Recent research indicates that mindfulness meditation alleviates pain by engaging a distinct brain pathway, separate from the one activated by placebos. This unique mechanism of pain relief through mindfulness could offer valuable benefits for individuals with chronic pain.
Mindfulness is focusing on the current moment and observing thoughts and feelings . While some may consider these benefits as unproven, a new study from the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine supports its effectiveness in reducing pain.
Fadel Zeidan, professor of anesthesiology and the study’s lead author, noted, “The mind is incredibly powerful, and we are still investigating how it can be utilized for pain management. By separating pain from the self and avoiding evaluative judgments, mindfulness meditation can directly alter our experience of pain without the need for medication, at no cost, and in any setting.” The placebo effect—where an inactive treatment improves health due to expectations—was previously thought to account for the pain relief from mindfulness meditation.
To explore this, researchers tested 115 healthy participants, dividing them into four groups: one for guided mindfulness meditation, one for sham mindfulness (deep breathing), one for a placebo cream (petroleum jelly), and one control group that listened to an audiobook. Participants experienced a harmless heat stimulus on their calves, and their brain activity was monitored with functional MRI (fMRI) before and after the interventions. Employing multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), a machine learning method, the researchers distinguished the brain activity associated with pain relief from mindfulness meditation versus that from placebo.
They found that, although both the placebo cream and sham mindfulness reduced pain, mindfulness meditation resulted in significantly greater reductions in both pain intensity and unpleasantness. The analysis also revealed that mindfulness and placebo treatments activated different neural pathways for pain relief. Zeidan observed, “that the placebo effect might overlap with the brain mechanisms activated by active treatments. Our results suggest that these mechanisms are distinct when it comes to pain, supporting the use of mindfulness meditation as a direct pain management approach rather than relying on placebo effects.” The researchers hope these insights will lead to more effective mindfulness-based treatments for those seeking pain relief.
