Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33480666›Full record

Trial reportPsychosomatic medicine

The Role of Expectations and Endogenous Opioids in Mindfulness-Based Relief of Experimentally Induced Acute Pain.

Laura Case, Adrienne L Adler-Neal, Rebecca E Wells, Fadel Zeidan

Open access · greenAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Psychosomatic medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pain, mindfulness, and placebo: a systematic review.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2024
    Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Meditation as an Adjunct to the Management of Acute Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2023
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Laura CaseFrom the Department of Anesthesiology (Case, Zeidan), University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California; and Departments of Neurobiology and Anatomy (Adler-Neal, Zeidan) and Neurology (Wells), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Adrienne L Adler-Neal
Rebecca E Wells
Fadel Zeidan
Wake Forest University · US

Funding

Brain Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness Meditation-Based Chronic Pain ReliefR01AT009693 · NCCIH · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI ZEIDAN, FADEL · 2018 to 2023
$2.1M
Affective Sensory Pathways of Light Stroking and Deep Pressure TouchR00AT009466 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI CASE, LAURA K · 2020 to 2022
$1.1M
Mindfulness and Mechanisms of Pain Processing in Adults with MigrainesK23AT008406 · NCCIH · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI WELLS, REBECCA ERWIN · 2015 to 2019
$811k
Brain Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness-Based Pain ReliefR00AT008238 · NCCIH · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI ZEIDAN, FADEL · 2017 to 2019
$752k
The role of endogenous opioids in mindfulness-based chronic pain reliefR21AT010352 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI ZEIDAN, FADEL · 2019 to 2020
$433k
Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Meditation and PlaceboR21AT007247 · NCCIH · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI COGHILL, ROBERT C · 2012 to 2013
$400k
The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Pain and Heart Rate VariabilityF30AT009165 · NCCIH · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI ADLER, ADRIENNE · 2016 to 2019
$181k
Brain Mechanisms Supporting Mindfulness-Based Pain ReliefK99AT008238 · NCCIH · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI ZEIDAN, FADEL · 2014 to 2015
$180k
NCCIH NIH HHS F30 AT009165NCCIH NIH HHS K23 AT008406NCCIH NIH HHS K99 AT008238NCCIH NIH HHS K99 AT009466NCCIH NIH HHS R00 AT008238NCCIH NIH HHS R00 AT009466NCCIH NIH HHS R01 AT009693NCCIH NIH HHS R21 AT007247NCCIH NIH HHS R21 AT010352
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveExpectations contribute to cognitive pain modulation through opioidergically mediated descending inhibition. Mindfulness meditation reduces pain independent of endogenous opioids, engaging unique corticothalamocortical mechanisms. However, it remains unknown whether expectations for pain relief predict mindfulness-induced analgesia and if these expectations are modified by endogenous opioids.

methodsIn this secondary analysis of previously published work, 78 pain-free participants (mean age, 27 ± 7 years; 50% women) were randomized to a four-session mindfulness meditation or book listening regimen. Expectations for intervention-induced pain relief were assessed before and after each intervention. Pain ratings were examined after meditation or rest (control group) during noxious heat (49°C) and intravenous administration of saline placebo or the opioid antagonist naloxone (0.15 mg/kg bolus + 0.1 mg kg-1 h-1 infusion.

resultsMindfulness significantly lowered pain during saline and naloxone infusion. Higher expected pain relief from mindfulness predicted lower pain intensity (r(40) = -0.41, p = .009). The relationship between meditation-related expectations and pain intensity reductions was exhibited during naloxone (r(20) = -0.76, p < .001) but not saline (r(20) = -0.22, p = .36). Expectations for book listening-based analgesia did not significantly predict pain changes during saline (r(20) = -0.37, p = .11) or naloxone (r(18) = 0.26, p = .30) in the control group.

conclusionsThese novel findings demonstrate a significant role for expectations in mindfulness-based pain relief. However, this role was minimal during saline and stronger during opioid blockade, despite similar pain reductions. This supports growing evidence that mindfulness engages multiple mechanisms to reduce pain, suggesting that mindfulness might be an effective pain-reducing technique even for individuals with low expectations for pain relief.

Indexed as

Acute PainMeditationMindfulnessAdultAnalgesics, OpioidFemaleHumansMaleMotivationNaloxoneYoung AdultAnalgesics, OpioidNaloxone

Identifiers

PMID33480666
PMCPMC8415135
OpenAlexW3123036740

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.