Hypnosis and Meditation for Pain Management in Veterans: Efficacy and Mechanisms

描述（由申请人提供）：慢性疼痛是许多退伍军人的一个重要问题，包括从伊拉克和阿富汗返回的新退伍军人。它还与许多其他重大问题有关，如创伤后应激障碍和睡眠问题。所有这些都会对退伍军人的生活质量产生显著的负面影响。目前的项目旨在帮助开发和评估两种有前途的治疗方法，退伍军人可能会发现这两种治疗方法有助于他们更好地控制慢性疼痛及其负面影响。具体来说，这是一项随机临床试验，比较了自我催眠和正念冥想教学技巧在减轻退伍军人疼痛和改善生活质量方面的效果。该项目还将通过检查可以解释其效果的冥想生物学（例如，大脑活动测量），心理（例如，结果预期）和社会（例如，治疗联盟）因素来测试有关这些治疗如何起作用的假设。治疗结果的潜在调节因素（如可催眠性、基线脑状态）也将被检查。通过更好地了解这些干预措施的治疗效果及其机制，如果治疗方法被证明是有效的，我们将基于试点和初步研究，退伍军人将有更多的选择来更好地管理慢性疼痛，从而最大限度地提高他们的整体生活质量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Chronic pain is a significant problem for many Veterans, including new Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also associated with a number of other significant problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep problems. All of these can have significant negative effects of the quality of life of Veterans. Th current project seeks to help develop and evaluate two promising treatments that Veterans may find useful for helping them better manage chronic pain and its negative effects. Specifically, it s a randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy of teaching skills in self-hypnosis and mindfulness meditation for reducing pain and improving the quality of life in Veterans. The project will also test hypotheses regarding how these treatment work by examining the meditating biological (e.g., brain activity measures), psychological (e.g., outcome expectancies), and social (e.g., therapeutic alliance) factors that could explain their effects. Potential moderators of treatment outcome (e.g., hypnotizability, baseline brain states) will also be examined. By better understanding the treatment effects of these interventions, as well as their mechanisms, and if the treatments are demonstrated to be effective as we anticipate they will be based on pilot and preliminary studies, Veterans will have more options for better managing chronic pain, and therefore maximizing the overall quality of their lives.