Self-Compassion and Acute Pain

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Research on self-compassion suggests its impact in the context of pain. In the current study, the investigators evaluate a short self-compassion intervention for coping with acute pain.

Detailed Description
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Self-compassion comprises three components: self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. Empirical evidence shows the relevance of self-compassion in the context of negative emotions such as depression, anxiety and anger. Research on chronic pain is promising yet limited. Self-compassion is associated with better pain-coping, pain-acceptance and quality of life, as well as reduced pain-related disability and burdening emotions. Experimental investigations on induced pain are missing. The aim of the current study is to evaluate a short self-compassion intervention for pain. First, a heat stimulus is induced to all participants which is to be tolerated as long as possible and evaluated in intensity and unpleasantness. Next, participants receive a coping-strategy which they are randomly assigned to. Three different strategies are evaluated: (1) self-compassion, treating oneself with kindness while being mindfully aware of the painful stimulus, (2) acceptance, accepting the painful stimulus as well as pain-related thoughts, not trying to change, (3) distraction, distracting oneself from the painful stimulus and trying not to perceive the pain or painful thoughts. Participants practice the strategy with the painful heat stimulus three times. Then, they receive another heat stimulus which is to be tolerated as long as possible and evaluated. During the next week, participants obtain daily practices via e-mail for further fostering of the learned strategy. Finally, participants receive, tolerate and evaluate pain again in the laboratory.

Official Title
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Self-Compassion and Acute Pain - an Experimental Investigation

Conditions
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Acute Pain

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Self-Compassion
* Other: Acceptance
* Other: Distraction
* Other: Heat pain


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: sufficient german language knowledge at least 18 years old Exclusion Criteria: acute or chronic pain conditions drug or pain-medication (last 24 hours) Raynaud's disease high blood pressure neuropathy, coronary diseases diabetes, current alcohol studying psychology longer than two years

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Participants are randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups in parallel for the duration of the study
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Self-Compassion<br>After pretreatment heat pain assessment, participants are introduced to the concept of self-compassion. Participants practice the new strategy with heat pain stimuli three times. Next, the posttreatment pain assessment is conducted. For a one week period, participants receive daily self-compassion audio-interventions. Afterwards, the follow-up pain assessment is conducted. | Other: Self-Compassion<br>* Participants are introduced to the concept of self-compassion. Treating oneself with kindness, while being mindfully aware of the present moment as well as the fact that suffering is part of human life - a shared human experience. Participants are instructed to use this strategy to cope with the following heat stimulus.<br>Other: Heat pain<br>* Participants receive heat pain stimuli using the Thermo Sensory Analyser (TSA-II), a commonly used device to study pain sensation and analgesic effects.<br>|
| Experimental: Acceptance<br>After pretreatment heat pain assessment, participants are introduced to the concept of acceptance. Participants practice the new strategy with heat pain stimuli three times. Next, the posttreatment pain assessment is conducted. For a one week period, participants receive daily acceptance audio-interventions. Afterwards, the follow-up pain assessment is conducted. | Other: Acceptance<br>* Participants are introduced to the concept of acceptance. Thoughts, Emotions and Reactions do not need to be related. Being aware of the present moment helps with accepting the present state and reacting contradictory to the thoughts and feelings. Participants are instructed to use this strategy to cope with the following heat stimulus.<br>Other: Heat pain<br>* Participants receive heat pain stimuli using the Thermo Sensory Analyser (TSA-II), a commonly used device to study pain sensation and analgesic effects.<br>|
| Experimental: Distraction<br>After pretreatment heat pain assessment, participants are introduced to the concept of distraction. Participants practice the new strategy with heat pain stimuli three times. Next, the posttreatment pain assessment is conducted. For a one week period, participants receive daily distraction audio-interventions. Afterwards, the follow-up pain assessment is conducted. | Other: Distraction<br>* Participants are introduced to the concept of distraction. Distracting oneself from the present situation helps with not perceiving pain, painful thoughts or feelings. Participants are instructed to use this strategy to cope with the following heat stimulus.<br>Other: Heat pain<br>* Participants receive heat pain stimuli using the Thermo Sensory Analyser (TSA-II), a commonly used device to study pain sensation and analgesic effects.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Individual heat pain tolerance | Change in the individual heat pain tolerance (the point when participants cannot stand the heat pain stimulus any longer) | Baseline, 45 min, 1 week | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pain intensity | Change in subjective pain intensity assessed using a numeric rating scale (ranging from 0 to 10, with higher values reflecting more pain intensity) | Baseline, 45 min, 1 week | 
| Change in pain unpleasantness scale | Change in subjective pain unpleasentness assessed using a numeric rating scale (ranging from 0 to 10, with higher values reflecting more pain unpleasentness) | Baseline, 45 min, 1 week | 
| Change in self-compassion | Change in overall self-compassion assessed using the self-compassion scale (Neff, 2003) (higher values indicating higher self-compassion | Baseline, 45 min, 1 week |