Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation Individuals With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

University of Southampton

Status: Completed

Conditions: Musculoskeletal Pain Disorder; Chronic Pain

Treatments: Behavioral: Pain-related cognitive bias modification for interpretation; Behavioral: Benign cognitive bias modification for interpretation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06368362

CBM-I001

Details and patient eligibility

About

Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) trains participants to interpret ambiguous information as neutral or benign, rather than interpret it as being related to pain. The goal of this randomised controlled trial was to explore the feasibility and potential clinical benefits of CBM-I in people with chronic pain and also healthy, pain-free individuals.

Full description

This study investigated whether Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) could reduce negative emotional response to pain and to pain-related images, and whether reductions in interpretation bias (IB) and fear of pain mediated this effect. Participants with chronic musculoskeletal pain (N = 41) were randomised to benign CBM-I or no CBM-I, and healthy participants (N = 41) were randomised to benign CBM-I or pain-related CBM-I. After CBM-I, the study assessed pain-related IB and fear of pain, as well as negative emotional response to exercise-induced pain and images of musculoskeletal pain.

Enrollment: 84 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 70 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Chronic pain group Inclusion criteria

• Experience musculoskeletal pain (pain in muscles, bones, joints, tendons, or ligaments) that has lasted for at least the last 3 months before enrolment in the study
• Have visited a healthcare professional for their pain
• Aged 18-70 years
• Normal or corrected to normal vision
• Fluency in the English language Exclusion criteria
• Any known reading difficulty

Healthy group Inclusion criteria

• Aged 18-70 years
• Normal or corrected to normal vision
• Fluency in the English language Exclusion criteria
• Experience frequent or continuous pain for the past three months before enrolment in the study
• Currently experiencing pain
• Any known reading difficulty

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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84 participants in 4 patient groups

Benign CBM-I - Chronic pain

Experimental group

Description:

Chronic pain participants randomised to receive benign CBM-I, which uses the Ambiguous Situations Task to train participants to neutral meanings of ambiguous scenarios.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Benign cognitive bias modification for interpretation

No CBM-I - Chronic pain

No Intervention group

Description:

Chronic pain participants randomised to the 'no CBM-I' condition complete the Ambiguous Situations Task without any form of bias modification.

Benign CBM-I - Healthy

Experimental group

Description:

Healthy participants randomised to receive benign CBM-I, which uses the Ambiguous Situations Task to train participants to neutral meanings of ambiguous scenarios.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Benign cognitive bias modification for interpretation

Pain-related CBM-I - Healthy

Other group

Description:

Healthy participants randomised to receive pain-related CBM-I, which uses the Ambiguous Situations Task to train participants to painful meanings of ambiguous scenarios.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Pain-related cognitive bias modification for interpretation