Brain Mechanisms Supporting Meditation-based Analgesia

University of California San Diego

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pain

Treatments: Behavioral: Book Listening Control; Behavioral: Mindfulness Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03414138

4R00AT008238-03 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

IRB00040373

Details and patient eligibility

About

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce pain in experimental and clinical settings, and the neural mechanisms underlying this analgesia are distinct from that of placebo related beliefs in the utility of the meditation. Although previous studies have identified potential cortical and sub-cortical targets responsible for mediating these effects, the connectional relationships between them remains largely unexplored. The present study will use blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) neuroimaging to assess functional connections supporting mindfulness meditation.

Full description

Mindfulness meditation, significantly reduces pain in experimental and clinical settings. Although findings from this laboratory provide novel insights into some of the brain mechanisms supporting the modulation of pain by meditation , the specific analgesic mechanisms engaged during mindfulness meditation remain poorly characterized.

To date, there are no studies that have identified the neurofunctional connections supporting mindfulness meditation-based pain relief. Employing fMRI, the objective of this study will be to determine the neural systems of action supporting mindfulness-based pain relief. The study will determine if higher order brain regions are involved in mindfulness-based analgesia. The results from this aim will identify a neural marker(s) for meditation-related pain relief, a critical step in defining how meditation reduces pain.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Normal volunteers between ages 18 and 65.
• Men and women of all races will be included

Exclusion criteria

• Subjects with a history of psychiatric or neurological disorders.
• Subjects will be excluded if they report being claustrophobic.
• Subjects with a prior history of meditation training will be excluded.
• Subjects with ferrous metal or electronic devices (e g., pacemakers) implanted in there body will be excluded.
• Pregnant subjects will be excluded.
• Subjects that demonstrate no pain to noxious temperatures (>49°C) or excessive responses to temperatures at or below 43°C will be excluded.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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40 participants in 2 patient groups

Mindfulness Meditation Group

Experimental group

Description:

Research volunteers will participate in four sessions (20 min/session) of mindfulness training. Participants are taught that perceived sensory events are "momentary" and "fleeting", requiring no further evaluation. They will be asked to close their eyes, relax and focus on the flow of their breathing by "simply letting go" of discursive thoughts.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness Training

Book Listening Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Study volunteers will listen to an audio recording of the Natural History of Selborne across each session.This 4 session sequence is meant to match features of the experimental meditation sessions, including attention to the recording, room setting, social support, conditioning, and time elapsed during the sessions. We do not expect that this group will demonstrate significant blood oxygenation changes as a function of the intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Book Listening Control