NCT03414138

Brain Mechanisms Supporting Meditation-based Analgesia

Identifying the Neurofunctional Connections Supporting Mindfulness Meditation Based Analgesia

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of California, San Diego · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

• Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Mindfulness Training	A well-validated brief mindfulness-based mental training regimen \[four sessions; 20 min/session\] will be used to teach patients to independently practice mindfulness meditation.
BEHAVIORAL	Book Listening Control	Study volunteers will listen to four 20 minute blocks of The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne throughout their interventions.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-04-20
• Primary completion: 2018-08-02
• Completion: 2018-08-02
• First posted: 2018-01-29
• Last updated: 2019-06-11

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States