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Evidence-based Group Therapy Website
Treatment

DIAGNOSIS: Chronic Pain

TREATMENT: Group ACT for Chronic Pain

BRIEF SUMMARY

  • Basic premise: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for chronic pain focuses on the adoption of effective behavior patterns which are guided by individual values (who and what is truly important). Contrary to other treatments for pain-related issues, the primary aim of ACT does not include controlling pain or related symptoms. Instead, the primary aim includes changing the way people relate to their inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences to subsequently change their behavior. This is achieved through helping participants struggle less with the pain itself and connect more with their values. The treatment often includes mindfulness-based interventions and other skills training such as acceptance, cognitive defusion, committed action, and contact with the present moment.

TREATMENT RESOURCES

TREATMENT MANUALS

ACT for Chronic Pain (McCracken, 2015)

Acceptance and commitment therapy for chronic pain. (Dahl et al., 2005)

Life with chronic pain: An acceptance-based approach (Vowles and Sorrell, 2007)

Mindfulness-based treatment approaches: Clinician's guide to evidence base and applications (Dahl and Lundgren, 2006)

WORKBOOKS and WORKSHEETS

Living beyond your pain: Using acceptance & commitment therapy to ease chronic pain (Dahl and Lundgren, 2006)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Chronic Pain Values Inventory (CPVI) (McCracken and Yang, 2006)

Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire -- Revised (CPAQ-R) (McCracken et al., 2005)

Psychological Inflexibility in Pain Scale (PIPS) (Wicksell et al., 2006)

Clinical online training for physical therapists and all practitioners treating chronic pain (Integrative Pain Science Institute)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and mindfulness for chronic pain: Model, process, and progress CE course (Gibson, 2014)

SUPPORTING STUDIES

Alonso-Fernández, M., López-López, A., Losada, A., González, J. L., & Wetherell, J. L. (2016). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and selective optimization with compensation for institutionalized older people with chronic pain. Pain Medicine, 17(2), 264–277.

https://doi.org/10.1111/pme.12885

Cosio, D. (2019). A group-based, acceptance & commitment therapy intervention for chronic pain. Social Work with Groups, 43(4), 334–346.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2019.1604290

Feliu-Soler, A., Montesinos, F., Gutiérrez-Martínez, O., Scott, W., McCracken, L. M., & Luciano, J. V. (2018). Current status of acceptance and commitment therapy for chronic pain: A narrative review. Journal of Pain Research, 11, 2145–2159.

https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S144631

McCracken, L. M., Yu, L., & Vowles, K. E. (2022). New generation psychological treatments in chronic pain. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 376, e057212.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-057212

McCracken, L. M., Sato, A., & Taylor, G. J. (2013). A trial of a brief group-based form of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for chronic pain in general practice: Pilot outcome and process results. The Journal of Pain, 14(11), 1398-1406.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2013.06.011

OTHER TREATMENTS FOR Chronic Pain

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