Who Benefits the Most from Different Psychological Chronic Pain Treatments? An Exploratory Analysis of Treatment Moderators

This study explores how different psychological treatments for chronic pain work better for some people than others. It looks at factors like hypnotizability and brain activity to see if they can predict who will respond best to different treatments. The researchers used data from a clinical trial where people with chronic pain received cognitive therapy, hypnosis focused on pain reduction, hypnosis combined with cognitive therapy, or pain education. The study found that pre-treatment measures of hypnotizability and EEG brain activity can predict who is more (or less) likely to respond to different psychological pain treatments, suggesting it may be possible to match patients to the most suitable treatment.

• 1
  Higher hypnotizability was associated with better outcomes in depressive symptoms for those who received hypnosis and hypnotic cognitive therapy.
• 2
  Lower levels of baseline alpha power were associated with greater improvement in pain intensity for individuals in the cognitive therapy group.
• 3
  Individuals receiving hypnotic cognitive therapy reported greater pain reduction when their baseline delta and gamma power were in the low range.