Self-regulatory deficits associated with unpracticed mindfulness strategies for coping with acute pain
Open accessAbstract
Training in mindfulness is a well‐supported therapeutic strategy for pain conditions, though short‐term mindfulness training for acute pain is not always effective. To explore the possibility that initial attempts at mindfulness in people without previous training may drain self‐regulatory resources, the current study used a student sample ( N = 63) to test the hypothesis that brief instruction in mindfulness would lead to reduced pain tolerance on a cold pressor task, compared to more familiar strategies for coping with acute pain. We also investigated whether high heart rate variability ( HRV ), a physiological indicator of self‐regulatory capacity, would predict pain tolerance. Higher HRV predicted greater pain tolerance only in the control group, suggesting that applying unfamiliar mindfulness strategies while attempting to tolerate pain more rapidly sapped self‐regulatory strength.
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Very brief mindfulness instructions without practice reduced persistence on the cold pressor relative to a spontaneous coping control.
“ultra-brief mindfulness instructions with no opportunity to practice led to a decreased task persistence in the cold pressor compared to a spontaneous coping control”
From The Effect of a Brief Mindfulness Training on Distress Tolerance and Stress Reactivity. (2019) · cites this paper as Evans, Eisenlohr-Moul, Button, Baer, and Segerstrom (2014)
Brief acceptance-focused interventions work less well for people who have little experience with acceptance strategies.
“We caution that these brief acceptance-focused interventions are less effective for those inexperienced with acceptance strategies”
From Mechanisms of mindfulness training: Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT (2017) · cites this paper as Evans et al., 2014
High levels of the observing awareness facet of mindfulness are associated with worse mental health, including increased depression, anxiety, dissociation, and substance abuse, and decreased ability to tolerate pain.
“Indeed, high levels of the observing awareness facet of mindfulness have been repeatedly found to be associated with worse mental health, including increased depression, anxiety, dissociation, and substance abuse [8,16] and decreased ability to tolerate pain [17].”
From Can mindfulness be too much of a good thing? The value of a middle way (2019) · cites this paper as [17]
Short-term mindfulness training for acute pain is not always effective.
“Probably, short-term mindfulness training for acute pain is not always effective [40].”
From Acute effects of brief mindfulness intervention coupled with carbohydrate ingestion to re-energize soccer players: a randomized crossover trial. (2020) · cites this paper as [40]
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References 45 · Cited by 55
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Goldin P Gross J 2010 Effects of mindfulness meditation training on the neural basis of emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder Emotion 10 83 91 20141305 PMC4203918
- Authors
- Evans, D. R., Eisenlohr‐Moul, T. A., Button, D. F., Baer, R. A., & Segerstrom, S. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Kentucky (US)
- Department of Psychology University of Kentucky
- Corresponding author
- Evans, Daniel R.
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-12-10
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 23-30
- ISSN
- 0021-9029 (ISSN-L)
- 1559-1816
- PMC
- PMC4383260
- OpenAlex
- W2133693403
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 2.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (F31-AG039208)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Keywords
- mindfulness, acute pain, pain tolerance, self-regulation, self-regulatory resources, heart rate variability, cold pressor task, coping strategies, students
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