A new study by the University of New South Wales and Neuroscience Research Australia highlights enhancing emotion processing in the treatment and management of chronic pain.
It developed the digital therapeutic called Pain and Emotion Therapy, which aims to “retrain” an individual’s brain to better process emotions, specifically by de-escalating negative emotions and emphasising positive ones. It is delivered through eight group-based sessions led by a therapist via video conference, and involves the use of a mobile application and a handbook for self-learning.
FINDINGS
UNSW Sydney and NeuRA researchers conducted a trial of the online therapy last year with 89 people who were experiencing chronic pain.
Based on findings published in JAMA Network Open, participants who took the digital treatment reported better emotional regulation and a 10-point decrease in pain intensity compared to a control group.
“By changing how we manage emotions, it is possible to change the experience of pain itself,” said Sylvia Gustin, UNSW Sydney professor and study co-lead.
“This is not just a temporary relief but a potential long-term improvement in quality of life for those affected by chronic pain,” she stressed.
WHY IT MATTERS
Researchers noted that up to eight in 10 people with chronic pain experience depression and anxiety, and are two to three times likely to commit suicide than the rest of the population.
This is because persistent pain impacts the brain’s emotional faculty; the resulting emotion dysregulation remains an “ill-understood and undertreated” aspect of chronic pain, Prof Gustin pointed out.
Thus, emotion regulation might be the “missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle of chronic pain treatment,” said co-study lead Nell Norman-Nott, PhD.
She said that people living with chronic pain for many years tend to push negative emotions down while drowning out positive emotions.
“This is why we created this therapy – to focus on emotion processing by improving how people manage their emotions.”
“We focus on helping to identify and bring up those negative emotions so that they can be acknowledged and resolved while also realising the potential positive aspects of life and setting goals for the future,” Norman-Nott further explained.
UNSW Sydney and Neuroscience Research Australia are now preparing for a larger clinical trial, due to start in 2026, with funding from the federal government’s Medical Research Future Fund.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
Recent digital interventions developed to treat and manage chronic pain have also incorporated AI and virtual reality technologies.
A new AI tool by NEC Corporation and Tokyo Medical and Dental University, for example, can estimate the causes of potential lower back pain by assessing skeletal pose structure.
United States-based AppliedVR is a major player in the VR segment with its FDA-approved RelieVRx system (formerly EaseVRx) for treating chronic lower back pain.
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