A New Psychotherapeutic 'Gold Standard' for Chronic Pain?

A single course of treatment with emotional awareness and expression therapy (EAET) was associated with a significantly greater reduction in chronic pain severity than cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), the current psychotherapeutic gold standard, a new study suggested.

Two thirds of the patients who received EAET reported at least a 30% reduction in pain compared with 17% of those who received CBT. The randomized clinical trial also showed that individuals with depression and anxiety responded more favorably to EAET, a novel finding.

The study is one of only a few to directly compare EAET with CBT.

"Most people with chronic pain don't consider psychotherapy at all," study investigator Brandon C. Yarns, MD, a staff psychiatrist at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, and clinical professor of health sciences at the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Health, told Medscape Medical News.

Although patients were allowed to continue medication for pain and other comorbidities during the study, those who received EAET "had larger improvements in pain, depression, and anxiety," Yarns said. "That suggests that the effect was due to the EAET."

The findings were published online on June 13 in JAMA Network Open.

Source: MEDspace