Self-Compassion and Acute Pain

Self-Compassion and Acute Pain - an Experimental Investigation

Research on self-compassion suggests its impact in the context of pain. In the current study, the investigators evaluate a short self-compassion intervention for coping with acute pain.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Acute Pain
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Self-Compassion; Other: Heat pain; Other: Acceptance; Other: Distraction

Detailed Description

Self-compassion comprises three components: self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. Empirical evidence shows the relevance of self-compassion in the context of negative emotions such as depression, anxiety and anger. Research on chronic pain is promising yet limited. Self-compassion is associated with better pain-coping, pain-acceptance and quality of life, as well as reduced pain-related disability and burdening emotions. Experimental investigations on induced pain are missing. The aim of the current study is to evaluate a short self-compassion intervention for pain.

First, a heat stimulus is induced to all participants which is to be tolerated as long as possible and evaluated in intensity and unpleasantness. Next, participants receive a coping-strategy which they are randomly assigned to. Three different strategies are evaluated: (1) self-compassion, treating oneself with kindness while being mindfully aware of the painful stimulus, (2) acceptance, accepting the painful stimulus as well as pain-related thoughts, not trying to change, (3) distraction, distracting oneself from the painful stimulus and trying not to perceive the pain or painful thoughts. Participants practice the strategy with the painful heat stimulus three times. Then, they receive another heat stimulus which is to be tolerated as long as possible and evaluated. During the next week, participants obtain daily practices via e-mail for further fostering of the learned strategy. Finally, participants receive, tolerate and evaluate pain again in the laboratory.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Hessen
    • Marburg, Hessen, Germany, 35032
      • Philipps-University of Marburg

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• sufficient german language knowledge
• at least 18 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

• acute or chronic pain conditions
• drug or pain-medication (last 24 hours)
• Raynaud's disease
• high blood pressure
• neuropathy, coronary diseases
• diabetes, current alcohol
• studying psychology longer than two years

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Self-Compassion; After pretreatment heat pain assessment, participants are introduced to the concept of self-compassion. Participants practice the new strategy with heat pain stimuli three times. Next, the posttreatment pain assessment is conducted. For a one week period, participants receive daily self-compassion audio-interventions. Afterwards, the follow-up pain assessment is conducted.	Other: Self-Compassion; Participants are introduced to the concept of self-compassion. Treating oneself with kindness, while being mindfully aware of the present moment as well as the fact that suffering is part of human life - a shared human experience. Participants are instructed to use this strategy to cope with the following heat stimulus.; Other: Heat pain; Participants receive heat pain stimuli using the Thermo Sensory Analyser (TSA-II), a commonly used device to study pain sensation and analgesic effects.
EXPERIMENTAL: Acceptance; After pretreatment heat pain assessment, participants are introduced to the concept of acceptance. Participants practice the new strategy with heat pain stimuli three times. Next, the posttreatment pain assessment is conducted. For a one week period, participants receive daily acceptance audio-interventions. Afterwards, the follow-up pain assessment is conducted.	Other: Heat pain; Participants receive heat pain stimuli using the Thermo Sensory Analyser (TSA-II), a commonly used device to study pain sensation and analgesic effects.; Other: Acceptance; Participants are introduced to the concept of acceptance. Thoughts, Emotions and Reactions do not need to be related. Being aware of the present moment helps with accepting the present state and reacting contradictory to the thoughts and feelings. Participants are instructed to use this strategy to cope with the following heat stimulus.
EXPERIMENTAL: Distraction; After pretreatment heat pain assessment, participants are introduced to the concept of distraction. Participants practice the new strategy with heat pain stimuli three times. Next, the posttreatment pain assessment is conducted. For a one week period, participants receive daily distraction audio-interventions. Afterwards, the follow-up pain assessment is conducted.	Other: Heat pain; Participants receive heat pain stimuli using the Thermo Sensory Analyser (TSA-II), a commonly used device to study pain sensation and analgesic effects.; Other: Distraction; Participants are introduced to the concept of distraction. Distracting oneself from the present situation helps with not perceiving pain, painful thoughts or feelings. Participants are instructed to use this strategy to cope with the following heat stimulus.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Individual heat pain tolerance	Change in the individual heat pain tolerance (the point when participants cannot stand the heat pain stimulus any longer)	Baseline, 45 min, 1 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pain intensity	Change in subjective pain intensity assessed using a numeric rating scale (ranging from 0 to 10, with higher values reflecting more pain intensity)	Baseline, 45 min, 1 week
Change in pain unpleasantness scale	Change in subjective pain unpleasentness assessed using a numeric rating scale (ranging from 0 to 10, with higher values reflecting more pain unpleasentness)	Baseline, 45 min, 1 week
Change in self-compassion	Change in overall self-compassion assessed using the self-compassion scale (Neff, 2003) (higher values indicating higher self-compassion	Baseline, 45 min, 1 week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Philipps University Marburg Medical Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anja C Schmitt, Philipps University Marburg Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): April 15, 2018
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): November 30, 2018
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): November 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 1, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 23, 2018
• First Posted (ACTUAL): August 27, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): April 10, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 8, 2019
• Last Verified: April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Acute Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017-60v

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No