Alternative to drugs for treating pain

said. “Our study showed that cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction were comparable in reducing dysfunction and pain severity.”

Furthermore, a cost analysis showed that the mindfulness technique – basically, a form of meditation that helps patients “get in touch with their bodies and their lives”, as Cherkin described it – proved more cost-effective than both CBT and usual care in reducing both health care costs and lost productivity.

The mindfulness technique, essentially a demystified form of Buddhist meditation, is taught and practised in eight weekly two-hour sessions and combined with gentle yoga, Cherkin said. Patients learn to relax, become “non-reactive” to pain and not allow it to be the focus of their lives, he explained.

In a follow-up study done two years later, patients treated with mindfulness therapy or CBT remained more likely to be improved than those who received usual care, the team reported in February. – New York Times