By Andrea Bonior, Psychology Today, Image: Unsplash, December 26, 2024
Chronic pain is a condition with immense emotional impacts and one that can be brutal for its sufferers—affecting quality of life, mood, relationships, and work. Its psychological effects are well-documented. In a recent study by UCLA Health and the US Veterans Affairs Office and published in JAMA Network Open, however, the reverse direction is explored. This study took a look at the impact of emotions and stress on chronic pain, revealing fascinating possibilities for the role of psychological treatment in reducing the suffering of it.
One hundred and twenty-six predominantly male American veterans aged 60-95 participated, with all of them having reported at least three months of pain in their musculoskeletal system, and about one-third of them having post-traumatic stress disorder. The researchers investigated the effects of a relatively new therapy known as emotional awareness and expression therapy (EAET), and compared it to traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), with half of the participants being assigned to each condition. Individual and group sessions were combined over nine weeks for each set of participants.
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