Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Headache Pain

The literature on the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of chronic pain is well established. Support for the efficacy of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and other mindfulness based treatments for chronic pain is building. Recently, research has demonstrated the efficacy of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in simultaneously addressing the outcome variables targeted by both CBT and mindfulness based treatment modalities. Although the efficacy of MBCT depression and for other populations has been investigated, there is no extant literature reporting on MBCT for chronic pain. The current application proposes to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of an MBCT protocoll adapted for chronic pain in a series of pilot groups with headache pain patients. We selected headache pain patients for this trial because headache pain is a common complaint in the general population, is the most frequently reported cause of pain in medical practice, and is one of the most disabling conditions for both genders combined. To examine the feasibility of the adapted protocol, the investigators will investigate a number of treatment related outcomes such as recruitment, completion, and drop out rates. Both primary and secondary outcome variables will be investigated to determine treatment efficacy. This study will provide a research base examining the feasibility and efficacy of MBCT for pain. Results from this study will lay the foundation for future randomized controlled trials comparing MBCT to attention control, and future comparative effectiveness studies of MBCT and CBT.