relaxation

Educational information

The effect of biofeedback and relaxation training in chronic pain patients

The information contained on this page was derived from the Pain Library

and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the founders of this website and is for information purposes only.

Clinical depression is a significant problem for patients suffering from chronic pain. Estimates aree that from 10 to 60% of all chronic pain patients are clinically depressed. In one sample of 100 patients in a structured pain program, >70% had scores of 70 or more on the depression scale of the Minnesota Mulitphasic Personality Inventory, indicating clinical depression. One hundred chronic pain patients in another pain management program were examined. Twenty-five percent were found to have major depression, 39% were considered marginally depressed, and the remaining 36% did not show evidence of depression. Depression and pain are inextricably involved; therefore, there is a greater likelihood of depression occuring as long as the pain persisits. In fact, the pain will be amplifiied. Chronic pain patients who are depressed are likely to engage in negative and catastrophic thinking. Research has shown that people who do not see themselves as instrumental agents for their own behalf are more likely to believe that they are not able to control adverse events. In light of this, interventions designed to restore power to the patient are likely to reduce depression and decrease pain perception.

These investigators examined relaxation and biofeedback training [ as methods of imparting a sense of control to the patient] and their effect(s) on clinical depression. This study tested the hypothesis that when patients are provided relaxation and biofeedback training in combination, not as a single modalities, they are more likely to demonstrate lower levels of depression as indeicated by lower scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

Forty chronic pain patients from an outpatient clinic participated in the study, and were randomly assigned to either the treatment group or wait-list control group. Patients in the control group were told that they would received biofeedback and relaxation training, if desired, after completion of the experiement. The BDI was used pre and post experiment, the control group showed a slight reduction of BDI scores. However, the treatment group showed a significantly greater reduction in depression scores, indicating that biofeedback combined with relaxation was effective in reducing symptoms of depression. The results confirmed the hypothesis that biofeedback combined with relaxation is effective in reducing BDI scores.

The authors conclude that since biofeedback and relaxation training were effective in reducing BDI scores, it would be interesting to compare biofeedback with anitdepressant medications adn cognitibr/behavioral interventions.