Immediate Effects of Hypnosis, Mindfulness Meditation, and Prayer on Cold Pressor Outcomes: A Four-Arm Parallel Experimental Study

Alexandra Ferreira-Valente, Benjamin P Van Dyke, Melissa A Day, Catarina Teotónio do Carmo, José Pais-Ribeiro, Filipa Pimenta, Rui M Costa, Mark P Jensen, Alexandra Ferreira-Valente, Benjamin P Van Dyke, Melissa A Day, Catarina Teotónio do Carmo, José Pais-Ribeiro, Filipa Pimenta, Rui M Costa, Mark P Jensen

Abstract

Purpose: Previous research supports the usefulness of hypnosis (HYP), mindfulness meditation (MM), and prayer as pain self-management strategies in adults with chronic pain. However, their effects on acute pain have been less researched, and no previous head-to-head study compared the immediate effects of these three approaches on pain-related outcomes. This study compared the immediate effects of HYP, MM, and Christian prayer (CP) on pain intensity, pain tolerance, and stress as assessed by heart rate variability (HRV).

Participants and methods: A total of 232 healthy adults were randomly assigned to, and completed, a single 20-minute session of MM, SH, CP, or an attention control (CN), and underwent two cycles (one pre- and one post-intervention) of Cold Pressor Arm Wrap (CPAW). Sessions were audio-delivered. Participants responded to pre- and post-intervention pain intensity measurements. Pain tolerance (sec) was assessed during the CPAW cycles. HRV was assessed at baseline, and at pre- and post-intervention CPAW cycles. The study protocol was pre-registered at the ClinicalTrials.gov registry (NCT04491630).

Results: Small within-group decreases in pain intensity and small increases in pain tolerance were found for HYP and MM from the pre- to the post-intervention. Small within-group improvements in the LH/HF ratio were also found for HYP. The exploratory between-group pairwise comparisons revealed a medium effect size effects of HYP on pain tolerance relative to the control condition. The effects of CP were positive, but small and not statistically significant. Only small to medium, though non-significant, Time × Group interaction effects were found.

Conclusion: Study results suggest that single short-term HYP and MM sessions, but not biblical-based CP, may be useful for acute pain self-management, with HYP being the slightly superior option. Future research should compare the effects of different types of prayer and examine the predictors and moderators of these pain approaches' effects on pain-related outcomes.

Keywords: cold pressor arm wrap; experimental pain; hypnosis; mindfulness meditation; prayer.

Conflict of interest statement

This research was funded by a Foundation BIAL Grant for Scientific Research (grant number 188/18). The funding agency had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study. AFV is supported by national funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P. and, when elibigle, by COMPETE 2020 FEDER funds, under the FCT Post-doctoral grant (grant SFRH/BPD/121452/2016), as well as Scientific Employment Stimulus - Institutional Call (CEECINST/00070/2021; public notification Edital/0030/2022). The William James Center for Research, Ispa – University Institute is supported by FCT funding (reference UIDB/04810/2020). The Research Centre for Human Development is funded by FCT funding (reference UIDB/04872/2020). Mark P Jensen received royalties for books published on the topic of this paper from Oxford University Press, received royalties for books published on the topic of this paper from Denny Creek Press, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

© 2022 Ferreira-Valente et al.

Figures

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Figure 1
CONSORT 2010 flow diagram.

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