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Published on: May 11, 2020
Meditation Practice, Mindfulness, and Pain-Related Outcomes in Mindfulness-Based Treatment for Episodic Migraine
Carly A Hunt1,2, Janelle E Letzen1, Samuel R Krimmel3
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Objectives:
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have emerged as promising prophylactic episodic migraine treatments. The present study investigated biopsychosocial predictors and outcomes associated with formal, daily-life meditation practice in migraine patients undergoing MBI, and whether augmented mindfulness mechanistically underlies change.
Methods:
Secondary analyses of clinical trial data comparing a 12-week enhanced mindfulness-based stress reduction course (MBSR + ; n = 50) to stress management for headache (SMH; n = 48) were conducted.
Results:
Pre-treatment mesocorticolimbic system functioning (i.e., greater resting state ventromedial prefrontal cortex-right nucleus accumbens [vmPFC-rNAC] functional connectivity) predicted greater meditation practice duration over MBSR + (r = 0.58, p = 0.001), as well as the change in headache frequency from pre- to post-treatment (B = -12.60, p = 0.02) such that MBSR + participants with greater vmPFC-rNAC connectivity showed greater reductions in headache frequency. MBSR + participants who meditated more showed greater increases in mindfulness (B = 0.52, p = 0.02) and reductions in the helplessness facet of pain catastrophizing (B = -0.13, p = 0.01), but not headache frequency, severity, or impact. Augmented mindfulness mediated reductions in headache impact resulting from MBSR + , but not headache frequency.
Conclusions:
Mesocorticolimbic system function is implicated in motivated behavior, and thus, motivation-enhancing interventions might be delivered alongside mindfulness-based training to enhance meditation practice engagement. Formal, daily-life meditation practice duration appears to benefit pain-related cognitions, but not clinical pain, while mindfulness emerges as a mechanism of MBIs on headache impact, but not frequency. Further research is needed to investigate the day-to-day effects of formal, daily-life meditation practice on pain, and continue to characterize the specific mechanisms of MBIs on headache outcomes.
Preregistration:
This study is not preregistered.
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