Neurophysiological Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness Meditation-Based Pain Relief: an Updated Review.
Alex Jinich-Diamant, Eric L Garland, Jennifer N Baumgartner, Nailea E Gonzalez, Gabriel Riegner, Julia Birenbaum, Laura K. Case, Fadel Zeidan
Current Pain and Headache Reports August 17, 2020 DOI: 10.1007/s11916-020-00890-8 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Mindfulness meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Analgesia Pain |
| Key findings | Mindfulness meditation reduces pain through brain processes distinct from placebo and varying with meditative training level. |
Abstract
This review examines recent (2016 onwards) neuroscientific findings on the mechanisms supporting mindfulness-associated pain relief. To date, its clear that mindfulness lowers pain by engaging brain processes that are distinct from placebo and vary across meditative training level. Due to rapid developments in the field of contemplative neuroscience, an update review on the neuroimaging studies focused on mindfulness, and pain is merited. Mindfulness-based therapies produce reliably reductions in a spectrum of chronic pain conditions through psychological, physiological, and neural mechanisms supporting the modulation of evaluation and appraisal of innocuous and noxious sensory events. Neuroimaging and randomized control studies confirm that mindfulness meditation reliably reduces experimentally induced and clinical pain by engaging multiple, unique, non-opioidergic mechanisms that are distinct from placebo and which vary across meditative training level. These promising findings underscore the potential of mindfulness-based approaches to produce long-lasting improvements in pain-related symptomology.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 32
- Mechanism of Action of Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Pain Relief-A Systematic Review. Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine December 1, 2024
- The Mindful Reappraisal of Pain Scale (MRPS): Validation of a New Measure of Psychological Mechanisms of Mindfulness-Based Analgesia. Mindfulness 2023
- The role of endogenous opioids in mindfulness and sham mindfulness-meditation for the direct alleviation of evoked chronic low back pain: a randomized clinical trial. Neuropsychopharmacology June 1, 2024
- Oxytocin Modulation in Mindfulness-Based Pain Management for Chronic Pain. Life February 15, 2024
- Does practice make perfect? Functional connectivity of the salience network and somatosensory network predicts response to mind-body treatments for fibromyalgia. Frontiers in Pain Research 2024
and 27 more in the library
Cites 49
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression August 21, 2006
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for preventing relapse in recurrent depression: A randomized dismantling trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology December 3, 2013
- Meditation leads to reduced default mode network activity beyond an active task Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience April 22, 2015
- Mindfulness meditation–based pain relief: a mechanistic account Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences June 1, 2016
- Pain Attenuation through Mindfulness is Associated with Decreased Cognitive Control and Increased Sensory Processing in the Brain Cerebral Cortex December 15, 2011
and 44 more in the library