Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation and Self-Hypnosis for Pain in Older Adults With Chronic Pain

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · May 1, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying how two psychological treatments—mindfulness meditation and self-hypnosis—can help older adults manage chronic pain. Researchers want to understand how these treatments work in the brain by comparing them to a control group that listens to an audio recording. They will use brain scans and other measures to see which methods are most effective for different individuals.

To participate, you must be at least 60 years old and have been experiencing chronic pain for at least three months. Your pain should be moderate to severe, rated at 3 or higher on a scale from 0 to 10. You should also have little to no prior experience with meditation or hypnosis. If you qualify, you will be randomly assigned to one of the three groups and will attend sessions to learn about the treatment assigned to you. Participation in this study may offer new insights into how these approaches can relieve pain in older adults.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. be ≥60 years of age;
• • 2. have self-reported chronic pain (≥3-months, with pain experienced on ≥ 50% of days);
• • 3. endorse an average intensity of pain ≥3 on a 0-10 numerical rating scale (NRS) for most days of the previous 3-months;
• • 4. be able to read, speak, and understand English;
• • 5. be naïve to meditation and hypnosis (\<20-min. practice/week over the past 6-months; never attended a mindfulness or self-hypnosis course); and
• • 6. if currently taking analgesic or psychotropic medication, medication must have been stabilized for ≥4-weeks prior to this study.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. have a history of a medical condition that could produce an abnormal EEG (e.g., epilepsy, history of traumatic brain injury);
• • 2. have metals in the body (e.g., clips, prosthetics, pace-makers);
• • 3. self-report claustrophobia or other contraindications to MRI scanning;
• • 4. have uncontrolled hypertension;
• • 5. have a primary chronic pain condition of headache;
• • 6. show signs of cognitive impairment (6-Item Cognitive Screener during screening; MoCA score at Session 1, using demographically-adjusted normative cut-offs that take into account race, ethnicity, and age);
• • 7. have chronic pain due to malignancy (e.g., cancer) or a chronic pain condition for which surgery is recommended and/or planned;
• • 8. are currently receiving other psychosocial treatments for any pain condition (as this may influence these treatment results);
• • 9. self-report previous participation in an experimental pain study; or
• • 10. report \<2 on a 0-10 NRS for pain intensity in response to experimental "heat" pain stimuli (in order to avoid floor effects and to ensure participants are not too insensitive to thermal pain to reliably produce detectable pain-related brain activation).