The Effects of Mindfulness Training on Pain Regulation, Negative Affect, Attention, and Social Stress

Summary

The project's objective is to explore the impact of Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction (MBSR) on pain regulation, social stress, basic affective and attention functions, and on the brain, immune, and endocrine mechanisms that subserve these processes. Specifically, the investigators hypothesize that participants undergoing MBSR training will show decreased emotional distress on self-report measures, increased sustained attention on a behavioral task, decreased stress levels on a social stress test, decreased general psychosocial stress as indexed by diurnal salivary cortisol profile, changes in inflammatory response, modulation of cellular aging, and different neural patterns in response to thermal pain and aversive visual stimuli as indexed by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

To test these hypotheses, the study will recruit 50 participants through the UW-Madison Integrative Medicine Program. All participants will be randomly assigned either to an 8-week MBSR program or to an 8-week training program in health-enhancement. At the conclusion of the study, participants will be invited to participate to the second class should they be interested. Participants will complete self-report questionnaires, behavioral tasks, fMRI scanning, cortisol sampling, and blood sampling before training begins, after the first program ends, and again four months after the first program ends and prior to the second program.

If hypotheses are supported, the study may benefit participants by reducing their psychological distress, increasing their well-being, and helping them better manage pain and aversive stimuli. There are no other direct benefits to participants. Potential risks associated with fMRI include ferromagnetic collision, neurostimulation effects, and psychological discomfort. Potential risks to subjects include slight potential discomfort in providing saliva samples, discomfort of painful thermal stimulation, stress associated with the Trier Social Stress Test, some psychological discomfort from viewing disturbing photographs as part of the compassion fMRI study, and breach of confidentiality.

Consent for the present study will entail both written and verbal descriptions of the protocol. Subjects will be informed that their participation is completely voluntary, and that they can withdraw at any time.

Conditions

• Focus on Pain Regulation Mechanisms
• Social Stress Mechanisms
• Basic Affective Mechanisms
• Attention Mechanisms
• Brain Mechanisms
• Immune Mechanisms
• Endocrine Mechanisms

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

8 week class in stress reduction through instruction in mindfulness related techniques.

BEHAVIORAL

Health Enhancement Program (HEP)

8-week intervention designed to be structurally equivalent to MBSR but without a mindfulness component. Consists of nutrition, functional movement, physical activity, and music therapy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Wisconsin, Madison

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Antoine Lutz, Ph.D. · UW-Madison

• Richard Davidson, Ph.D. · UW-Madison

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2005-10-31

Primary Completion

2007-04-30

Completion

2007-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations