Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) in a Specialist Pain Clinic: A Feasibility Study

Description

Long-term pain, which is pain that lasts for more than three months, is a major health problem. It can severely impact a person's physical and mental well-being, quality of life, and ability to work. It also carries high costs for society, mainly due to high rates of sick leave. For many people with long-term pain, there is no clear injury or disease that fully explains why it hurts. In these cases, the pain is believed to be caused by how the brain and nervous system process pain signals. This is sometimes called "nociplastic pain." Even though there are many treatments for pain-like medications and therapies-they don't work for everyone, and many people are left without meaningful relief. Because of this, it is important to find and test new ways to treat pain. In this study, the investigators evaluate a relatively new psychological treatment called Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), which has been tested in the US with promising results. PRT helps individuals with chronic pain to understand and change how they think about their pain by explaining how the brain works. The treatment focuses on teaching the difference between acute (new) pain and long-term pain. It also involves exercises to help people alter emotions related to their pain. A key part of the treatment is a technique where patients practice paying attention to what is happening in their bodies in a safe, relaxed way. The goal is to teach the brain that the pain signals are not a threat. This can help break the vicious cycle of fear, avoiding activities, and worsening pain. While many people are interested in treatments like PRT, it hasn't yet been tested in specialized care for patients with complex pain. This trial is a pilot study-a smaller, initial investigation to evaluate how well the treatment works in a clinical setting, and to determine if both patients and therapists find it acceptable and practical to use. This will give us important information to help prepare for larger studies in the future. The main goal of this pilot study is to see if PRT is a practical and accepted treatment in a Swedish pain rehabilitation setting. The investigators also want to look at whether the treatment helps reduce pain, psychological distress, negative thoughts about pain, and the fear of moving. Finally, the investigators will explore how a patient's expectations and thinking skills (such as memory and focus) might affect how well the treatment works, and take physical measurements before and after the treatment to see if the nervous system becomes better at regulating pain.

Interventions

• Pain Reprocessing Therapy (Behavioral)
  A 9-week intervention with 9 individual sessions and 3 group sessions based on Pain Reprocessing Therapy.

Eligibility criteria

Conditions

Locations

• Karolinska Institutet — Stockholm, Sweden