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Pain Acceptance Training in Patients Experiencing Emotional Distress and Somatic Symptoms: Examination of Dialectical Thinking as a Mediating Factor

NCT07067619 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 100

Last updated 2026-05-04

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Somatic symptoms, including physical pain, are highly prevalent among mental health patients. Current treatments have limited effectiveness for these symptoms, primarily because of patients' diminished introspective capacity and lack of emotional awareness. The current study proposes pain acceptance training as a new intervention. This intervention relies on the tenets of dialectical thinking, particularly on maintaining a dialectic perspective - at once acknowledging both the desire to end the pain and the ability to accept it as it is. We aim to examine the following: (1) the efficacy of pain acceptance training in the alleviation of somatic pain in patients with somatic symptoms; (2) the role of dialectical thinking as a mediator of pain acceptance training efficacy.

Conditions

  • Chronic Pain
  • Somatic Pain
  • Comorbid Pain and Emotional Difficulties

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Pain-acceptance intervention

The intervention start with a conversation and inquiry about the participant's pain while continuously validating his experience and creating a shared understanding of their struggles and difficulties due to the pain. Next, the experimenter explain the relations between distress, pain and suffering, emphasizing that in many cases trying to control our pain, emotions and thoughts leads us to undesirable results through emotional avoidance, anger and escape. This explanation will be accompanied with commonly used metaphors to enhance participants' understanding. Afterwards, participants are familiarized with the strategy of "emotional acceptance of pain". The strategy will be comprehensively explained and participants will practice it with the experimenter twice: Firstly, by practicing with the mental exercise of "STOP" (i.e. Stop, Take a step back, Observe, Procced Mindfully); Secondly by practicing the pain acceptance strategy while feeling moderate pain, and discuss their experience.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Rambam Health Care Campus

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Haifa

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
70 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-12-01
Primary Completion
2026-12-31
Completion
2026-12-31

Countries

  • Israel

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07067619 on ClinicalTrials.gov