Complementary Therapies in Medicine
December 1, 2025
Adam W. Hanley, Yoshio Nakamura, Robert R Edwards et al.
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a prevalent chronic pain condition that significantly impairs quality of life and is often treated with interventions that carry risks or provide limited relief. Reiki, a non-invasive complementary therapy, has shown early promise for pain management but lacks rigorous evaluation among American adults with KOA. This study evaluated the specific efficacy of Reiki and...
JAMA Network Open
April 1, 2025
Aleksandra Zgierska, Robert R Edwards, Bruce P. Barrett et al.
Key Points Question What is the comparative effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy (MBT) and standard-of-care cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) among adults with opioid-treated chronic low back pain (CLBP)? Findings In this randomized clinical trial of 770 adults with opioid-treated CLBP, although there were no differences between groups, both the MBT and CBT groups experienced improved...
Frontiers in Psychology
2025
Diane Joss, Joseph Rosansky, Paula Gardiner et al.
1 citation
Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are transdiagnostic developmental risk factors for various mental and physical health issues, including Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Existing research demonstrated ACE not only affects the onset, severity, and comorbidity of disorders, but also affects treatment responses. To investigate whether and how ACE modulates treatment effects of Mindfulness Based...
Journal of Health Psychology
April 28, 2024
David Horton, David K. Woods, Eric L Garland et al.
This article reports qualitative outcomes from a randomized controlled trial comparing eight weeks of cognitive-behavioral group therapy for chronic pain (CBT-CP) and mindfulness-based group therapy (MBT) in individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Approximately 10 months post-treatment, 108 participants completed structured qualitative interviews to express how the study treatment...
Clinical Journal of Pain
February 1, 2024
Myrella Paschali, Asimina Lazaridou, Jason Sadora et al.
25 citations
This systematic review aimed to compile existing evidence examining the effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for chronic low back pain (CLBP). CLBP leads to millions of disabled individuals in the United States each year. Current pharmacologic treatments are only modestly effective and may present long-term safety issues. MBIs, which have an excellent safety profile, have been...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
November 1, 2023
Sophia Linguiti, Jacob W Vogel, Valerie J Sydnor et al.
15 citations
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is increasingly used to non-invasively study the acute impact of psychedelics on the human brain. While fMRI is a promising tool for measuring brain function in response to psychedelics, it also has known methodological challenges. We conducted a systematic review of fMRI studies examining acute responses to experimentally administered psychedelics...
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
June 1, 2023
Anna Parisi, Aleksandra Zgierska, Cindy A. Burzinski et al.
Individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP) are commonly prescribed long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) for analgesia, placing this population at increased risk for opioid misuse and opioid use disorder. Acceptance of aversive experiences (e.g., chronic pain) and awareness of automatic thoughts and behaviors (i.e., automaticity) are two facets of dispositional mindfulness that may serve as...
Pain Medicine
June 1, 2023
Bethany D Pester, Jenna M Wilson, Jihee Yoon et al.
Objective: To assess whether brief mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy (MBCBT) could enhance the benefits of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in improving pain and pain-related disability. Specifically, to determine 1) whether patients who received MBCBT differed from matched controls who received treatment-as-usual with regard to postsurgical pain outcomes and 2) whether changes in...
Journal of Pain
October 1, 2022
Robert H. Dworkin, Brian T Anderson, Nick Andrews et al.
22 citations
Psychedelic substances have played important roles in diverse cultures, and ingesting various plant preparations to evoke altered states of consciousness has been described throughout recorded history. Accounts of the subjective effects of psychedelics typically focus on spiritual and mystical-type experiences, including feelings of unity, sacredness, and transcendence. Over the past 2 decades,...
Pain Practice
September 1, 2022
Tara D. Sarkar, Robert R Edwards, Nancy Baker
Abstract There is an urgent need for safe and effective nonpharmacologic approaches to treat chronic knee pain in older adults. Although virtual reality (VR) has shown some effectiveness for acute pain, there is limited evidence on the effects of VR on chronic pain particularly with older adult populations. This single application, within‐subject pilot study evaluated the feasibility and...
Mindfulness
June 2022
Danielle Giachos, Myrella Paschali, Michael Datko et al.
Various active control interventions for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have been developed, though many can fall short in controlling for non-specific or placebo effects. We developed a Nature-Based Stress Reduction (NBSR) program based on previously reported positive results from virtual natural environment exposure on mental health. In the present study, we validated the nature...
Personality and Individual Differences
February 4, 2022
Jenna M Wilson, Carin A Colebaugh, K Mikayla Flowers et al.
Although an inverse relation between social support and psychological distress among chronic pain patients has been previously reported, little is known about what mediates this association. We examined mindfulness as a mediator of the relationship between social support and psychological distress. In this cross-sectional study, chronic pain patients (N=94) completed assessments of social...
Pain Medicine
October 1, 2020
Michael P Berry, Jacqueline Lutz, Zev Schuman-Olivier et al.
Self-compassion meditation, which involves compassion toward the self in moments of suffering, shows promise for improving pain-related functioning, but its underlying mechanisms are unknown. This longitudinal, exploratory pilot study investigated the effects of a brief (eight contact hours, two weeks of home practice) self-compassion training on pain-related brain processing in chronic low...
Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics
January 14, 2020
Rebecca Erwin Wells, Elizabeth K. Seng, Robert R Edwards et al.
74 citations
Introduction: Migraine is the second leading cause of disability worldwide, yet many patients are unable to tolerate, benefit from, or afford pharmacological treatment options. Non-pharmacological migraine therapies exist, especially to reduce opioid use, which represents a significant unmet need. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) have potential as a non-pharmacological treatment for...
PAIN Reports
2019
Rex Park, Mohammed Mohiuddin, Patricia A Poulin et al.
Most current chronic pain treatment strategies have limitations in effectiveness and tolerability, and accumulating evidence points to the added benefits of rational combinations of different therapies. However, most published clinical trials of treatment combinations have involved combinations of 2 drugs, whereas very little research has been performed to characterize interactions between drug...
Health Psychology Open
2018
Kathleen Dorado, Kristin L Schreiber, Alexandra Koulouris et al.
The objective of this study was to examine the association between facets of trait mindfulness, pain catastrophizing, and pain severity in a sample of patients with fibromyalgia. Patients with fibromyalgia completed validated baseline and diary assessments of clinical pain, mindfulness, and pain catastrophizing. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that the daily association between...
Clinical Journal of Pain
June 2014
Mohammed A Issa, Sanjeet Narang, Robert N. Jamison et al.
Many cannabinoid medications are approved in North America or in phase III trials, such as dronabinol, nabilone, or nabiximols. Little is known about their subjective psychoactive effects when used for pain management. We hypothesized that when used for pain, dronabinol has psychoactive effects in a dose-response relationship, whose peak effects are comparable with smoking marijuana. This was a...
Psychopharmacology
October 2011
Una D. Mccann, Robert R Edwards, Michael T Smith et al.
(±)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a popular recreational drug that has potential to damage brain serotonin (5-HT) neurons in humans. Brain 5-HT neurons play a role in pain modulation, yet little is known about long-term effects of MDMA on pain function. Notably, MDMA users have been shown to have altered sleep, a phenomenon that can lead to altered pain modulation. This study...