[Psychological treatment approaches in pain. A comparative study of therapies in patients with chronic polyarthritis]

The efficacy of psychological treatment to reduce pain has recently been shown in a number of studies. They are considered to enhance or even replace medical approaches in pain management, especially in chronic pain-states. The study reported here aimed to test two established (multimodal pain management, relaxation training) and one newly designed approach (visualization techniques) in comparison with a control group (medical treatment alone). The study was conducted with in-patients (N = 46; rheumatoid arthritis). Medical and pain data were gathered before and after treatment. Patients also filled out questionnaires in the beginning and at the end of the study assessing pain-experience, emotional states and capability to cope with pain. Patients participating in the multimodal pain management group and the visualization group profited from participation (especially in pain reduction) only if they gained substantially extents in the capability to cope with pain. Simply taking part in the groups and not reaching acceptable measures to cope with pain had no or negative effects. Both approaches were clearly above the control- and the relaxation-condition (relaxation participants were hardly better than the controls). The range of efficacy was broadest in the multimodal group (in addition to pain-reduction, substantial improvements in emotional states were obtained). However, visualization techniques, which were tested empirically for the first time here, can also be recommended as pain management therapy.