Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Non-Malignant Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Active, not recruitingNot applicableNCT07709572
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)
This study is evaluating whether Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps adults with chronic non-malignant pain (pain lasting 3 months or longer that is not caused by cancer). Sixty adult participants (ages 18-60) were randomly placed into one of three groups: ACT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), or Treatment as Usual (TAU, standard medical care only). Both ACT and CBT are delivered over 10 weekly sessions by a trained therapist. ACT focuses on helping people accept pain-related thoughts and feelings, become less controlled by unhelpful thinking patterns, and take action toward things that matter to them despite pain. CBT focuses on changing unhelpful thoughts about pain and building coping skills such as pacing and relaxation. The TAU group continues usual medical care without added psychological treatment. Participants complete questionnaires before and after treatment measuring pain intensity, pain acceptance, pain-related disability, psychological flexibility, catastrophic thinking about pain, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. The goal is to find out whether ACT works as well as, or better than, CBT, and whether either treatment works better than standard care alone.
Study details
- Official title
- Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Non-Malignant Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Conditions
- Chronic Non-Malignant Pain (Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain, Chronic Widespread Pain)
- Interventions
- Sponsor
- GIFT University
- Start date
- 2026-05-13
- Primary completion
- 2026-07-26
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years to 60 Years
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- Pakistan
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: Chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain or chronic widespread pain persisting for at least three months, without evidence of malignant pathology Aged between 18 and 60 years Current pain severity of ≥4 on the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) Pain-related functional interference of ≥4 on the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) interference subscale Pain catastrophizing score of ≥20 on the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) Availability and willingness to attend all intervention sessions (10 weekly sessions for either ACT or CBT) Diagnosis medically confirmed by a qualified physician (e.g., orthopedic consultant or pain specialist) prior to inclusion Exclusion Criteria: Presence of severe psychiatric disorders, including but not limited to psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder Severe cognitive impairment or neurological disorders that may interfere with understanding or completing study assessments Concurrent participation in other structured psychological interventions for chronic pain (e.g., CBT, ACT) Uncontrolled or unstable medical conditions that may compromise safe participation in the study
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07709572