Acceptance as a process variable in relation to catastrophizing in multidisciplinary pain treatment

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Psychological Therapies
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Understanding change processes in multidisciplinary pain treatment is crucial.
• Pain acceptance is a known factor in acceptance-based therapies.
• Preliminary evidence suggests pain acceptance may also be relevant in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate pain acceptance as a process variable in CBT.
• To compare the role of pain acceptance against catastrophizing and pain intensity in CBT outcomes.

Main Methods:

• 186 chronic pain patients participated in a 3-week CBT-based multidisciplinary program.
• Data collected included pain intensity, acceptance, catastrophizing, disability, depression, anxiety, stress, and physical functioning.
• Assessments were conducted at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• Both pain acceptance and catastrophizing significantly improved from pre- to post-treatment.
• Changes in acceptance and catastrophizing correlated with changes in most outcome variables.
• Increased pain acceptance predicted improvements in depression, disability, and physical functioning, even after accounting for changes in catastrophizing and pain intensity.

Conclusions:

• Pain acceptance is an important process variable in CBT for chronic pain, even when not a primary treatment target.
• Findings support the role of pain acceptance in improving CBT outcomes for depression, disability, and physical function.
• Implications for refining CBT and future research directions in pain management are discussed.