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For families with a child with chronic pain, the home environment is the context in which adaptive or maladaptive illness behaviors are developed. Supporting families to effectively cope with their child's chronic pain is a critical need. This work analyzes intervention approaches from emerging treatment programs to support families coping with pediatric pain that diverge from traditional treatment models by specifically targeting parents. Two novel parent intervention programs are presented that consider caregiver needs in both outpatient and inpatient pain treatment settings: and . These programs are evaluated through comparing parental training components across different stages of treatment. Additionally, the efficacy of in promoting maintenance of children's functional gains achieved in intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment is presented, and compared to previous results of the efficacy of . Specifically, outcomes of 36 children whose parents received the intervention in were compared to a matched control sample of children whose parents did not receive the parent intervention. Similar to the findings from , results indicated that patients whose parents received the intervention maintained/improved program gains in disability, coping, and pain significantly more than patients whose parents did not receive the intervention. Implications for parent-focused intervention development efforts targeting parent and youth functioning in the context of pediatric chronic pain are considered.
Learn More >Migraine is defined as a recurrent headache of moderate to severe intensity that seriously affects the quality of life. Recent clinical trials have confirmed that acupuncture is effective in treating migraine. We aimed to review the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of migraine by comparing treatment and various control groups in accordance with the newly published guidelines for systematic reviews.
Learn More >The review presents a systematic analysis of literature investigating the association between migraine and suicidal behaviors. Migraine is a common neurological disorder. The prevalence of migraines increases with age from adolescence to adulthood in both sexes, and results in a substantial loss of productivity due to missing days of school or work and need for bed rest. Literature prior to 2015 suggests that migraine is a predictor of suicide. Given the worldwide public health interest in suicide prevention, we examined the literature collected from diverse, predominantly non-European, populations post-2015. The databases used in this systematic review included: Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE (Ovid), Science Direct (Elsevier), Cochrane, and PubMed for all available years of publication from January 2015 onwards. The review included participants aged 16 and over who had been diagnosed with migraines with the following outcome variables: any suicidality, both fatal and non-fatal; suicidal ideation; and suicidal behavior. The database searches yielded a total of 542 citations. Following title and abstract screening, 460 articles were excluded and a total of 21 citations were evaluated. After full-text review and excluding a further 11 non-eligible studies, a total of 10 studies were eligible for inclusion in the systematic review. Current existing research highlights the important association between the increased risk of suicidal behaviors in the clinical and general population among chronic migraineurs with/without aura worldwide. Future studies are needed to facilitate the development of clinical guidelines for risk assessment, targeted interventions, and evidence-based treatment of migraine to reduce the risk of suicide among this vulnerable population.
Learn More >CPP affects approximately 15% of women worldwide and has significant psychological, physical and financial impact on the lives of sufferers. Psychological interventions are often recommended as adjuncts to medical treatment for women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP). This is as women with CPP experience higher rates of mental health concerns and difficulties coping with their pain.. However, recent systematic reviews have highlighted that the efficacy of psychological interventions is not conclusive in this population. This review aimed to identify predictors of mental health outcomes and effective psychological techniques and interventions in women with CPP to inform the development of future psychological therapies.
Learn More >Pain and stress are both phenomena that challenge an individual's homeostasis and have significant overlap in conceptual and physiological processes. Allostasis is the ability to adapt to pain and stress and maintain homeostasis; however, if either process becomes chronic, it may result in negative long-term outcomes. The negative effects of stress on health outcomes on physiology and behavior, including pain, have been well documented; however, the specific mechanisms of how stress and what quantity of stress contributes to the maintenance and exacerbation of pain have not been identified, and thus pharmacological interventions are lacking. The objective of this brief review is to: 1. identify the gaps in the literature on the impact of acute and chronic stress on chronic pain, 2. highlight future directions for stress and chronic pain research; and 3. introduce the Pain-Stress Model in the context of the current literature on stress and chronic pain. A better understanding of the connection between stress and chronic pain could provide greater insight into the neurobiology of these processes and contribute to individualized treatment for pain rehabilitation and drug development for these often comorbid conditions.
Learn More >Pain catastrophizing is linked to a range of negative health and treatment outcomes, although debate continues about how best to define and treat it, since most interventions produce only modest benefit. This study aimed to contribute to theory-driven development of these treatments by exploring the role of perseverative thinking in pain catastrophizing, along with the higher order beliefs, called metacognitions, that might shape it.
Learn More >Provoked vestibulodynia (PVD) is a chronic vulvo-vaginal pain condition affecting 8% of premenopausal women. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective in managing pain and associated sexual and psychological symptoms, and a recent study found group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to be equivalent. Our goal was to examine the long-term outcomes of these treatments and to explore mediators of change.
Learn More >Public health legislation during the CO-VID-19 pandemic has resulted in forced transitioning to the use of remote care in order to continue the provision of pain rehabilitation worldwide. The objective of this study was to gain insight into clinicians' initial experiences with the provision of interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation via videoconferencing.
Learn More >Chronic pain is often multifactorial and accompanied by psychological distress, catastrophizing thoughts, reduced physical function, and socio-economic worries. In this explorative study, we investigated potential mediators in the relationships of psychological and demographic variables with chronic pain and physical function in women and men.
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