Can You Feel the Burn? Using Neuroimaging to Illuminate the Mechanisms of Mindfulness Interventions for Pain

Abstract

Chronic pain is one of the leading causes of disability and morbidity worldwide (1), and there is a real clinical need for non-opioid-based treatment options. As such, there is a growing body of research investigating mindfulness interventions for pain. There have been two recent meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials in pain, both with modest positive conclusions, although both also commented on the heterogeneity and low quality of many of the trials included. A meta-analysis focusing on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) interventions for patients with chronic pain (2) found evidence for a small effect size, and another on patients with acute pain (3) concluded that there is weak to moderate evidence for mindfulness improving pain tolerance or threshold, but no good-quality evidence for reducing pain severity or pain-related distress.