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Mindfulness-Meditation-Based Pain Relief Is Not Mediated by Endogenous Opioids.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
January 1, 1970
Fadel Zeidan et al. (8 authors)
Journal ArticleRandomized Controlled TrialResearch Support, N.I.H., ExtramuralResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tHuman StudyClinical
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to determine whether mindfulness meditation's pain-relieving effects are mediated by endogenous opioids.

Results Summary

Mindfulness meditation significantly reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness compared to the control condition, and this effect was not reversed by naloxone, indicating that meditation-based analgesia does not rely on endogenous opioids.

Population

Healthy human volunteers

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Not specified

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (4)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
Mindfulness meditation
decrease
pain
-
-
reliably attenuates
#1
Mindfulness meditation
decrease
pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings
healthy human volunteers
-
significantly reduced
#2
Naloxone infusion
no change
meditation-induced analgesia
healthy human volunteers
-
failed to reverse
#3
Mindfulness meditation during naloxone
decrease
pain intensity and unpleasantness
healthy human volunteers
-
produced significantly greater reductions
#4
Abstract

UNLABELLED: Mindfulness meditation, a cognitive practice premised on sustaining nonjudgmental awareness of arising sensory events, reliably attenuates pain. Mindfulness meditation activates multiple brain regions that contain a high expression of opioid receptors. However, it is unknown whether mindfulness-meditation-based analgesia is mediated by endogenous opioids. The present double-blind, randomized study examined behavioral pain responses in healthy human volunteers during mindfulness meditation and a nonmanipulation control condition in response to noxious heat and intravenous administration of the opioid antagonist naloxone (0.15 mg/kg bolus + 0.1 mg/kg/h infusion) or saline placebo. Meditation during saline infusion significantly reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings when compared to the control + saline group. However, naloxone infusion failed to reverse meditation-induced analgesia. There were no significant differences in pain intensity or pain unpleasantness reductions between the meditation + naloxone and the meditation + saline groups. Furthermore, mindfulness meditation during naloxone produced significantly greater reductions in pain intensity and unpleasantness than the control groups. These findings demonstrate that mindfulness meditation does not rely on endogenous opioidergic mechanisms to reduce pain. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Endogenous opioids have been repeatedly shown to be involved in the cognitive inhibition of pain. Mindfulness meditation, a practice premised on directing nonjudgmental attention to arising sensory events, reduces pain by engaging mechanisms supporting the cognitive control of pain. However, it remains unknown if mindfulness-meditation-based analgesia is mediated by opioids, an important consideration for using meditation to treat chronic pain. To address this question, the present study examined pain reports during meditation in response to noxious heat and administration of the opioid antagonist naloxone and placebo saline. The results demonstrate that meditation-based pain relief does not require endogenous opioids. Therefore, the treatment of chronic pain may be more effective with meditation due to a lack of cross-tolerance with opiate-based medications.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AdultAnalgesics, OpioidAnalysis of VarianceDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHealthy VolunteersHot TemperatureHumansMaleMeditationNaloxoneNarcotic AntagonistsPainPain MeasurementPsychophysicsTreatment OutcomeYoung Adult
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy85/10
Quality90/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations77
Citations/Year8.6
Relative Citation Ratio3.74
NIH Percentile89.1%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.95
Weight Score2.06
Normalized Score0.72
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