Meditation Awareness Training Improves Fibromyalgia Symptoms

by | Dec 14, 2017 | 2017, Alternative Therapies, Brain Health, Fibromyalgia, Self-Care

Written by Joyce Smith, BS. Eight weekly 2-hour workshops in meditation awareness training significantly improved fibromyalgia symptoms in the seventy-four participating subjects compared to the control group participants.

fibromyalgiaFibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), more prevalent in females than males 1, is a difficult to treat chronic pain disorder characterized by extreme fatigue and extensive muscular-skeletal pain that affects sleep quality and memory impairment , and contributes to depression , anxiety, and stress 2. Designing interventions to treat fibromyalgia continues to be challenging; consequently, an integrated treatment approach combining pharmaceuticals with aerobic exercise , cognitive-behavioral therapy , self-help- and education has been gaining favor 3. Compared to first-generation mindfulness-based interventions, second-generation mindfulness-based interventions (SG-MBIs) are more acknowledging of the spiritual aspect of mindfulness and have been gaining momentum. Studies of SG-MBIs have shown that both healthy and non-healthy participants attribute their health improvements to an increased spiritual awareness 4. This intent-to-treat designed study 5 is the first randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a second-generation mindfulness-based intervention (SG-MBI) for treating FMS.

One hundred forty-eight English speaking participants, aged 18-25 years, with a current fibromyalgia diagnosis were randomized into 2 groups. Seventy-four study participants received an 8-week SG-MBI known as meditation awareness training (MAT; n = 74) while a control group of 74 received an active control intervention known as cognitive behavior theory for groups (CBTG; n=74). MAT participants attended 8 weekly 2-hour workshops in SG-MBI which included lectures (45 minutes), group discussions (30 minutes) and guided meditation or mindfulness exercises (30 minutes). In addition, each participant received a CD of guided meditations to facilitate daily self-practice. Study outcomes were assessed at pre-, post-, and 6-month using the following 6 well-established psychometric scales:

  • Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR) 6 (to assess FMS severity);
  • Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) 7;
  • Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS)8;
  • Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) 9;
  • Non-Attachment Scale (NAS) 10;
  • Civic Engagement: Participants were asked to record how many hours during the previous 7 days they had spent engaging in paid work, voluntary work, participating in an event or meeting hosted by a community organization or group, and/or mentoring another non-family member of the community.

Meditation awareness training participants significantly outperformed the control group participants in FMS symptomatology, pain perception, sleep quality, psychological distress, non-attachment (to self, symptoms, and environment), and civic engagement (p<0.001 for all).  These results suggest that MAT may be a suitable treatment for adults with FMS and appears to reduce the symptoms and pain perception of fibromyalgia syndrome by reducing “attachment to self”. Additional controlled studies with larger numbers of participants are warranted.

Source: Van Gordon, William, Edo Shonin, Thomas J. Dunn, Javier Garcia‐Campayo, and Mark D. Griffiths. “Meditation awareness training for the treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome: A randomized controlled trial.” British journal of health psychology 22, no. 1 (2017): 186-206.

© 2016 The British Psychological Society

Posted December 14, 2017.

Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from  the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.

References:

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