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Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: Results from a pilot trial

Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: Results from a pilot trial
Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: Results from a pilot trial
Purpose: Loving-kindness meditation has been used for centuries in the Buddhist tradition to develop love and transform anger into compassion. This pilot study tested an 8-week loving-kindness program for chronic low back pain patients.

Method: Patients (N = 43) were randomly assigned to the intervention or standard care. Standardized measures assessed patients’ pain, anger, and psychological distress.

Findings: Post and follow-up analyses showed significant improvements in pain and psychological distress in the loving-kindness group, but no changes in the usual care group. Multilevel analyses of daily data showed that more loving-kindness practice on a given day was related to lower pain that day and lower anger the next day.

Conclusions: Preliminary results suggest that the loving-kindness program can be beneficial in reducing pain, anger, and psychological distress in patients with persistent low back pain.

Implications: Clinicians may find loving-kindness meditation helpful in the treatment of patients with persistent pain.

meditation, chronic low back pain, pain, anger, psychological distress
0898-0101
287-304
Carson, James W.
4c051b44-f8a8-498f-a3f8-fffea85c2046
Keefe, Francis J.
5c2a53e1-5031-4ecc-aa34-80641985a68e
Lynch, Thomas R.
29e90123-0aef-46c8-b320-1617fb48bb20
Carson, Kimberly M.
a9382928-348d-46dc-b426-6c00e8960ec5
Goli, Veeraindar
5ef9893d-b6c1-4f8a-866d-9e65c9633cd1
Fras, Anne Marie
e1564b65-1f7a-48dc-889b-e5c7b595c161
Thorp, Steven R.
2a875502-7e22-4c64-b344-a5f91c9f04aa
Carson, James W.
4c051b44-f8a8-498f-a3f8-fffea85c2046
Keefe, Francis J.
5c2a53e1-5031-4ecc-aa34-80641985a68e
Lynch, Thomas R.
29e90123-0aef-46c8-b320-1617fb48bb20
Carson, Kimberly M.
a9382928-348d-46dc-b426-6c00e8960ec5
Goli, Veeraindar
5ef9893d-b6c1-4f8a-866d-9e65c9633cd1
Fras, Anne Marie
e1564b65-1f7a-48dc-889b-e5c7b595c161
Thorp, Steven R.
2a875502-7e22-4c64-b344-a5f91c9f04aa

Carson, James W., Keefe, Francis J., Lynch, Thomas R., Carson, Kimberly M., Goli, Veeraindar, Fras, Anne Marie and Thorp, Steven R. (2005) Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: Results from a pilot trial. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23 (3), 287-304. (doi:10.1177/0898010105277651).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Purpose: Loving-kindness meditation has been used for centuries in the Buddhist tradition to develop love and transform anger into compassion. This pilot study tested an 8-week loving-kindness program for chronic low back pain patients.

Method: Patients (N = 43) were randomly assigned to the intervention or standard care. Standardized measures assessed patients’ pain, anger, and psychological distress.

Findings: Post and follow-up analyses showed significant improvements in pain and psychological distress in the loving-kindness group, but no changes in the usual care group. Multilevel analyses of daily data showed that more loving-kindness practice on a given day was related to lower pain that day and lower anger the next day.

Conclusions: Preliminary results suggest that the loving-kindness program can be beneficial in reducing pain, anger, and psychological distress in patients with persistent low back pain.

Implications: Clinicians may find loving-kindness meditation helpful in the treatment of patients with persistent pain.

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More information

Published date: September 2005
Keywords: meditation, chronic low back pain, pain, anger, psychological distress

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 194169
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/194169
ISSN: 0898-0101
PURE UUID: af460c16-8235-419f-8f67-c7f5e7d44033
ORCID for Thomas R. Lynch: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1270-6097

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Date deposited: 25 Jul 2011 13:48
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:32

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Contributors

Author: James W. Carson
Author: Francis J. Keefe
Author: Thomas R. Lynch ORCID iD
Author: Kimberly M. Carson
Author: Veeraindar Goli
Author: Anne Marie Fras
Author: Steven R. Thorp

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