Management of Pain in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis

Summary

The purpose of this study is to see if treatments that include components of self-hypnosis training and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help decrease pain in people with MS.

Conditions

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Pain

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) +Hypnosis (HYP)

There is also the possibility that the two treatments together may be even more helpful than either one alone. Because some of the patients in this study will get both CBT and self-hypnosis, we will be able to determine if each one facilitates the efficacy of the other. If the patients treated in this study report benefits, as we expect they will, then this will encourage us to design and complete a larger study to better understand how patients with MS would benefit from these treatments.

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

One treatment module is we will study is called "cognitive restructuring" or "cognitive-behavior therapy" (CBT). In this treatment, people learn to identify negative thoughts that make them feel bad or anxious. Such negative thoughts lead to feelings of frustration and anxiety, and can even increase the experience of pain, because they cause a person to focus more on pain. With CBT, people learn to identify and stop these thoughts, and then replace them with more reassuring ones. When they do this, they feel more relaxed and focus less on their pain. As a result, they often say that they feel much better and are less aware of pain.

BEHAVIORAL

Self-Hypnosis Training (HYP)

Self-hypnosis (HYP) is another strategy that people can learn to manage pain. With this treatment, people learn to enter a state of focused attention, and then change how they experience pain. Although we do not yet know how hypnosis works, research has repeatedly shown that the effects are real; when people report decreases in pain with hypnosis, scans and images of the brain's activity show decreases in the parts of the brain that process pain information. With hypnosis, people are not just pretending to feel less pain, they actually do feel less pain.

BEHAVIORAL

Education Control (CONT)

The CONT condition for this study will include lectures that are interactive and are compelling and informative enough to be both (1) credible as an attentional control condition and (2) perceived as helpful to subjects. The CONT condition will not, however, include instructions in making specific cognitive or behavioral changes related to pain management. Thus, it could control for non-specific factors related to behavioral treatment, but will not impact the primary outcome measure (pain).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Multiple Sclerosis Society

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Washington

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Mark P Jensen, Ph.D. · University of Washington

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-02-29

Primary Completion

2009-06-30

Completion

2009-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations