http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-the-pain-killer/ and headache pain http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/07/headaches-are-a-headache-reduce-them-with-mindfulness/

Teenage meditators have reduced pain sensitivity http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/

Yoga reduces pain from arthritis http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/14/age-healthily-yoga-for-arthritis/

Reduce Fibromyalgia Pain with Mindfulness

October 5, 2015 psyjdc 15 Comments

“I wake up tired, I stay up tired, I go to bed tired. I wake up in pain, I stay up in pain, I go to bed in pain. I wake up with hope, I stay up with hope, I go to bed with hope.” – FibroColors

Fibromyalgia is a mysterious disorder whose causes are unknown. It is characterized by widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbance, and fatigue that lead to psychological distress. Fibromyalgia may also have morning stiffness, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, headaches, including migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disturbances, thinking and memory problems, and painful menstrual periods.

Fibromyalgia is very common affecting over 5 million people in the U.S., about 2% of the population. The vast majority of fibromyalgia sufferers are women, roughly 7 times more prevalent than in men. Although it is not itself fatal, suicide rates are higher in fibromyalgia sufferers. The symptoms are so severe and debilitating that about half the patients are unable to perform routine daily functions and about a third have to stop work.

There is no cure for fibromyalgia and the treatments are aimed at symptom relief. Drugs from simple pain killers to antidepressants are used and can help. There is a need for other treatment options. In a previous post it was discussed how mindfulness practice can be effective for the symptoms of fibromyalgia (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-the-pain-killer/). There are a number of other complementary and alternative therapies that might also be effective.

In today’s Research News article “Overview of Reviews for Complementary and Alternative Therapies in the Treatment of the Fibromyalgia Syndrome”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1098448550179070/?type=3&theater

Lauche and colleagues review the literature on the use of complementary and alternative therapies such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, homeopathy, etc. for the treatment of fibromyalgia. They found that the published research indicates that tai chi, yoga, meditation and mindfulness-based interventions, hypnosis or guided imagery, biofeedback, and hydrotherapy were consistently effective while homeopathy and phytotherapy produced very inconsistent effects.

It is interesting that mind body techniques in general appeared to have positive effects especially on pain and, importantly, tended to be more effective than the usual treatments for fibromyalgia. A common feature of these practices is that they tend to calm the sympathetic nervous system which is involved in physiological activation. It is possible that this is a key to producing some relief of fibromyalgia symptoms.

But, mind body therapies have a large number of effects that may underlie their usefulness for fibromyalgia. They tend to promote emotion regulation, allowing the individual to experience their emotions but not overreact or react inappropriately to them. Since, fibromyalgia tends to produce emotional distress, the improved emotion regulation produced by mind body therapies could be a key to relieving the symptoms.

In addition, mind body therapies are known to alter the nervous system processing of pain stimuli, reducing the intensity of pain and the reactions to pain. This effect of these therapies directly affects a central symptom of fibromyalgia, pain. There are also other effects of these therapies such as improved attention and increased focus on the present moment that may also have effects on the symptoms by reducing worry and rumination. It remains for future research to clarify the most important consequences of mind body therapies for the treatment of fibromyalgia.

So, practice mindfulness and improve fibromyalgia symptoms.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Reduce Pain with Meditation

September 16, 2015 psyjdc Leave a comment

“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.” – Joseph Campbell

Pain can be difficult to deal with, particularly if it’s persistent. But, even short-term pain, acute pain, is unpleasant. But acute pain is an important signal that there is something wrong or that damage is occurring and some form of action is needed. It’s an important signal that is ignored at the individual’s peril.

So, it’s important that pain signals not be blocked or prevented. But, it would be useful to establish a method to lower pain and improve recovery from a painful stimulus. Contemplative practice has been shown to be useful for both chronic and acute pain (see links below). But the question remains as to how much practice is needed to assist with pain.
In today’s Research News article “A Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training Increases Pain Threshold and Accelerates Modulation of Response to Tonic Pain in an Experimental Study”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1089069581116967/?type=1&theater

Reiner and colleagues examine whether a very brief (2-week) meditation practice can reduce pain in an experimental situation. They found that a brief meditation reduced the perception of pain by increasing the level of stimulation required to produce pain and by decreasing the time it takes to recover from the painful stimulus.

How does a 2-week meditation practice change the perception of pain? One way is by altering the brain’s processing of painful stimuli. It appears that meditation practice results in an uncoupling of the brain areas that process pain stimuli and the areas involved in the conscious appreciation and reactivity to pain. Also, meditation practice by focusing on the present moment, letting the past recede from attention, may promote recovery from pain. Rather than continuing to think about past pain and thus prolonging the experience, meditation may lead the individual to focus on the present when the painful stimulus is absent. This may allow the individual to let go of the pain faster.

Regardless of the mechanism the results are important in that meditation appears to reduce sensitivity to pain, but still allows the pain to be experienced. So the individual will be less uncomfortable but still able to respond appropriately to the painful stimulus, thus preventing further injury. The results also indicate that it doesn’t take years of meditation practice to provide the relief from pain. Two weeks of practice was sufficient. That such a brief practice still is effective is quite remarkable and suggests that the benefits of meditation can be obtained fairly soon after initiating practice.

So, reduce pain with meditation, even with only 2-week practice.

“There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.” – Aeschylus
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

LINKS

Meditation reduces pain sensitivity in adolescents

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/

Mindfulness Based Stress reduction (MBSR) improves quality of life in fibromyalgia patients http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-the-pain-killer/.

Yoga improves quality of life with arthritis pain http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/14/age-healthily-yoga-for-arthritis/

Headaches are a Headache – Reduce them with Mindfulness

September 7, 2015 psyjdc 3 Comments

Headaches are a headache and can be disruptive to our productivity and happiness. The most common form of headache is tension headache constituting 90% of all headaches. Occasional headache is a common ailment but when it becomes chronic it can be quite disruptive to the sufferer’s life. Chronic tension headaches affect about 3% of the population.

It has been demonstrated that mindfulness training can help with a wide variety of types and sources of pain, for example it has been found to be effective for fibromyalgia pain http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-the-pain-killer/, a particularly difficult pain to treat. It has also been shown to be effective for migraine headaches.

In today’s Research News article “Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Pain Severity and Mindful Awareness in Patients with Tension Headache: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1083903811633544/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4332994/

Omidi and Zargar test the application of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for chronic tension headache pain. They found that MBSR produced a clinically significant reduction in pain and also increased mindfulness in these patients.

There are a number of ways that MBSR training could be producing the reduction in tension headache pain. MBSR was designed for the reduction of stress and has been shown to be very effective. Since, tension headaches are often precipitated or amplified by stress, the reduction in responsivity to stress produced by MBSR would be expected to help reduce pain.

Pain itself can amplify pain by producing a fear of pain which can cause the individual to not only suffer from the current pain but add to it with worry about future pain. Many pain patients ruminate about their past pain which can also produce worry and stress and make pain worse. Indeed, meditation has been shown to reduce pain by decreasing catastrophizing. (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/). By helping the individual focus on the present moment mindfulness training can reduce the rumination about past pain and the expectation of future pain, reducing currently experienced pain.

Mindfulness is known to affect the brain’s processing of pain stimuli, blunting the neural activity associated with pain. This by itself could be responsible for the reduction in tension headache pain. Mindfulness also increases relaxation and reduces activity of the segment of the peripheral nervous system that’s responsible for activation and tension. This reduces the response to pain allowing greater relaxation and less pain. Mindfulness also increases awareness of one’s internal state. This self-monitoring could lead to better self-care and early intervention for a tension headache. Finally, mindfulness improves emotion regulation. It allows the individual to more effectively respond to emotions. This would include the emotions elicited by pain and those that can precipitate a tension headache. In this way, responses to pain and the intensity of the pain can be mitigated.

Regardless of the mechanism, mindfulness training is clearly an effective strategy for dealing with chronic tension headache pain. It remains to be seen if a simpler mindfulness training than MBSR might also be effective. MBSR requires a considerable commitment of time and energy and the presence of an instructor. This is not always practicable with the busy lives that many people lead. So, it would be better if a simpler training would be equally effective.

So practice mindfulness and make a headache less of a headache.

“When our pain is held by mindfulness it loses some of its strength.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Have a Healthy Relationship with Mindfulness

August 18, 2015 psyjdc 1 Comment

Relationships can be challenging especially when one partner has medical needs that need to be provided by the spouse. This puts great strain on a relationship and engenders a wide range of emotional responses from compassion, to guilt, to anger, to depression.

In a previous post we discussed how mindfulness training can be employed to help relieve pain http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-the-pain-killer/. But, how does mindfulness affect pain in a social environment? In particular, can mindfulness in a caregiver make it easier to assist a chronic pain patient? In today’s Research News article “Spousal Mindfulness and Social Support in Couples with Chronic Pain”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1070466376310621/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013202/

Williams and colleagues explore this very question and find that spouses with high mindfulness were better caregivers.

When a spouse was high in mindful non-judging and non-reacting they were much less likely to meet a spouses behavior with negative responses. Spouses who mindfully act with awareness are perceived by the pain patient as more responsive, providing more support, and less negative. These characteristics are very important for maintaining a positive and supportive environment. Hence, the spouse’s mindfulness has a big impact on their ability to maintain an atmosphere conducive to effective assistance with chronic pain. It is always good to have empirical evidence, but the results here are not surprising. They fit with how mindful people act in general. They are more positive, empathetic, less critical and handle stress better.

Mindfulness has been shown to increase emotion regulation, the ability to feel emotions fully and to effectively respond to them. A spousal relationship, especially when taxed by one partner having a medical condition, can be full of emotion. For a healthy relationship these emotions must not be denied or suppressed but fully felt yet without allowing them to produce behaviors that would make things worse. This emotion regulation characteristic of mindful individuals may underlie why they can be effective caregivers.

Another stress of caring for a chronically ill person is that the caregiver can perceive the future negatively. It would be easy to catastrophize, by seeing things to be bad and getting worse leading to an intolerable situation. This could lead to a feeling of hopelessness. In addition, the interactions with the ill spouse can then be colored by the vision of a terrible future. Mindfulness, by focusing the caregiving spouse on the present moment and appreciating what is right in front of him/her can mitigate catastrophizing. This has been well documented in the research literature. This obviously would lead to better interactions and more effective caregiving.

Finally, caregiving can be very stressful. This can lead to negative emotions and can be detrimental to the caregiving spouse’s health. Since mindfulness training has been well documented to reduce responses to stress, both emotional and physical, the impact of the stress on the mindful spouse would be mitigated.

So, be mindful and have a better relationship even when your spouse is ill.

CMCS