Pilot study of a compassion meditation intervention in chronic pain
Author: Heather L Chapin1, Beth D Darnall 1*, Emma M Seppala 2, James R Doty 2, Jennifer M Hah 1 and Sean C Mackey 1
Affiliation:
* Corresponding author: Beth D Darnall bdarnall@stanford.edu Author Affiliations 1 Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Division of Pain Medicine, Systems Neuroscience and Pain Lab, Stanford University, 1070 Arastradero Road, Suite 200, MC 5596, Palo Alto 94304, CA, USA 2 The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Stanford University, 1070 Arastradero Road, 2nd Floor, Palo Alto 94304, CA, USA
Conference/Journal: Journal of Compassionate Health Care
Date published: 2014
Other:
Volume ID: 1 , Pages: 4 , Special Notes: doi:10.1186/s40639-014-0004-x , Word Count: 299
Background
The emergence of anger as an important predictor of chronic pain outcomes suggests that treatments that target anger may be particularly useful within the context of chronic pain. Eastern traditions prescribe compassion cultivation to treat persistent anger. Compassion cultivation has been shown to influence emotional processing and reduce negativity bias in the contexts of emotional and physical discomfort, thus suggesting it may be beneficial as a dual treatment for pain and anger. Our objective was to conduct a pilot study of a 9-week group compassion cultivation intervention in chronic pain to examine its effect on pain severity, anger, pain acceptance and pain-related interference. We also aimed to describe observer ratings provided by patients’ significant others and secondary effects of the intervention.
Methods
Pilot clinical trial with repeated measures design that included a within-subjects wait-list control period. Twelve chronic pain patients completed the intervention (F = 10). Data were collected from patients at enrollment, treatment baseline and post-treatment; participant significant others contributed data at the enrollment and post-treatment time points.
Results
In this predominantly female sample, patients had significantly reduced pain severity and anger and increased pain acceptance at post-treatment compared to treatment baseline. Significant other qualitative data corroborated patient reports for reductions in pain severity and anger.
Conclusions
Compassion meditation may be a useful adjunctive treatment for reducing pain severity and anger, and for increasing chronic pain acceptance. Patient reported reductions in anger were corroborated by their significant others. The significant other corroborations offer a novel contribution to the literature and highlight the observable emotional and behavioral changes in the patient participants that occurred following the compassion intervention. Future studies may further examine how anger reductions impact relationships with self and others within the context of chronic pain.
Keywords: Compassion; Meditation; Anger; Chronic pain; Women
http://www.jcompassionatehc.com/content/1/1/4
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