Neurophysiological mechanisms in acceptance and commitment therapy in opioid-addicted patients with chronic pain
Open accessAbstract
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been effectively utilized to treat both chronic pain and substance use disorder independently. Given these results and the vital need to treat the comorbidity of the two disorders, a pilot ACT treatment was implemented in individuals with comorbid chronic pain and opioid addiction. This pilot study supported using neurophysiology to characterize treatment effects and revealed that, following ACT, participants with this comorbidity exhibited reductions in brain activation due to painful stimulus and in connectivity at rest.
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ACT intervention decreases craving behaviour of drug abusers as well as reuse of substance, relieves pain in patients with chronic pain comorbid with opioid addiction and suppresses craving for opioids.
“ACT intervention decreases the craving behaviour of drug abusers47 as well as reuse of substance,48 relieves pain in patients with chronic pain comorbid with opioid addiction and suppresses craving for opioids.49”
From Biological mechanism study of meditation and its application in mental disorders (2020) · cites this paper as [49]
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- Authors
- Smallwood, R. F., Potter, J. S., & Robin, D. A.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Smallwood, Rachel F.
- ORCID
- Potter, Jennifer S.
- Venue
- Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-04
- Volume
- 250
- Pages
- 12-14
- ISSN
- 0925-4927 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4842257
- OpenAlex
- W2300966694
- Semantic Scholar
- 56f772eb14d061534d1d8163ad3f2015a193e889
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 4.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH
- NIDA (K23DA022297-04)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment therapy, opioid use disorder, chronic pain, neurophysiological mechanisms, resting-state functional connectivity, treatment effects
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analgesics, Opioid, Brain, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Opioid-Related Disorders, Pilot Projects, Comorbidity, Behavior, Addictive, Chronic Pain, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
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