Trial reportThe Clinical journal of pain2017
Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on Brain Connectivity Supporting Catastrophizing in Fibromyalgia.
Trial report in The Clinical journal of pain, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 136 citations in OpenAlex.
- The bodily self in fibromyalgia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of body image, body representation, and interoceptive dysfunction.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Pooled it
- Brain modulatory effects of rehabilitation interventions in fibromyalgia: a systematic review of magnetic resonance imaging studies.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Pooled it
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Subacute Low Back Pain: a Systematic Review.Current pain and headache reports · 2018Pooled it
- Pain Catastrophizing and Functional Activation During Occlusion in TMD Patients-An Interventional Study.Human brain mapping · 2024Trial
- Trial
- A Randomized Controlled Neuroimaging Trial of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Fibromyalgia Pain.Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2024Trial
- [Effects of a Cognitive Behavior Therapy Program for Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial].Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing · 2021Trial
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Affective Symptoms and Functioning in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Pilot Double-Blinded, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2019Trial
- Dynamic coupling of emotion and pain: from perception to affective response.The Korean journal of pain · 2026Review
- Post-Diagnostic Lifestyle Adaptations in Fibromyalgia: A Network and Cluster Analysis of Real-World Behavioral Patterns.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Early Changes in Resting-State Connectivity of the Anterior Insular Cortex Are Associated with Reductions in Pain and Catastrophizing After Total Hip Arthroplasty in Female Patients: A Preliminary Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Observational
- Pain catastrophizing and its association with functional disability and psychological distress in patients with chronic low back pain: a retrospective study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Pain Catastrophizing: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- Distress of fibromyalgia in neurology practice: A hospital based, prospective study in north eastern India - 5 years experience.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- Pain Intensity and Pain Catastrophizing Among Patients with Chronic Pain: The Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Mind-Body Interventions for Comorbid Sleep and Gastrointestinal Concerns.Current sleep medicine reports · 2025Review
- Clinical Predictors of Pain Relief with 60-Day Peripheral Nerve Stimulation: A Multicenter Observational Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Nociplastic Pain: A Critical Paradigm for Multidisciplinary Recognition and Management.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Utilizing a learning health system to capture real-world patient data: Application of the reliable change index to evaluate and improve the outcome of a pain rehabilitation program.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2024Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
OBJECTIVE(S): Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic, common pain disorder characterized by hyperalgesia. A key mechanism by which cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) fosters improvement in pain outcomes is via reductions in hyperalgesia and pain-related catastrophizing, a dysfunctional set of cognitive-emotional processes. However, the neural underpinnings of these CBT effects are unclear. Our aim was to assess CBT's effects on the brain circuitry underlying hyperalgesia in FM patients, and to explore the role of treatment-associated reduction in catastrophizing as a contributor to normalization of pain-relevant brain circuitry and clinical improvement.
methodsIn total, 16 high-catastrophizing FM patients were enrolled in the study and randomized to 4 weeks of individual treatment with either CBT or a Fibromyalgia Education (control) condition. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans evaluated functional connectivity between key pain-processing brain regions at baseline and posttreatment. Clinical outcomes were assessed at baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up.
resultsCatastrophizing correlated with increased resting state functional connectivity between S1 and anterior insula. The CBT group showed larger reductions (compared with the education group) in catastrophizing at posttreatment (P<0.05), and CBT produced significant reductions in both pain and catastrophizing at the 6-month follow-up (P<0.05). Patients in the CBT group also showed reduced resting state connectivity between S1 and anterior/medial insula at posttreatment; these reductions in resting state connectivity were associated with concurrent treatment-related reductions in catastrophizing. DISCUSSION: The results add to the growing support for the clinically important associations between S1-insula connectivity, clinical pain, and catastrophizing, and suggest that CBT may, in part via reductions in catastrophizing, help to normalize pain-related brain responses in FM.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.