Study: NCT00621374

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) +Hypnosis (HYP)
Description: There is also the possibility that the two treatments together may be even more helpful than either one alone. Because some of the patients in this study will get both CBT and self-hypnosis, we will be able to determine if each one facilitates the efficacy of the other. If the patients treated in this study report benefits, as we expect they will, then this will encourage us to design and complete a larger study to better understand how patients with MS would benefit from these treatments.

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) +Hypnosis (HYP)
Description: There is also the possibility that the two treatments together may be even more helpful than either one alone. Because some of the patients in this study will get both CBT and self-hypnosis, we will be able to determine if each one facilitates the efficacy of the other. If the patients treated in this study report benefits, as we expect they will, then this will encourage us to design and complete a larger study to better understand how patients with MS would benefit from these treatments.

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Description: One treatment module is we will study is called cognitive restructuring or cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). In this treatment, people learn to identify negative thoughts that make them feel bad or anxious. Such negative thoughts lead to feelings of frustration and anxiety, and can even increase the experience of pain, because they cause a person to focus more on pain. With CBT, people learn to identify and stop these thoughts, and then replace them with more reassuring ones. When they do this, they feel more relaxed and focus less on their pain. As a result, they often say that they feel much better and are less aware of pain.

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Description: One treatment module is we will study is called cognitive restructuring or cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). In this treatment, people learn to identify negative thoughts that make them feel bad or anxious. Such negative thoughts lead to feelings of frustration and anxiety, and can even increase the experience of pain, because they cause a person to focus more on pain. With CBT, people learn to identify and stop these thoughts, and then replace them with more reassuring ones. When they do this, they feel more relaxed and focus less on their pain. As a result, they often say that they feel much better and are less aware of pain.

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Self-Hypnosis Training (HYP)
Description: Self-hypnosis (HYP) is another strategy that people can learn to manage pain. With this treatment, people learn to enter a state of focused attention, and then change how they experience pain. Although we do not yet know how hypnosis works, research has repeatedly shown that the effects are real; when people report decreases in pain with hypnosis, scans and images of the brain's activity show decreases in the parts of the brain that process pain information. With hypnosis, people are not just pretending to feel less pain, they actually do feel less pain.

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Self-Hypnosis Training (HYP)
Description: Self-hypnosis (HYP) is another strategy that people can learn to manage pain. With this treatment, people learn to enter a state of focused attention, and then change how they experience pain. Although we do not yet know how hypnosis works, research has repeatedly shown that the effects are real; when people report decreases in pain with hypnosis, scans and images of the brain's activity show decreases in the parts of the brain that process pain information. With hypnosis, people are not just pretending to feel less pain, they actually do feel less pain.

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Education Control (CONT)
Description: The CONT condition for this study will include lectures that are interactive and are compelling and informative enough to be both (1) credible as an attentional control condition and (2) perceived as helpful to subjects. The CONT condition will not, however, include instructions in making specific cognitive or behavioral changes related to pain management. Thus, it could control for non-specific factors related to behavioral treatment, but will not impact the primary outcome measure (pain).

Intervention type: BEHAVIORAL
Group type: EXPERIMENTAL
Intervention: Education Control (CONT)
Description: The CONT condition for this study will include lectures that are interactive and are compelling and informative enough to be both (1) credible as an attentional control condition and (2) perceived as helpful to subjects. The CONT condition will not, however, include instructions in making specific cognitive or behavioral changes related to pain management. Thus, it could control for non-specific factors related to behavioral treatment, but will not impact the primary outcome measure (pain).