Mindfulness e dor crônica primária: uma revisão narrativa

Abstract

Chronic pain is highly prevalent and one of the major sources of suffering worldwide, impacting the health and well-being of individuals. Recently, chronic primary pain was incorporated into the ICD-11 as a new diagnostic category, being defined by the occurrence of pain in one or more anatomical regions, lasting longer than three months, associated with significant emotional distress and/or functional disability, and that cannot be explained by another health condition. Thus, Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) emerge as a complementary therapy to pain treatment, since they can positively impact the subjective experience of pain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of IBMs in the management of chronic pain. A narrative review of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) published from 2016 to 2021 in the Pubmed database was performed. A total of 85 RCTs were identified in the search and 12 studies were selected to integrate this review with 1558 adult participants, the majority of whom were female. The studies assessed outcomes related to the experience of pain, psychological suffering, and quality of life. Statistically significant effects favoring IBMs were found, being related to improvement in pain catastrophizing, pain perception, pain self-efficacy, and psychological distress. In contrast, results were statistically inconclusive for pain intensity, pain frequency, acceptance, and quality of life. The results suggest that IBMs can be effective in pain management since they impact several aspects that modulate it, mainly psychosocial factors.