Self System Therapy and Chronic Low Back Pain

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) cope with numerous major life challenges associated with their disorder, including changes in their ability to work, as well as decrements in physical and emotional well being. These changes alter CLBP patients' ability to pursue and achieve important personal goals and live up to personal standards. As a result, CLBP patients are highly likely to experience substantial difficulties with self-regulation, i.e., the ongoing process of evaluating and regulating one's behaviors so as to meet important personal goals and standards. In turn, the inability to attain important goals and standards increases risk for depression. The long-range goal of this research is to reduce the depression, pain, psychological disability, and physical disability experienced by CLBP patients suffering from depression. The proposed study seeks to evaluate the efficacy of Self-System Therapy (SST), a new therapy for depression specifically targeting problems in self-regulation. A total of 174 CLBP patients who meet DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) Self-System Therapy (SST) - a twelve-session version of SST adapted to the concerns of CLBP patients; 2) Back Pain Education - a comparison condition that provides patients with information on the nature and treatment of chronic low back pain; or, 3) Standard Care Condition - a control condition in which patients will receive care requested by them and made available to them by their health care provider. Assessment measures to be gathered before and after treatment and at 6- and 12-month follow-up will include depression, physical and psychosocial disability, pain and coping self-efficacy, self-regulatory focus, and self-discrepancies. Daily measures of pain, mood, goal activation/attainment, and stress will also be gathered. Converting basic knowledge about the causes and consequences of unsuccessful self-regulation to the diagnosis and treatment of depression in CLBP patients represents a promising avenue for identifying treatment options appropriate for these individuals.