Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Headache Pain
CompletedPhase 1, Phase 2NCT01213056
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov Recruiting status changes often. Contact the study team listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and talk to your doctor before joining a study.
This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.
Brief summary (from the registry)
The literature on the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of chronic pain is well established. Support for the efficacy of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and other mindfulness based treatments for chronic pain is building. Recently, research has demonstrated the efficacy of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in simultaneously addressing the outcome variables targeted by both CBT and mindfulness based treatment modalities. Although the efficacy of MBCT depression and for other populations has been investigated, there is no extant literature reporting on MBCT for chronic pain. The current application proposes to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of an MBCT protocoll adapted for chronic pain in a series of pilot groups with headache pain patients. We selected headache pain patients for this trial because headache pain is a common complaint in the general population, is the most frequently reported cause of pain in medical practice, and is one of the most disabling conditions for both genders combined. To examine the feasibility of the adapted protocol, the investigators will investigate a number of treatment related outcomes such as recruitment, completion, and drop out rates. Both primary and secondary outcome variables will be investigated to determine treatment efficacy. This study will provide a research base examining the feasibility and efficacy of MBCT for pain. Results from this study will lay the foundation for future randomized controlled trials comparing MBCT to attention control, and future comparative effectiveness studies of MBCT and CBT.
Study details
- Official title
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Headache Pain
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
- Sponsor
- University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
- Start date
- 2010-04
- Primary completion
- 2013-12
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 19 Years
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- United States
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: * At least 3 pain days per month (for the past 3 months or more) due to migraine and/or tension-type headaches; * Recent evaluation (within 6 months) of headaches by a physician, participants will also need to receive permission from their physician to take part in the study; * Age of 19 years or older; * Reading ability sufficient to comprehend self-monitoring forms; * If currently using psychotropic or headache medications, use of these medications must have begun at least 4-weeks before treatment; and * Agree to be videotaped during the group treatment sessions, although the video camera will be directed at the group leader, and not directed at the participant. Exclusion Criteria: * History of seizure or facial neuralgia, as these conditions might preclude the accurate diagnosis of headache; * Significant cognitive impairment; * History of schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder or substance abuse as these conditions could result in a psychiatric emergency during treatment
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01213056