Relieving Chronic Pain: Psychosomatic Mechanisms and Psychological Interventions in Fibromyalgia and Chronic Headache

Brief summary (from the registry)

Pain is one of the most important manifestations of the disease state and significantly affects people\'s quality of life. According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is not only a sensory experience related to the activation of the somato-sensory nervous system, but also an emotional experience, resulting from the cortical and emotional processing of nociceptive signals. This means that perceived pain is the result of a complex interaction between physical sensations and emotional responses. Pain is classified according to two main criteria: duration and pathophysiological mechanism. In terms of duration, pain can be transient, acute, chronic, or persistent. In terms of pathophysiology, pain can be nociceptive, inflammatory, neuropathic, or nociplastic. The latter, in particular, is characterized by altered nociceptive function, without obvious peripheral damage, and is seen in conditions such as fibromyalgia and chronic migraine. Chronic pain affects a significant proportion of the population, with estimated prevalence rates between 11% and 40%. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 20.4 percent of adults suffer from chronic pain. This type of pain is more common in women, people of advanced age, and people with low socioeconomic status. In addition to its physical effects, chronic pain has a major psychological impact, increasing the risk of depression, anxiety, and social isolation. Socially and economically, the costs associated with the treatment and management of chronic pain are high. Nociplastic pain (DN) refers to a chronic pain state that is not related to visible tissue damage or overt neuropathy, but in which there are alterations in the function of pain sensory pathways. The concept of central sensitization (CS), introduced in the 1990s, describes the amplification of pain signals at the level of the central nervous system, leading to increased sensitivity to pain (hyperalgesia) or p…

Study details

Official title

Relieving Chronic Pain: Psychosomatic Mechanisms and Psychological Interventions in Fibromyalgia and Chronic Headache

Conditions

• Fibromyalgia (FM)
• Chronic Migraine Headache

Interventions

• Behavioral: Dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT)
• Behavioral: technique of expressive writing (TSE)
• Other: Treatment as Usual (TAU)

Sponsor

University of Roma La Sapienza

Collaborators

University of Pavia; Azienda Policlinico Umberto I; IRCCS National Neurological Institute "C. Mondino" Foundation; University of Turin, Italy; I.R.C.C.S Ospedale Galeazzi-Sant'Ambrogio

Start date

2024-09-17

Primary completion

2025-09-30

Sex

Female

Age range

from 18 Years to 50 Years

Healthy volunteers

true

Results posted

No results posted in this snapshot

Countries

Italy

Total sites listed

2

Eligibility criteria