Effect of Acceptance versus Attention on Pain Tolerance: Dissecting Two Components of Mindfulness.
Author: Wang Y1,2,3, Qi Z1, Hofmann SG4, Si M5, Liu X1,6, Xu W7
Affiliation:
1Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
2CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
3Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
4Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
5Department of Cognitive Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA.
6School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
7School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
Conference/Journal: Mindfulness (N Y).
Date published: 2019 Jul
Other:
Volume ID: 10 , Issue ID: 7 , Pages: 1352-1359 , Word Count: 184
Objectives: Previous studies have shown that brief mindfulness trainings can have significant analgesic effects. However, the effects of the various components of mindfulness on pain analgesia are not well understood. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of two components of mindfulness interventions - attention and acceptance on pain analgesia.
Methods: One hundred and nineteen healthy college students without prior mindfulness experience underwent a cold pressor test to measure pain tolerance before and after the training. Pain intensity, tolerance, distress, threshold and endurance time were also tested. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) acceptance of pain, (2) attention to pain, (3) acceptance of and attention to pain, or (4) control.
Results: The results showed that both the acceptance strategy and the combined acceptance and attention group increased pain endurance and tolerance after training. Furthermore, acceptance group had longer pain endurance time and tolerance time than attention group and control group.
Conclusions: These results suggest that acceptance of pain is more important than attention to pain. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.
KEYWORDS: acceptance; attention; mechanism; mindfulness; pain; short-term
PMID: 31537989
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