ReviewJournal of pain research2018
Current status of acceptance and commitment therapy for chronic pain: a narrative review.
Review in Journal of pain research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 87 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Differential Contributions of Online Stress and Pain-explicit Mindfulness Treatment Groups to Processes, Patient Experience and Outcomes in Chronic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial and Qualitative Analysis
Preliminary Evaluation of an Online Acceptance and Commitment Training Program for Individuals with Chronic Health Conditions
MOBACT: An Internet-Based Guided Self-Help Intervention Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Pain
Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- An exploration of sexual and relational impacts of transvaginal mesh injury: a systematic review using thematic synthesis.BMC women's health · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of different psychological interventions for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Increase Resilience in Chronic Pain Patients: A Clinical Guideline.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Guideline
- Technology-supported Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for chronic health conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Behaviour research and therapy · 2022Pooled it
- Delivery Model Matters for Digital Interventions in Pain Self-Management: Mixed Methods Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for the Management of Postsurgical Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial (SPINE-ACT Study).European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Trial
- Design and implementation of online acceptance and commitment therapy with enhanced therapist support for chronic low back pain (ACT for PAIN).Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for distress, emotion regulation, and self-compassion in patients with cardiovascular disease: a randomized clinical trial.Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy · 2025Trial
- Short-Term Findings From Testing EPIO, a Digital Self-Management Program for People Living With Chronic Pain: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Physiotherapy informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for chronic low back pain: A mixed-methods treatment fidelity evaluation.British journal of health psychology · 2022Trial
- Complementary treatment comparison for chronic pain management: A randomized longitudinal study.PloS one · 2021Trial
- Pain, psychological flexibility, and continued substance use in a predominantly hispanic adult sample receiving methadone treatment for opioid use disorder.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2020Trial
- Efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on depression, pain acceptance, and psychological flexibility in married women with breast cancer: a pre- and post-test clinical trial.Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapyTrial
- Acceptance and commitment therapy in rehabilitation for chronic pain and fatigue: a qualitative interview study with patients.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Your voice matters: using participatory film to engage people with chronic pain in public involvement and research.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Psychological pathways from daily discrimination to pain: a longitudinal mediation model.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Effort and control of pain: a dilemma for patients and providers.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Chronic Pain Acceptance Moderates the Association Between Pain Intensity and Alcohol Use Severity Among Veterans With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Article
- Inflammation and pain as interconnected targets in axial spondyloarthritis.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Review
- Pain catastrophizing and postoperative satisfaction in cervical disc herniation: a 6-month prospective cohort study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
27 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
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
It is well known that chronic pain is prevalent, complex to manage, and associated with high costs, in health care and society in general. Thanks to advances in new forms of cognitive behavioral therapy (known as third-wave CBT), currently clinicians and researchers have an empirically validated psychological treatment with increasing research support for the treatment of chronic pain. This treatment is called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The main aim of this paper is to provide a narrative review that summarizes and integrates the current state of knowledge of ACT in the management of chronic pain as well as discuss current challenges and opportunities for progress. Based on the psychological flexibility model, ACT extends previous forms of CBT and integrates many CBT-related variables into six core therapeutic processes. ACT is a process-based therapy that fosters openness, awareness, and engagement through a wide range of methods, including exposure-based and experiential methods, metaphors, and values clarification. To our knowledge, there are three published systematic reviews and meta-analyses that support the effectiveness of ACT for chronic pain and many studies focused on specific processes derived from the psychological flexibility model. There is also promising support for the cost-effectiveness of ACT; however, the current evidence is still insufficient to establish firm conclusions about cost-effectiveness and the most efficient means of delivery. Additional well-designed economic evaluations are needed. Other research aims include delineating the neurobiological underpinnings of ACT, refining available outcome and process measures or develop new ones for ACT trials, and meeting the challenge of wide dissemination and implementation in real-world clinical practice.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.